This is Abby Martin. Welcome to Media Roots Radio. So I wanted to record a little addition to the podcast

you're about to listen to because a lot of that conversation is about the true legacy of George

H.W. Bush, and we would be remiss to talk only about a war criminal's death without mentioning

how we actually lost a true hero who spent his life exposing war crimes. My comrade, journalist,

author William Bloom, who we spoke about in a previous episode needing medical help, has died

at 85 years old. He was one of the most fervent, fiercest critics of U.S. foreign policy,

and his work will serve as a beacon for generations to come.

I interviewed him on breaking the set a couple years ago, and we had kept in touch ever since,

and we got into some heated arguments, one of which he criticized my report on the Berlin Wall

and said, I thought you were red. The other, I criticized him on his coverage of ISIS,

but at the end of the day, I think he saw me as kind of the torchbear carrying on his work in a way, and I just wish I could have been closer to him earlier on to glean more of his genius. Two of his books, I think, are really crucial books for understanding the scope and consequences of U.S. militarism and imperialism.

Rogue state and killing hope.

Killing Hope, U.S. military and CIA intervention since World War II, is a book thoroughly documenting U.S. interventions.

And one I relied on heavily for the creation and continuation of empire files.

On Twitter, Alex Burnell told me this.

Killing Hope was one of those seminal texts in my turn to the left.

In the anti-war canon, it's irreplaceable.

It's one of the most thorough records of invasions, democratic subversions, propaganda efforts that the U.S.

Empire was responsible for in the 20th century.

And I wanted to read a quick introduction to killing hope about Americans' willful ignorance

of their government's actions.

That's really, really fascinating.

...