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Define “blowback”
Posted By katie allison granju
From Don Williams today, who asserts that Gates is “admitting” in his statement below that 9/11 was “blowback” for U.S. mistakes:
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee April 10, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the following jaw-dropping statement:
“We were attacked from Afghanistan in 2001 and we are at war in Afganistan today in no small measure because of mistakes this government made — mistakes I, among others, made in the end game of the anti-Soviet war there some 20 years ago. If we get the end game wrong in Iraq I predict the consequences will be far worse.”
That’s an astonishing confession. OK, he didn’t use the word “blowback,” but by definition, that’s what he’s talking about. A certain radio commentator in this town once all but called me a traitor for saying the same thing — and I didn’t use the B-word either. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been denounced all over the country for suggesting Sept. 11 was caused in part by failed U.S. policy. So why are Big Media virtually silent about Gates’ admission?
I thnk Williams is stretching what Gates says here in all kinds of directions to end up with his thesis that Gates is actually admitting the U.S. is culpable for 9/11.
Apr 23rd, 2008
More than likely, Gates is suggesting that we should have filled the vacuum that was post-war Afghanistan instead of allowing it to fill itself. That would be consistent with current policy of staying in Iraq until the area is stabilized.
Do tell. Chalmers Johnson, author of “Blowback” defines it as follows:
“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….”
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:QlmWwIYREEwJ:www.thenation.com/doc/20011015/johnson+define+%22blowback%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Certainly by that definition, Gates’ admission is one of blowback. When Gates says, “We were attacked from Afghanistan in 2001, and we are at war in Afghanistan today, in no small measure because of mistakes this government made–mistakes I among others made in the end game of the anti-Soviet war there some 20 years ago,” that’s textbook.
Define “culpable” for me. I think That’s a loaded term and vague. Certainly, Gates is admitting a measure of culpability, by definition. I’d say our policies were at minimum a proximate cause of 9/11.
I refer skeptics to Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire:
“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….” (my bold)
Certainly by that definition, Gates’ admission is one of blowback. When Gates says, “We were attacked from Afghanistan in 2001, and we are at war in Afghanistan today, in no small measure because of mistakes this government made–mistakes I among others made in the end game of the anti-Soviet war there some 20 years ago,” that’s textbook.