US military diversity itself served as imperial branding after the Gulf War

Evidence

Melani McAlister argues that the US military reconfigured itself in this period as a meritocratic institution in which women and people of color could thrive. General Colin Powell was a visible embodiment of this new branding effort. … After the Gulf War, politicians and the press alike expected that the United States would now be able to intervene whenever and wherever its leaders felt necessary. The representations of the military provided the mandate for that power: the diversity of its armed forces made the United States a world citizen, with all the races and nations of the globe represented in its population. As the military would represent the diversity of the United States, the United States, as represented in its military, would contain the world. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 416

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to chapter 9 claim that representing military diversity legitimized endless US intervention. — connects to: Post-Cold War US empire rebranded military force as benevolent multicultural intervention — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 403; Representing military diversity legitimized endless US intervention worldwide; Post-Soviet US empire fused military power with a multicultural benevolent brand (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• US military diversity was deployed to legitimate global intervention #corroborates (0.95)
• The Gulf War military was rebranded as a multicultural force to justify intervention. #corroborates (0.93) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 97
• Post-Soviet US empire fused military power with a multicultural benevolent brand #expands (0.92)
• Military diversity was marketed to justify global intervention as world-citizen duty #corroborates (0.90)
• Revealing African American soldiers legitimated the 1991 Gulf War’s racial optics #exemplifies (0.85)
• Imperial branding shifted from white masculinity to multiracial feminist inclusion to deflect racism charges #expands (0.78) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 406
• The United States reversed its historic promotion of unity toward diversity promotion #expands (0.75) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 847