Editing Dehumanization (section)

=== War propaganda ===
National leaders use dehumanizing propaganda to sway public opinion in favor of the military elite's agenda or cause and to repel criticism and proper oversight. The Bush Jr administration used dehumanizing rhetoric to describe Arabs and Muslims collectively as backwards, violent fanatics who "hate us for our freedom" to justify his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and covert CIA operations in the Middle East and Africa.<ref name="rg1">{{cite web |last1=Merskin |first1=Debra |title=The Construction of Arabs as Enemies: Post-September 11 Discourse of George W. Bush |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261572913 |access-date=25 June 2024}}</ref> The media propaganda portrayed Arabs as a "monolithic evil" in the perception of the unwitting American public.<ref name="rg1" /> They employed news, media, language, magazine stories, television, and popular culture to portray all Muslims as Arab and all Arabs as violent terrorists which must be feared, fought, and destroyed. Racism was also used by portraying all Arabs as dark-skinned and thus racially inferior and untrustworthy.<ref name="rg1" />