US policymakers treated Islamist movements as allies before the Iranian Revolution.

Evidence

Until the 1970s, policy makers saw various state and non-state actors that mobilized Islam on the political stage as allies, but after the Iranian Revolution “bad” Islam and “bad” Muslims made an entrance. The development of the “Arab terrorist” and later the “Islamic terrorist” stock figure, a product largely of the neocon–Likud alliance, began in the late 1970s and continued through the 1980s. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 473

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the framing in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ era geopolitics and the general arc of US relations with political Islam across the 20th century. — connects to: The US once allied with Islamist forces before treating them as enemies; Islam organizations were US allies before the 1979 Iranian Revolution — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 389; Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Islam organizations were US allies before the 1979 Iranian Revolution #corroborates (0.98) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 389
• Political Islam was not uniformly seen as an enemy before the Iranian Revolution #corroborates (0.90)
• Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution #expands (0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247
• The 1979 Iranian Revolution shifted US policy from promoting Islam to denouncing it #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 407
• The US alternately armed and opposed Islamist forces to preserve its regional domination. #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 29