“Blowback” is the unintended adverse effect of a political action, a repercussion that the doer does not foresee occurring. In addition to it being unexpected, it is unwanted and usually explicitly damaging. As the horrendous war in Gaza continues, one must go back in history to recount pitfalls that occurred because of the meddling and the manipulation that superpowers and countries such as Israel inflict against others to their own benefits, only to have their actions backfire.
Some leading powers believe they are mighty enough to intervene in the affairs of other countries if such interventions serve their end, while, unfortunately, unaware of the consequences. The Pentagon’s Defense Science Board corroborates, “Historical data show a strong correlation between US involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States,” which is exactly what a blowback is. Also, Chalmers Johnson, an American political scientist, calls blowback “a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities that have been kept secret from the American people.”
Restricted by space, only a few examples will be presented here.
The CIA, 60 years after the event, admitted its role in orchestrating the 1953 Iranian coup against democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister, Mohamed Mossadegh. Bernie Sanders, during his presidential debate against Hilary Clinton in 2016, recalls the coup, “Mossadegh was overthrown by British and American interests because he threatened oil interests of the British…as a result of that, you had the Iranian revolution… unintended consequences.”
But the American interests were pursued even further. In 2016, the BBC and The Guardian published information revealing how Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was in extensive contact with US officials before the revolution, going to great lengths “to ensure the Americans would not jeopardise his plans to return to Iran.” Sure enough, President Carter’s administration abandoned the Shah and held the Iranian army back “from launching a military coup.” The Islamic theocracy that Khomeini enacted still governs today; this, while the Iranian antagonism against the US was cemented. The Iranian/US relations bear the blowback until now, and tensions escalate repeatedly.
Another case in point goes back to the early 80s when the US aided the anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan. “Operation Cycle” was the code name given to the program that armed and financed the Afghan Mujahideen, which Osama Bin Laden joined later.
Hilary Clinton in an interview on Fox News says, “To be fair, we have helped to create the problem…because, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, we had this brilliant idea that we were to come to Pakistan and create this force of Mujahideen, equip them with Stinger missiles and everything else to go after the Soviets. We were successful; the Soviet left Afghanistan … leaving these trained people who were fanatics … leaving a mess frankly that at the time we didn’t recognize.”
The unintended consequences are known: these US funded and armed fighters joined the Taliban or Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaida and geared their “holy war” against the West, the September 11 attack on US soil was stage-managed in Afghanistan, the Afghan War lasted 20 years, and finally the Taliban regime that harboured Al-Qaida leaders returned to control Afghanistan once again.
The invasion of Iraq and, subsequently, the weakening or obliteration of the Iraqi military, fragmented Iraq and launched Daesh in Iraq and later Syria. The consequences associated to the existence of Daesh are known. Also, to change the regime in Libya, NATO’s weapons flowed into Libya leading to a spread in arms. Libya was embroiled in chaos as security deteriorated. The US ambassador, Steven Christopher, was assassinated, and the US diplomatic compound was burned during the mayhem.
Now we come to Israel. Chances are Hamas may probably not exist today if it weren’t for Israel’s support. In the 70s and 80s, Israel backed and funded Hamas, as a divisive tactic that would disjoin the Palestinians in the West Bank from the Palestinians in Gaza. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s, told the NY Times that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Major General Gershon Hacohen, an associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a TV interview, “Netanyahu’s strategy is to prevent the option of two states, so he is turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.”
Even Netanyahu, himself, has openly confirmed that fact. In 2019, Netanyahu said, “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy — to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
The blowback is obvious today; Hamas is retaliating against those who sought to solidify their existence. Broadcaster Mehdi Hasan says in The Intercept, you cannot “arm or fund extremist groups to fight your ‘official enemy’ and then assume those extremist groups won’t one day turn on you or your allies.”
As Isaac Newton, the renowned mathematician, says, “For every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is very true especially if the original action had a negative impact. The reality is that if you invade, occupy, or fund some to attack your enemies, you must bear the brunt of a blowback in the years to come.
Actions have consequences; unfortunately, neither leading powers nor Israel learn from previous mistakes. The consequences of today’s bitterness will reign tomorrow and come back to haunt those who affected the harm. The massive military operations in Gaza will create an embittered offspring; the orphaned children of today will become the militants, or the terrorists if you wish to call them so, of tomorrow.
Unintended consequences do come true.
