In today’s Times, movie reviewer A.O. Scott says that the Muslim terrorist attacks on the west of the last few years are "blowback" to the U.S.’s involvement in the Afghan-Soviet war of the ’80s that is the setting for the film, "Charlie Wilson’s War." This isn’t accurate. Here is Chalmers Johnson’s definition of "blowback" from the Nation:
"Blowback" is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a recently
declassified report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government
of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. It is a metaphor for the unintended
consequences of the US government’s international activities that have
been kept secret from the American people. The CIA’s fears that there
might ultimately be some blowback from its egregious interference in
the affairs of Iran were well founded.
We were the good guys in the Afghan mess. The blowback has come from other activities, including our support for the brutal Israeli occupation.
(Thanks to John OKeeffe for making this point first, in an email to me.)
