Portrait Of The Author As A Literary Whore

As I previously noted in this post, Allah at Link Mecca discovered that Osama's newly released audiotape contains a recommendation for William Blum's book Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower.

Of course, as a loyal American, Blum was shocked and disgusted to have his work cited by the world's most evil living human - not. Newhouse News Service reports that Blum is pretty much delighted with the publicity for his book:

"I was amazed and amused," Blum said. "It's good publicity for the book."

Blum explained that Osama had actually confused Rogue State with another in his anti-America collection: Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire.

Here's Blum's Ward Churchill impression:

"He [Osama] sees anti-American terrorist attacks as under the category of retaliation," Blum said. "In previous tapes he's used that word -- retaliation. I don't like what they do, but it's understandable intellectually."

And here's Osama quoting Blum:

Bin Laden quoted Blum as writing: "If I were president, I would stop the attacks against the United States. First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended once and for all."

Any writer possessed of even a rudimentary moral compass would be horrified to have his words on the lips of a mass murdering psycopath. Blum is overjoyed.

Also posted at The Jawa Report and Vince Aut Morire.