Blowback - The Consequences of U.S. Foreign Activity
Chalmers Johnson is a long-time scholar of Asia. He identifies himself as a former Navy officer (in the 1950s) who once accepted without question U.S. military defense choices. His book Blowback, however, is a critical examination of those military choices in a post-Cold War world. The title refers to a term used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the unintended consequences, such as terrorism and illegal arm sales, of AmericaÆs global economic and military policies. In essence, Johnson argues that American foreign policy is aimed at exporting and imposing American economic and military will on all other countries without regard to the domestic desires of or the state of real democracy in such countries. Thus, he maintains that this desire for the imposition of American will is a will to empire or ôglobal hegemonyö that has and continues to create resentment in other countries toward the United States.
JohnsonÆs book was first published in 2000, well before the events of September 11, 2001. In his ôIntroduction,ö however, he notes that before that date little attention was paid to his book in the United States, although it was translated into several languages and sold throughout the world. After that date, however, the book was reprinted eight times (Johnson, 2001, p. x). Even so, there were numerous instances in the American media after September 11, 2001 of American government officials denouncing anyone who suggested that the attacks could have been a predictable response to American foreign policy. Rather, Johnson points out that the media and government officials portrayed the attacks as against ôAmericaö and the American people. But Johnson states bluntly that the attacks were aimed at American foreign policy. His book is an attempt to explain, if not necessarily justify, why such attacks occur. His book also makes clear that such attacks a...