US officials welcomed Saudi Islamicization as a Cold War counterweight to Nasser
Evidence
As one senior CIA official put it, the optic was the Cold War. The Cold War was the defining clarity of the time. We saw Nasser as socialist, anti-Western, anti-Baghdad Pact, and we were looking for some sort of counterfoil. Saudi efforts to Islamicize the region were seen as powerful and effective and likely to be successful. We loved that. We had an ally against communism. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 390
Categorization
- QUESTION: Attributed only to ‘one senior CIA official’ with no name or date of interview — tracing the source would strengthen citable weight.
- XREF: connects to: The CIA cultivated the Muslim Brotherhood to counter Nasser’s pan-Arab nationalism; US allied with Saudi Islamization while praising authoritarian Shah Iran — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 394; The CIA deliberately cultivated Islamist groups as Cold War counterweights to Nasserism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 389 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- The CIA deliberately cultivated Islamist groups as Cold War counterweights to Nasserism
#expands(0.93) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 389 - US allied with Saudi Islamization while praising authoritarian Shah Iran
#corroborates(0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 394 - American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219 - The US courted even a violent Muslim Brotherhood against Nasser
#corroborates(0.88) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 225 - US facilitated Muslim violence when it served Cold War interests
#corroborates(0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 288 - US cold-war strategy deliberately weaponized religion against nationalism and communism in Muslim regions
#expands(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 388 - During the early Cold War, Islam was coded positively in US discourse
#expands(0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 392 - Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution
#expands(0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247 - France believed wrongly that toppling Nasser would collapse the Algerian revolt.
#qualifies(0.72) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 493