![]() ![]() In the 1980s, that rich young Saudi had been part of Washington’s secret war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, forming a group to battle the Russians that he called al-Qaeda (“the Base”) to battle the Red Army. Ominously enough, he added, “All around the world today, it is possible to see the groundwork being laid for future forms of blowback.” On page 10, he brought up - and remember he was writing this as the previous century ended - the name of “a former protege of the United States,” one Osama bin Laden. What the daily press reports as the malign acts of ‘terrorists’ or ‘drug lords’ or ‘rogue states’ or ‘illegal arms merchants’ often turn out to be blowback from earlier American operations.” “Officials of the Central Intelligence Agency first invented for their own internal use… refers to the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people. In its introduction, using a word Americans were then (as now) all too uncomfortable with, he bluntly summed up his professional life by labeling himself “a spear-carrier for empire.” And he described the origins of his book’s title this way: ![]() It had been written by the eminent scholar of Asia, former CIA consultant, and cold warrior Chalmers Johnson. ![]() Once upon a time, long, long ago - actually, it was early in the year 2000 - I was involved in publishing Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. ![]()
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