Blowback

The CIA has a delightful euphemism to describe what happens when you get unintended results from various actions.

They call it "blowback," as in you should've checked to make sure the barrel of your rifle wasn't plugged, because when the bolt blows back in your face you might want to look into finding a good medical plan.

The US should know a great deal about blowback by now. After all, we trained Manuel Noriega, then acted all surprised and shocked when he became the #1 Drug Bagman of Central America. We trained Osama bin Laden, and were probably shocked when he and his Merry Wanderers Polka and High Explosives Team started getting medieval on our asses.

And so we come to Iraq. This is blowback writ large; the formation of a terrorist training ground so vast and comprehensive as to give the 'War on Terror' plenty of play for the next twenty years or so. And all the deaths - the US soldiers who gave their lives based on lies and 'fixed' intelligence, all the civilians who died suffering, and all the future lives who will be lost in train stations, bus stops, police stations and shopping centers - can be laid at the feet of the man who established Iraq as the "central front in the War on Terror."

It's called blowback, George. Take a good strong steamy whiff of it.