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Foreign-Policy Blowback Comes Later
by Jacob G. Hornberger

Supporters of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan cite the U.S. occupation of Iraq to buttress their case for staying in Afghanistan. “The surge! The surge!” they cry, reminding people that increasing the level of U.S. troops in Iraq has brought stability, peace, and freedom to that country, enabling the U.S. government to rebuild the nation into a shining beacon of democracy and prosperity for the world.

Oftentimes, however, it takes a long time for the adverse consequences of U.S. imperialism and interventionism to manifest themselves.

Consider, for example, the 1953 coup in which the U.S. government, operating through the CIA, ousted the democratically elected prime minister of Iran and replaced him with a U.S.-approved puppet, the Shah of Iran, who proceeded to terrorize and torture his own people for some 25 years, with the support of the U.S. government.

By the time the Iranian people revolted against the Shah’s brutal regime in 1979, they had discovered the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup. In anger and outrage, they took U.S. diplomats hostage. By that time many, however, many Americans had forgotten about what the CIA had done or had never learned about it and, therefore, had no idea that the Iranian hostage-taking was “blowback” for what the CIA had done 25 years earlier.

Yet, keep in mind that in 1953 U.S. officials were celebrating their ... >>>