Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

by Chalmers Johnson

Book Overview

Now with a new and up-to-date Introduction by the author, the bestselling account of the effect of American global policies, hailed as brilliant and iconoclastic (Los Angeles Times)

The term blowback, invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended results of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805075593
• ISBN13: 9780805075595
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Holt McDougal
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Stealth imperialism

In this hard-hitting analysis, Chalmers Johnson explains the goals and the hidden (from its inhabitants) functioning of the US hegemon: an empire based on military power and the use of US capital and markets to force global economic integration on US terms at whatever costs to others. On the military front, the US population forgot G. Washington's warning: `avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.' The US intelligence and military establishment is close to being beyond civilian control and becoming an autonomous system, whose colossal budget with its juicy cost-plus contracts is only controlled by vested ideological and financial interests. This book shows clearly that US presidents, like Carter or Clinton, had not the power to oppose the Pentagon's designs: perpetuate and develop the Cold War structures in order to consolidate its power. The ends justify all means as numerous intelligence or military interventions in the world show, which sponsored dictatorships, genocidal campaigns, war crimes, state terrorism and paramilitary death-squads. 90 % of all US weapons were sold, not to democracies, but to human right abusers. On the economic front, globalization US style provoked economic disasters in South-Asia and South-America, throwing millions of people into poverty. However the US still urged its `allies' to buy weapons! This kind of globalization, which provoked still more economic inequality, will not be forgotten for a long time (see W. Bello: Dilemmas of Domination.). By overstretching its financial means (weapon systems are profligate economic waste), the US risks a long lasting downfall of the dollar. The US and its population need an industrial not a military or intelligence policy, because a new rival hegemon points at the horizon: China, which will be the superpower of the 21st century. China will not be contained. The US will have to adjust to it. In a world of hypocritical and gagged media, Chalmers Johnson's much needed voice proposes human solutions for the world's problems: `bring most overseas land-based forces home and reorient foreign policy to stress leadership through example, economic aid, international law, multilateral institutions and diplomacy, instead of military intervention, economic bullying or financial manipulation.' With its surprising comparisons, Chalmers Johnson sent a solid warning to the actual US establishment. A nation reaps what its sows. The blowback could be horrendous. This book is a must read.

A landmark and masterpiece of foreign policy analysis

Wow, this is a great book. Chalmers Johnson has written a major foreign policy critique that is well documented, well reasoned, and well written. The book deserves more than 5 stars. The next President of the United States, be he/she a Republican or Democrat, would be well advised to read this book. When I read, I underline unique and insightful observations by the author. In this book, over 85% of the book was underlined when I finished the last page. I would like to give you just a few of the points that Johnson offers in the book: Johnson believes that our recent foreign policy has been handled poorly and that in fact our policies are stimulating our enemies around the globe to organize against us. Johnson produces considerable amounts of evidence and analysis to indicate that our foreign policy has come to be dominated by our Department of Defense and the CIA at the expense of the State Department. Though Johnson never brings us the subject, it reminded me of the argument presented in Margaret Tuchman's Guns of August that this happened in World War I, where military actions were taken unilaterally with little diplomacy prior to the war. The generals out-maneuvered the diplomats and was was the result. Johnson shows careful documentation and analysis to indicate that this faulty foreign policy is a holdover from the Cold War, which the Soviets lost 15 years ago, but which the United States may lose in the future because of our clinging to Cold War military, foreign, and economic policies. This is the actual core of the book and Johnson offers tremedous documentation of how this is true with examples regarding our relationships with Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Phillipines, Singapore, Malysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Cambodia. The chapters on Japan, the two Koreas, and China demonstrated some of the most unique and thoughtful and documented analysis that is currently being offered to the general American public. Blowback is a CIA term for unintended consequences of foreign, military, or clandestine policies. Johnson warns us that unless we awaken to the effects our policies have on the other nations that we will continue to invite contempt and terrorist solutions against us. He further points out that we are in a Blowback period, a post Cold War period, in which we have not yet recovered from Cold War thinking. The power of the US Military is one example. Johnson would even argue that the US Military is barely under the control of the Congress and the President, threatening to dictate national relationships and dynamics independent of the State Department. An example of fully realized Blowback is when the CIA overthrew Iran's prime minister in 1953 and set up Shan Pahlavi, only to have the Shah eventually overthrown by his people in favor of a Moslem fundamentalistic theocracy. We are still experiencing Blowback from that series of events. A second example of Blowback that is very recent is

Realistic: Why countries hate us, what we need to change

"Blowback" is an important and timely critique of America's over-extended and obsolete empire not from a moral perspective but from practical considerations of the nation's future well being. The term "blowback" is derived from a CIA reference to American foreign policy decisions that generate unforeseeable, negative consequences. For example, following the Gulf War in 1991, the United States stationed more than 35,000 soldiers in Saudi Arabia to deter any further hostility from Iraq. An unexpected consequence of this decision was the sudden fomenting of intense hatred toward America on the part of radical Islamic fundamentalists including Osama Bin Laden.Johnson argues that while most great powers exploit their empires, America, is actually exploited by its own. During the Cold War the United States justifiably sought to create a buffer of Pacific satellite nations to cope with the threat of Soviet expansion in Asia. While this may have been an effective deterrent, it also came with a price. According to Johnson, the United States effectively bribed Japan with favorable economic conditions that fueled phenomenal growth in that country while largely destroying the manufacturing base in America. Although this may have been a prudent strategy during the Cold War, Johnson asks why the United States continues to sacrifice its productivity and living conditions at home in order to maintain a troop presence in Asia.Where American troops were once stationed abroad as a buffer against Soviet expansion, they are now used to influence the countries they occupy or to train governments in counter insurgency and political repression. Johnson points out that in several cases American intervention on behalf of a repressive government merely turned American protectorates into implacable enemies. Johnson sites Vietnam and Iran as two examples of this failed strategy, and he warns of impending identical results in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The tragedy of America's misguided foreign policy, according to Johnson is that while it drains enormous resources from America, it fails to provide the nation with beneficial results. Instead of continuing its obsolete Cold War strategy, Johnson calls on the United States to reevaluate its strategic requirements and to formulate a new foreign policy. An honest evaluation of American objectives according to Johnson would probably result in the recall of most American troops stationed abroad. Johnson foresees enormous resistance to such change from the military, which is the chief beneficiary of America's global military deployment. Johnson also argues that America is much better off accepting and working with China's inevitable economic surge and its increasing political status than attempting to contain the inevitable. To anyone who is wondering why citizens of many foreign countries hate the United States, this book is a must read. In case after case, Johnson demonstrates the negative impact of American military bases on loc

Well versed, well written, and an important warning

Although some of the reviewers of this book believe that Johnson has stepped beyond his realm of knowledge, as someone who has researched these issues in depth, I can say with certainty that he has notThis book has placed forward a very important thesis on the current state of American affairs, and a rather accurate one. Cruise Missile foreign policy and economic brinksmanship have certainly dominated U.S. policy in this decade, and it is a very dangerous game to play. If anyone doubts Mr. Johnson's theory, then they should perhaps take a closer look at the countries and situations he had included into his writing, from China and Japan, which he knows intimately, to the politics and policies of the end of the Cold War. Johnson is not an isolationist, and neither am I, but the fact remains that America is in a new stage of psuedo-imperialism, only without even the containment justifications of the Cold War. You need only to look at Iraq and the Balkans to see the truth. That, and the economic information that the author provides is excellent.In the end, I do not agree with all of Johnson's statements, such as the brief analysis of Pentagon spending (his statement concerning the F-15 fighter being unmatched is flawed, consideringt he proliferation of agile Su-27/33 fighter in China). However, his thesis holds up, and his opinions are fundamentally sound. Not a single statement is made that cannot be backed up with hard evidence and plain old history.

Clear and to the point

Chalmers Johnson in this book is informative, factual and unbiased as he recounts our american approach to dealing with the post W.W.II situation and the Cold War. We as Americans would do well to reflect upon the validity of continuing to interact with our neighbors, friends and allies in this manner in the future. Having spent 30 years overseas in the places he describes, Viet Nam (68-71, Okinawa (71, 86 to 90), Japan, Saudi Arabia (Gulf War), Iran (during the Sha), Indonesia (in 97), Malaysia (98-99), Singapore (97-99) as both an instrument of U.S. policy (USMC) and a businessman I concur with his view of the situation. This book should be required reading for all federal government officials (elected or appointed) and all state department personnel. Chalmers Johnson in this book is a candle raging against the darkness.