The US frames alliances with Egyptian dictators as terrorism-war pacts to justify outsourcing torture

Evidence

The case of Abdelfattah reveals the significance of the discourse of the “Muslim terrorist.” In Egypt, this discourse, produced and promoted by US Democrats and Republicans alike, serves as a cover for continuing the punishment, containment, and isolation of anyone who stands in the way of US empire. Thus, every US administration since 1979 (when Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords) has provided Egypt with military, political, and economic support to repress Egyptian people while sustaining Egypt’s status as a partner in advancing US agendas, including Israeli settler colonialism in the region. The United States frames its relationship with Egyptian dictators as an alliance in the “war on terrorism,” a stance that helps rationalize policies such as extraordinary rendition, which outsource the torture as well as the execution of Muslims to places with more lenient torture laws than the United States. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s notes on imperial framing tactics — the ‘war on terrorism’ as a legitimizing cover mirrors the moral-panic machinery documented in the noise and decency panics. — connects to: The war-on-terror framing rationalizes outsourcing torture to allied regimes; The terrorist-label discourse justifies US support for Egyptian dictatorship — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 42; Outsourcing torture to proxy nations displaced moral responsibility for it. (+3 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: how ‘terrorism watch lists’ in allied autocracies function as a shared US-empire lexicon for suppressing domestic dissent — the list as an imperial technology.

Broader Connections

• The war-on-terror framing rationalizes outsourcing torture to allied regimes #expands (0.95)
• The terrorist-label discourse justifies US support for Egyptian dictatorship #expands (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 42
• Outsourcing torture to proxy nations displaced moral responsibility for it. #expands (0.85)
• US policy backed dictators and counterrevolution against the Arab Spring #qualifies (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 580
• US funds and arms its dictatorial allies to block domestic challenges #complicates (0.75)
• Islamist groups are labeled allies or terrorists based on US interests #qualifies (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 400