Blowback Reaction

Chalmers Johnson 's essay blowback was very interesting to me. I valued reading this essay because I had always been aware of the retaliation terrorist attacks, but had never been able to put a name to it. Blowback, a term created by the Central Intelligence Agency, is meant to describe the side effects of American Foreign Policy that was kept secret from the American populace. The article highlights a series of incidents including an incident at a Northern Italian sking resort, the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight in retaliation to a 1986 US bombing, and the 1998 bombings of Osama bin Laden. The last case is particularly interesting as the book says, "Blowback itself can lead to more blowback, in a spiral of destructive behavior. While the US attempt to justify it's response, the result is usually an increase in fighting. In short, blowback describes a retaliation for X in terms of act Y.