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William Blum

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Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer William Henry Blum (Template:IPAc-en;<ref name="Roberts">Template:Cite news</ref> March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author and journalist and a critic of United States foreign policy.<ref name="McCann Ó hAdhmaill">Template:Cite book</ref>

Early lifeEdit

Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical Center) in Brooklyn,<ref name="Agee">Template:Cite news</ref> to Ruth (née Katz) and Isidore Blum, who were Polish Jewish immigrants. His father was a machinist. He was a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School and gained a degree in accountancy in 1955 from the City College School of Business and Civic Administration, which later became Baruch College of the City University of New York.<ref name="Roberts" /><ref name="Langer">Template:Cite news</ref> Blum worked as a computer programmer for IBM and later the U.S. State Department. He had the ambition of becoming a foreign service officer to, as he explained, "take part in the great anti-Communist crusade" but was later disillusioned by the Vietnam War. Blum became involved in anti–Vietnam War activism and was pressured to resign his government post in 1967.<ref name="Roberts" /> By then he had already taken part in anti-war protests and become a founder and editor of the Washington Free Press, an alternative bi-weekly newspaper.<ref name="Roberts" />

JournalismEdit

Blum worked as freelance journalist in the United States, Europe and South America. In 1972–1973, Blum worked as a journalist in Chile where he reported on the Allende government's "socialist experiment" before the U.S backed coup and the regime of Augusto Pinochet. In the mid-1970s, he worked in London with ex-CIA officer Philip Agee and his associates "on their project of exposing CIA personnel and their misdeeds".<ref>Bill Blum's ZSpace Page Template:Webarchive, Z Magazine online, accessed May 31, 2008.</ref> He supported himself with his writing and speaking engagements on college campuses.<ref name="Montgomery">Template:Cite news</ref> One of Blum's stories on Iraq was listed by Project Censored as one of "The Top Ten Censored Stories of 1998"<ref>Peter Phillips and Project Censored, Censored 2001: 25 Years of Censored News and the Top Censored Stories of the Year, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001. p. 245. Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref>

In his books and online columns, Blum devoted substantial attention to CIA interventions and assassination plots. Noam Chomsky has called Blum's book Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, "far and away the best book on the topic."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Blum supported Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns.<ref>Blum, William On Liberals, Phil Agee, and the 9-11 Truth Movement, Dissident Voice, January 14, 2008. Accessed May 31, 2008.</ref> He circulated a monthly newsletter by email called "The Anti-Empire Report".<ref>The Anti-Empire Report, williamblum.org. Online copies of issues of "The Anti-Empire Report". Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref><ref>Killing Hope, killinghope.org. Online copies of early issues of "The Anti-Empire Report". Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref> Blum described his life's mission as: "If not ending, at least slowing down the American Empire. At least injuring the beast. It's causing so much suffering around the world."<ref name="Montgomery" />

In an interview with C-SPAN in 2006, Blum stated: "Speaking about U.S. foreign policy, which is my specialty, the authors I would most recommend would be Michael Parenti and Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman and Howard Zinn and Alexander Cockburn."<ref>William Blum in the Media Whirlwind, pressaction.com. "Transcript of Blum’s Jan. 28, 2006 appearance on C-Span." Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref> According to Blum, left-wing publications such as The Nation declined to publish his work because they considered him too much of a fanatic.<ref name="Langer" />

Osama bin Laden statementEdit

In early 2006, Blum briefly became the subject of widespread media attention when Osama bin Laden issued a public statement in which he quoted Blum and recommended that all Americans read Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower. As a result of the mention, sales of his book greatly increased.<ref name="Langer" /> "I was quite surprised and even shocked and amused when I found out what he'd said," Blum commented. "I was glad. I knew it would help the book's sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from. If he shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I'm not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him. I think it's good that he shares those views and I'm not turned off by that."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On the Bin Laden endorsement, Blum stated, "This is almost as good as being an Oprah book."<ref name="Montgomery" /> In an interview on MSNBC Countdown, he said: "Basically it's US foreign policy which creates anti-American terrorists. It's the things we do to the world. It's not, as the White House tells us, that they hate our freedom and democracy. That's just propaganda."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In a May 22, 2006, article entitled "Come Out of the White House With Your Hands Up", Blum wrote: "Since the bin Laden recommendation, January 19, I have not been offered a single speaking engagement on any campus. . . . This despite January–May normally being the most active period for me and other campus speakers."<ref>Blum, William, "Come Out of the White House with Your Hands Up!", informationclearinghouse.info. Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref>

DeathEdit

Blum died on December 9, 2018, in Arlington, Virginia, from kidney failure at the age of 85 following a fall in his apartment two months earlier.<ref name="Roberts" /><ref>Chris Agee and Louis Wolf, William Blum, Renowned U.S. Foreign Policy Critic, Dead at 85, covertactionmagazine.com. Retrieved December 24, 2018.</ref>

WorksEdit

Articles

Books

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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