Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>My overarching point is that Brzezinski, Bill Casey, and so on have 
>a good deal to do with the flourishing of the muhajidin into a 
>serious political force. I would not be so stupid as to declare that 
>U.S. imperialism is directly responsible in umediated fashion for 
>what happened on 9-11. To argue thus would be to indulge in a form 
>of "ethnocentrism" (for lack of a better term) that the knee-jerk 
>anti-imperialist left in the U.S. is often ironically guilty of. 
>After all, class forces, political alignments, etc. in time/places 
>like 1970's and 1980's Afghanistan were not the mere result of 
>U.S./big power maneuvering. But I do think the U.S. role in aiding 
>and abetting the likes of Bin Laden was important enought to warrant 
>the use of the term "blowback". "Blowback" does not imply "just 
>desserts".
>
>John Gulick

Well stated.  Blowback, in Chalmers Johnson's own words, means "the 
_unintended_ consequences of U.S. policies _kept secret from the 
American people_" (emphasis mine, Chalmers Johnson, "The Consequences 
Of Our Actions Abroad: Americans Feeling the Effects of 'Blowback'" 
_Los Angeles Times_ 4 May 2000 at 
<http://www.commondreams.org/views/050400-103.htm>).

Yoshie