William Blum
William Blum
William Blumis an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy. He worked in a computer related position at the United States Department of State in the mid-1960s. Initially an anti-communist with dreams of becoming a foreign service officer, he became disillusioned by the Vietnam War. He lives in Washington, DC...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
against agony attempted caused condemned crush foreign life million millions movements overthrow several states struggling united
From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. . . . In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.
essays freeing
Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire.
access ambitious continuing empire goal keeping mass movement reach slowing terrible
On the other hand, I'm part of a movement which has a very, very ambitious goal of slowing down ... the American empire and keeping it from continuing to do the many terrible things it does all over the world. We have to reach the American public, and to do that we have to have access to the mass media.
absence actions almost apologize bomb civilian concern deliberate equal families people refuses targeting
We bomb homes, and these people have families -- and the U.S. refuses to apologize for these civilian deaths. The absence of concern makes their actions almost equal to a deliberate targeting of civilians.
american-author human might pundits rational slip terrorists whatever
What our leaders and pundits never let slip is that the terrorists - whatever else they might be - might also be rational human beings; which is to say that in their own minds they have a rational justification for their actions.
citizenry convinced morally patriotism phenomenon religion worse
America's state religion, is patriotism, a phenomenon which has convinced many of the citizenry that 'treason' is morally worse than murder or rape.
concerned deeply immediate injustice people religious terrorists united
Most terrorists are people deeply concerned by what they see as social, political, or religious injustice and hypocrisy, and the immediate grounds for their terrorism is often retaliation for an action of the United States.
amazed good publicity
I was amazed and amused. It's good publicity for the book.
bin embrace major repulsed shares
I think bin Laden shares that view, and that is why I'm not repulsed by his embrace of my book, because that is one of my major themes.
mistakes mixed
He made a mistake, he got them mixed up.
book books-and-reading helps hope media swamped
I hope it helps my book sales. I'm swamped with media interviews.
access given glad mass media reason
This has given me much more access to the mass media than I ever would have had. And for this reason I'm glad that this happened.
spurs degrees action
Change comes from a degree of discomfort that allows for and spurs thought and action.
government names giving
The Soviet Union and something called communism per se had not been the object of Washington's global attacks. There had never been an International Communist Conspiracy. The enemy was, and remains, any government or movement, or even individual, that stands in the way of the expansion of the American Empire; by whatever name the US gives to the enemy - communist, rogue state, drug trafficker, terrorist.