Writer-journalist Cockburn dead at 71 BAD SALZHAUSEN, Germany, July 21 (UPI) -- Liberal author-journalist Alexander Cockburn died of cancer in Germany Saturday, a friend and colleague said. He was 71. The New York Times reported Jeffrey St. Clair announced on CounterPunch, a Web site he and the Scottish-born Cockburn edited, that Cockburn had gone to Bad Salzhausen for medical treatment. St. Clair said Cockburn had kept quiet about his illness and had continued writing until he neared death. "His body was deteriorating, but his prose remained as sharp, lucid and deadly as ever," St. Clair wrote on the site. Cockburn, known for his unrelenting left-wing take on politics, had written for a wide range of publications during his career, including The Nation, The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice. Cockburn also wrote several books, including "Corruptions of Empire" (Verso, 1988), and published a collection of essays, "The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters, 1987-1994" (Verso, 1996). He is survived by a daughter, Daisy Cockburn; two brothers, the author Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn, a British journalist, and several nephews and nieces.