Don’t forget Nayirah.
Here’s the testimony of a teenager, who turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, testifying that she saw babies being killed, all made up.
This led to the first Gulf War.
“While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers coming into the hospital with guns and go into the room where 15 babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the babies on the cold floor to die.”
A largely forgotten aspect of Bush Sr.’s war on Iraq is the vast domestic propaganda effort before the invasion began.
Nayirah Al-Salibah’s “testimony” was the war propaganda needed to bolster George H.W. Bush’s war in Iraq.
Her testimony was rebroadcast across the country and marked a turning point in public opinion on going to war.
Three months after Nayirah testified, President George H.W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq.
None of what she said was true. In fact, it turns out that she was also not just any Kuwaiti teenager. She was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Saud Nasser al-Sabah. She had been coached by the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, which was working for the Kuwaiti government.
As we watch war propaganda roll out in real time today- remember this.