US officials justified backing Arab dictators by deeming Arabs incapable of democratic self-rule
Evidence
John Foster Dulles, as Eisenhower’s secretary of state, called Nasser and other Arab nationalists like him “pathological” for their suspicion of the West and referred to the nationalist Iranian leader Mohammad Mossadegh as “a wily Oriental.” Eisenhower believed that Arabs were incapable of democratic self-rule. He said: “If you go and live with these Arabs, you will find that they simply cannot understand our ideas of freedom and dignity … They have lived so long under dictatorships of one form or another, how can we expect them to run successfully a free government?” In reality, the United States has consistently supported dictators and repressive regimes that can be relied upon to act in the interests of the West. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 368
Categorization
- XREF: Parallels the logic of colonial-era justifications for imperialism — ‘civilizing mission’ rhetoric, — connects to: US officials openly framed Arab peoples as incapable of self-rule while backing dictators; US officials pathologized Arab nationalists as unfit for democracy — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 207; US officials racialized Muslims as incapable of democracy while arming their dictators — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 368 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- US officials openly framed Arab peoples as incapable of self-rule while backing dictators
#corroborates(0.98) - US officials racialized Muslims as incapable of democracy while arming their dictators
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 368 - Eisenhower and Dulles pathologized Arab nationalism as incapable of self-rule
#exemplifies(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 380 - US officials pathologized Arab nationalists as unfit for democracy
#expands(0.88) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 207 - American presidents endorsed the myth of Muslim incapacity for self-rule
#corroborates(0.85) - Liberal-modernization racism blamed Arab political culture for autocracy while US elites backed dictators
#expands(0.85) - US Middle East alliances have repeatedly thwarted democracy
#complicates(0.78) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 297