William Blum (born 1933) is an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy. He studied accounting in college. Later he had a low-level computer-related position at the State Department in the mid-1960s. Initially an anti-communist with dreams of becoming a foreign service officer, he said he became disillusioned by the Vietnam War.[1]
In his writing, Blum devotes substantial attention to CIA interventions and assassination plots. Blum describes himself as a socialist. He has supported Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns.[3] He has compared president George W. Bush with Hitler and the Iraq insurgency with the resistance against Nazi Germany.[4] He currently circulates a monthly newsletter by email called "The Anti-Empire Report".[1]
In early 2006 (see 19 January 2006 Osama bin Laden tape), 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 skyrocketed. Rogue State shot up from 205,763 to 26 on Amazon.com's index of the most-ordered books. 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."
