The Muslim terrorist replaced the Soviet communist as the West’s public enemy number one

Evidence

What we see in both the Soviet-Afghan War and the rise of al-Qaeda is the emergence of a radical version of Islamism that developed a violent jihadist ideology in an effort to resist and defeat the two great superpowers of the Cold War. The United States may have supported this ideology during the Soviet-Afghan War because it was a convenient tool in undermining its Cold War nemesis, but, eventually, some of the mujahideen turned from ally to enemy. By the time of 9/11, the Muslim terrorist, with some assistance from the United States’ Cold War tactics, had replaced the Soviet communist as public enemy number one. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 259

Categorization

• SEED: The Cold War-to-War-on-Terror enemy substitution is a clean through-line for an essay on how superpower rivalry manufactured its own successor threat.
• XREF: connects to: Post-war aid dependency and urban poverty breeding riots replaced Soviet alliance; The homegrown radical replaced the foreign actor as the terrorist profile — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 372; Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 257 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The homegrown radical replaced the foreign actor as the terrorist profile #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 372
• Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement #corroborates (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 257
• State-perpetuated fear racializes Muslim bodies as terrorist enemies #qualifies (0.50)