‘There is a drone with Assange’s name on it’ – William Blum

Interview with William Blum in Radio Voice of Russia - John Robles

Assange will be assassinated if freed, expert says. In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, William Blum, an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy spoke about CIA assassinations (one of his areas of expertise) and some of his past work. Mr. Blum is candid in his assessment of CIA assassination plots against such people as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. He also has some surprising things to say about Julian Assange and Osama Bin Laden.

Robles: William, you wrote the book about the CIA. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Blum: Well, America’s interventions carried out via the CIA and all the U.S. military has been my faculty for many-many years. The book emphasizes those things. As for my monthly newsletters “The Anti-Empire Report”, they found a backlash. But the U.S. government doesn’t bother American authors that much, they can afford to have us writing things and point to that as true freedom of speech.

Robles: They said that you’d exposed more than 200 CIA employees.

Blum: That was in 1969 when I was working for the “Underground Press” in Washington D.C. I and a colleague we parked our car outside the CIA headquarters in Virginia and in a couple of hours or so we recorded the license state numbers of all the cars going into the CIA. And with that information we compiled a list of names and addresses of these people, which we published in our newspaper.

Robles: That sounds very interesting! You talked about CIA assassination plots, you’re an expert on that. Can you tell us a little bit about what you know about the plot to remove Hugo Chavez?

Blum: That was in 2004 – the U.S. government met with the true plotters. These people then carried out a military coup which overthrew Chavez and took him to custody. He was freed after that, because of the combination of the public outcry and testimonies from remaining members of the military who were not part of the coup. So then he actually had and still has a lot of support in the military. It forced the plotters to abandon their plan and Chavez was released.

Robles: Can you tell us about your book “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Superpower”? Could you comment on the endorsement you received in 2006 by Osama bin Laden?

Blum: It was supposed to be an encyclopedia of all the notorious strings done by the U.S. foreign policy. There’s a chapter on assassination, a chapter on bombings and so on. There are many chapters covering illegal aspects of the U.S. foreign policy. It’s compiled many things which most Americans, most people in the world are not aware of. Individual elements of each of these compilations one could find in some public area. The book came out in about 2000. And then in 2006 the Arab world read the book. The book had many foreign connotations, one of which was read by Osama bin Laden and he, in one of his periodic audio recordings, mentioned that Americans should read my book and get a better understanding of the enemy. I gave a long list of American actions which created all these anti-American terrorists.

Robles: What do you know about the assassination plot to kill Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa? Before the elections, he was supposed to be assassinated. Correa made a statement that they uncovered a plot to assassinate him.

Blum: I wouldn’t doubt that. I’d be only surprised if the CIA didn’t attempt to assassinate him. He’s sheltering Assange!

Robles: Are you saying that just the fact that he’s giving asylum to Assange is enough for the CIA to assassinate him?

Blum: The CIA made attempts to assassinate people for much less reasons than that. Assange is the public enemy №1 in America. The U.S. is obsessed with him and they’d really like to put him out of the way, if they can. They were ready to invade the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, when the British government talked them out of it. That’d set a terrible precedent. The U.K. Embassies all over the world wouldn’t be safe then. They’re very serious about Assange. He’s the most mobbed man in the world.

Robles: So you think his fears to be assassinated by the CIA are pretty credible?

Blum: If he walks around amidst the big city, he’ll get a drone with his name on it. Given the assassination plots’ history of the CIA, that’s pretty expected, if he’s walking around free somewhere.

William Blum is the author of several books on the US foreign policy. He also sends out a monthly newsletter called “The Anti-Empire Report”

Blum's latest book: America's Deadliest Export was published this month by Zed Books.