William Blum Visits Radford
Tim Saunders | Staff Writer

In a day where red, white and blue drape every corner of America, William Blum is going against the tide of national spirit and taking his message on the road, most recently to Radford University.

"I don't think of myself as a patriot, I don't even care for the idea of patriotism," said Blum, a statement that brought applause and support from a Radford audience of both students and local residents. "I'm amazed that you‚d be applauding for that," said Blum. "I thought at best I'd get silence."

A freelance journalist, Blum is a published writer in the United States, Europe and South America. Blum worked for the US State Department until 1967, when he abandoned his aspirations of becoming a Foreign Service Officer because of his opposition to US involvement in Vietnam.

Over the past thirty years, Blum has worked to expose what he calls the "misdeeds of the CIA" through lectures and written work. He co-founded the Washington Free Press,the first "alternative" newspaper in the US capital, and has authored two books, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II and Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower.

Blum's lecture at RU wrapped up a series of dialogues sponsored by RU's chapter of Amnesty International. Blum began his Radford lecture with a short disclaimer and a quip that nodded current events. "It's not possible to send anthrax through e-mail, is it?" said Blum, noting that a recent lecture brought overwhelmingly negative feedback from a college audience.

"Although I'm not loyal to my country and my government, I am loyal to certain principals of human rights, social and political justice, economic democracy and so on," said Blum, opening a very candid address on his beliefs.

"The moral of my message is this: if in your heart and mind you know it's wrong to be shooting cruise missiles at towns of very impoverished, hungry, innocent, defenseless people, then feel free to protest that without being afraid that someone will charge you of being unpatriotic."

Blum's message quickly turned to foreign policy, and why Blum believes terrorists attacked the US on September 11th.

"It is not Americans that these terrorists hate, it's what the US has done to the rest of the world in the last half century," said Blum. "All the invasions, all the bombings, the depleted uranium, the assassinations, the promotion of torture."

Blum addressed specific concerns of Middle Eastern terrorists, using incidents of US military intervention in the Middle East as evidence to support his claims.

"If those behind the September 11th attacks are indeed from the Middle East, no one should wonder about their possible motivations, or the motivations or Muslims who have acted against the US over the years," said Blum. "We think that these people in the Middle East don't have feelings like we do, that they don't have any pride, that they don't react in the same way that other people do."

Blum continued by naming Latin American countries as victims of US foreign Policy, noting some US interventions to the south were far worse than any interventions in the Middle East.

"I think if the people of Latin America held the same beliefs that Muslims do, that by killing the great enemy they would go to paradise immediately, over the past decade we would have seen countless acts of terrorism coming from south of the border."

Blum went on to tell his audience how he would correct foreign policy issues if he were given the power to do so.

"If I were the President of the United States, I would stop the terrorist attacks in just a matter of days," said Blum. "I would first of all sincerely apologize to all the orphans and widows, the impoverished and the tortured, and all the other victims of our foreign policy."

"I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90 percent," said Blum, which brought sharp agreement from the audience. "I would use the leftover money to pay reparations to all our victims." Blum also remarked that he would put an end to all foreign interventions by the US.

"That is what I would do during my first three days in the White House," said Blum. "On the fourth day I would be assassinated."

Blum also voiced sharp opposition to US media, whose judgments, according to Blum, are clouded by corporate interests.

"Can you name a single daily American newspaper that is now opposed to the bombing of Afghanistan?" said Blum. "There might be, but I'm not aware of any."

"In a supposedly free society, in a supposedly free press, with 1500 daily newspapers, the odds should be against that, but that's the way it is anyhow," said Blum.

Following his talk, Blum opened the floor for questions from the audience. Most of the comments made were supportive of Blum and his beliefs, while some simply wanted to know more about Blum's beliefs on foreign policy.

One audience member addressed Blum very bluntly, asking if Blum had ever been happy with the US government. "It hasn't been since the last Roosevelt administration," said Blum.

Blum ended his discussion with a message for his critics and a nod to first amendment speech.

"Many people tell me that if I were saying some of the things I'm saying in another country I would be imprisoned or killed and that I should appreciate my freedom of speech," said Blum. "The message they are sending to me is that I should be so grateful to have my freedom of speech that I shouldn't exercise it. If they attack me for using my freedom of speech, what else are they implying?"