Hirsi Ali’s memoirs recycled Orientalist tropes to justify war in Afghanistan.

Evidence

Hirsi Ali’s autobiographical best-selling books, Infidel (2007), Nomad (2010), and Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015) regurgitated Orientalist tropes of Islam as a misogynistic religion, thereby justifying the need to save Muslim women as part of the War on Terror. She validated First Lady Laura Bush’s statements in a radio address on November 17, 2001: “The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 791