In this article, we aim to discuss how manifestations of American identities have been reproduced in Somalia by diverse US diplomacy actors in the 2000s. Following a knowledge/power nexus, we argue that Orientalist discourses establish alterity politics in global South countries by managing and controlling post-colonial bodies. We explore different expressions of the American self's reflection by comparisons to Somalia in discourses on terrorism and ethnicity. To do this, we understand American identity based on the notions of Americanity and Puritanism. This article contributes to debates on identity/difference among foreign policy, critical security, and terrorism studies by combining academic, journalistic, and political sources as expressions of US discourse.