William Blum

[Marxist in Nebraska]

I have seen several comrades here on the forum plugging William Blum's book Killing Hope. He seems to be a well-kept secret... he has rave reviews for his books from leftist icons like Noam Chomsky, yet most progressives and radicals I talk to on a daily basis have never heard of him.

I looked for Killing Hope at the university library, where they always have everything I want, and they did not have it. It was not all bad, though, as they had some of his other books. I checked out Rogue State, and I have read most of it. It is fabulous. Anyone who reads Chomsky for the truth he tells about U.S. foreign policy has to read this book by Blum.

Some notes from Rogue State:

In 1998, Al Gore threatened South Africa with economic sanctions if they would not stop using generic AIDS drugs. Gore had strong ties to drug companies at the time.

International Islamist terrorists (like bin Laden's al-Qaeda) did not become a force until they were built up and used by the U.S. against the USSR in Afghanistan.

Former Nazis and collaborators served openly in U.S. government functions like the National Republican Heritage Groups Council (closely aligned with the Republican Party)

[Sabocat]

Blum is one of my favorites. You must seek out Killing Hope. Rogue State is sort of like a condensed version.

Rogue is great and I use it as a "pocket reference guide" when arguing with conservatives. Killing Hope goes into a little more detail but covers some of the same ground. You will throughly enjoy it.

It's great and yet maddening all at the same time.

[Marxist in Nebraska]

More from Rogue State:

"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." --Blum's summary of what the U.S. calls a "terrorist"

The U.S. will not sign the anti-land mine treaty because the language includes banning cluster bombs, which the U.S. continues to use.

The U.S. army admitted to testing biological weapons on 239 populated areas in the United States between 1949 and 1969, when it was allegedly stopped (notice the allegedly).

Provisions under the Marshall Plan included destroying the popular Communist Party of France and subverting democratic elections in Italy to prevent greater communist influence there.

The U.S. propped up former Japanese collaborators in Korea.

The U.S. backed Kurdish rebels to weaken Iraq, then cynically abandoned them when priorities changed in both the early 1960s and mid 1970s (two separate occasions).

The U.S. war against the Sandinistas started in 1978, under President Carter. He used the slippery neo-colonial methods--diplomatic and economic pressures. When this failed, his successor Reagan unleashed the terrorist mercenaries known as the Contras.

The invasion of Panama in 1989 was partially a veiled threat to Nicaragua, to abandon the Sandinistas and their ideals or else they would become another Panama. The Nicaraguan connection is that the war on Panama started two months before a major national election in Nicaragua.

The U.S. action in Somalia was partially motivated by oil companies with contracts there pressuring the government to "stabilize" the country.

The U.S. supports the government in Colombia as part of the "War on Drugs", though the Colombian military has clearer ties to narco-trafficking than FARC!

The National Endowment for Democracies (NED) has replaced the CIA as the primary tool of subverting elections in other countries that will not further American interests. NED gave money in the early 1990s to CANF (a group of extremist Cuban exiles in Miami), and CANF passed the money on to a known terrorist who used the resources to launch bomb attacks against hotels in Havana in 1997.

[Marxist in Nebraska]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20 2003, 01:34 PM
Blum is one of my favorites. You must seek out Killing Hope. Rogue State is sort of like a condensed version.

Rogue is great and I use it as a "pocket reference guide" when arguing with conservatives.

[...]
It's great and yet maddening all at the same time.
Blum is fast becoming one of my favorites as well...

I will have to buy a copy of Killing Hope, since the libraries do not have it here.

Blum writes in Rogue State that certain sections are actually expanded beyond what he covered in Killing Hope, so it is not necessarily a "condensed version." It seems I will need to own both.

I see why you call it a "pocket reference" as it is packed with information and very easy to access. It seems like the kind of thing to take with you if you are going to argue with an imperialist or triumphalist who blabbers about our wars being fought for noble reasons.

I know what you mean by "great and yet maddening all at the same time." The information is so amazing (and impossible to argue against, really, look at the footnotes! Great sources), and yet every page I read I get that much angrier at that which is carried out in my and your name. Blum's tone in the book is great, too... it is plain to see that he feels the same way. Add in a touch of Chomsky-esque sarcasm, and you have an irresistable page turner.

[LuZhiming]

Yes Blum is quite underated. I recommend everyone here to check out his books, great author.