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US author’s sales jump after Osama mentions book
Daily Times ^ | 1/22/06 | Reuters

Posted on 01/21/2006 6:32:00 PM PST by voletti

WASHINGTON: An unexpected endorsement from Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has resulted in a huge jump in sales for a book by a critic of US foreign policy. William Blum’s “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower” was ranked 209,000 on Amazon.com’s sales list before bin Laden mentioned it in an audiotape released on Thursday. By Friday, the book was No. 30 on the Amazon.com list. Bin Laden said Al Qaeda group was preparing more attacks in the United States but also told Americans, “It is useful for you to read the book ‘The Rogue State.’“ “I was quite surprised and even shocked and amused when I found out what he’d said,” Blum said on Friday in an interview with Reuters Television in his Washington apartment. “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 the 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.” Blum said some friends and family members were afraid the bin Laden endorsement might endanger him but he said there had been no threats and he was not concerned. Blum’s 320-page book, which was published in 2000, begins with a chapter titled “Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States.” The first sentence says, “Washington’s war on terrorism is as doomed to failure as its war on drugs has been.” Other chapters in “The Rogue State” are titled “America’s Gift to the World - the Afghan Terrorist Alumni,” “The US Versus the World at the United Nations” etc.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailytimes.com.pk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billblum; blum; booksales; obl; obltape; roguestate; williamblum

1 posted on 01/21/2006 6:32:01 PM PST by voletti
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To: voletti
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 the 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.”

Wow. Just wow. That's a jaw-dropper. I wonder if other Democrats will have a similar view of endorsements from the same source?

2 posted on 01/21/2006 6:34:03 PM PST by Athwart
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To: voletti

Well isn't that nice. Birds of a feather.


3 posted on 01/21/2006 6:34:30 PM PST by ozzymandus
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To: voletti
“If he shares with me a deep dislike for the certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I’m not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him."

Of course, because an endorsement by a mass murderer is ok if it earns you a few extra bucks. What a sleaze.

4 posted on 01/21/2006 6:35:02 PM PST by Casloy
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To: Athwart
My thoughts exactly.
Next thing you know Kerry will be sending desperate messages to Osama come election season... why do ya think the Dem jokers are so pissed at the NSA controversy? They keep talking to Al Qaeda on the phone sharing endorsements maybe....?
/Sarc off
5 posted on 01/21/2006 6:38:43 PM PST by voletti (Awareness and Equanimity.)
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To: voletti
“If he shares with me a deep dislike for the certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I’m not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him."

Blum, you're a sleazy, money-grubbing whore.

6 posted on 01/21/2006 6:40:28 PM PST by Denver Ditdat (Leftist New Year's resolution: force Christians into the closets vacated by gays)
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To: Casloy; voletti

I wouldn't mind if he would read my book. It might take his mind off our troubles.


7 posted on 01/21/2006 6:43:04 PM PST by NicknamedBob (How can I compete in a world of Cat 5 and wireless when my brain is wired by knob and tube?)
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To: voletti
Wow Osama doing book reviews and Zawa doing poetry, al'Queda is going limp on us.
8 posted on 01/21/2006 7:22:15 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
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To: voletti
As I've been claiming for several years now...

The "Democrat wing" of the Democrat Party and al-Qaeda:
Natural Allies

9 posted on 01/21/2006 7:24:58 PM PST by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: voletti

Why are we surprised? Lefties shill for each other all the time...

This is no exception. Interesting how Blum probably has no problem at all being publicized by a mass murderer.


10 posted on 01/21/2006 7:28:52 PM PST by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: voletti
"A real Bush-basher...."

Osama bin Laden
Osama's Book of the Month Club

I knew it would help the book’s sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from.

William Blum, Author

Either you are with us or you're with the terrorists.

President George W. Bush

11 posted on 01/21/2006 7:29:02 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (We did not lose in Vietnam. We left.)
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To: voletti
“If he shares with me a deep dislike for the 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.”

Holy cow. This guy is sick.

12 posted on 01/21/2006 7:30:28 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: voletti

Barak Obama, the "Oprah" of the US Senate


13 posted on 01/21/2006 7:50:47 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: voletti


...terrorists and liberals like the same books, movies, newspapers, news sites, etc.

But libs still think they're patriotic? So strange to me.


14 posted on 01/21/2006 7:53:53 PM PST by Tzimisce
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To: voletti

it sounds like this book resembles Noam Chomsky's stuff - it's a collection of facts that are accurate on the face, but he doesn't cover the other side.

One of the favorable reviews mentioned 60 rulers we tried to assassinate and 30 "liberation movements" we managed to extinguish, and the number of people who died thanks to these things.

But at the same time, the number of people those "liberation movements" would have killed had they reached power is clearly a non-zero number, almost certainly far larger than the number of people killed attacking them.

I'd love to see a balanced review of both these things, but the lefties just don't seem to have the intellecutal honesty to write it.

It's worth remembering that when the Nicarauguans had a chance to choose Daniel Ortega in a fair election, well, they didn't. Likewise for the left-wingers in El Salvador. I'm 95% sure those are big-time examples in his book, but his point of view is clearly wrong.

D


15 posted on 01/21/2006 9:05:26 PM PST by daviddennis
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To: voletti

This shows how dumb some people are:

"B/c Osama recommends reading it, I will"

Osama also recommends blowing up Americans.


16 posted on 01/21/2006 9:49:55 PM PST by Falcon28
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