Blowback is a concept that most people today cannot understand. I linked to the Wikipedia article on the topic, but the first line sums it up.
Blowback is a term used in espionage to describe the unintended consequences of covert operations. Blowback typically appears random and without cause, because the public is unaware of the secret operations that provoked it.
Examples of blowback are the 9/11 attacks, the 7/7 bombings, the Iran hostage crisis, and the Soviet-Cuba alliance.
At this point I’m sure the Republicans in the crowd are doing their best Rudy Giuliani impersonation and demanding that I take it back, but I won’t be doing that. Blowback is real and when we start messing with other people’s countries, they are going to start messing with ours. Now I’m not saying that terrorists are justified in what they do, but I understand the reasons they do it and understand that part of the blame sits squarely on our shoulders. That’s right boys and girls, the United States isn’t the glorious force of good you’ve been led to believe it to be. We’ve got blood on our greedy little hands, just like everyone else.
There’s an old axiom that says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” While we can’t always live by this rule, it’s a good rule to follow whenever we can. If we followed this rule, blowback wouldn’t exist in our foreign relations or our personals lives. So do what you can to prevent blowback.
