A slang word used in espionage circles (most famously the CIA), referring to the "unintended consequences of secret operations abroad".
Blowback examples include:
1. Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait - having been helped to power and supplied with weapons and chemicals by the west (the photograph of everyone's favorite Iraqi shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld says it all).
2. September 11th 2001 - conducted by an organisation composed of operatives trained up by US intelligence for the war against the Russians
3. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, which arose from the bad feeling and anger towards the corrupt, dictatorial pro-American Shah regime, which had been helped into power following the CIA-assisted overthrow of the democratically-elected cabinet of Prime Minister Mossadeq, in response to the latter's domestic policies, principally nationalisation of Iran's oil.
1. Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait - having been helped to power and supplied with weapons and chemicals by the west (the photograph of everyone's favorite Iraqi shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld says it all).
2. September 11th 2001 - conducted by an organisation composed of operatives trained up by US intelligence for the war against the Russians
3. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, which arose from the bad feeling and anger towards the corrupt, dictatorial pro-American Shah regime, which had been helped into power following the CIA-assisted overthrow of the democratically-elected cabinet of Prime Minister Mossadeq, in response to the latter's domestic policies, principally nationalisation of Iran's oil.
by Gently, Johnny August 26, 2008