>It was definitely eye-opening for me to read "Blowback". The well known CIA cases like Iran and S. American were mentioned. But the author's expertise is in the Asian region. And he mentioned some USA actions down there that have not been so heavily advertised.
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>The two incidents I remember reading about were Indonesia and S. Korea. The US govt proped up dictators there, thru the CIA, in the fight against Communism. I don't remember the guy's name in S. Korea. But the atrocities committed by his govt surpased those of another incident at the time, Tienamen (sp?) Square. That of course was heavily publicized in the US, where the S. Korean episode was kept quiet here.
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I assume "kept quiet" means it wasn't featured on Entertainment Tonight ? <g> Stuff that happens in the street in Seoul ( where pitched street battles are something of a national sport ) aren't 'kept quiet' so much as being just not able to penetrate to the consciousness of an American public that isn't quite sure where Asia is.

The alternative to the evil weasels of Park Chung-hee's government wasn't a wise philosopher king or Athenian democracy. Compared to Kim Il-sung he was Thomas Jefferson <s>

Context is everything. Suggest anybody really interested in this stuff read Gaddis on the Cold War.

The Tienemen Square incident was nasty in itself, but more significant as a symbol of a government that was trying to show itself to the world as kinder and gentler still being the descendants of the madman who killed more of his own people than any ruler in history ( which,when you consider his competition included Stalin, was quite an achievement )