Nayirah (false testimony to start US-Iraq war)
Nayirah (testimony) refers to the controversial testimony given before the non-governmental Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, by a female who provided only her first name, Nayirah. In her emotional testimony, Nayirah stated that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers take babies out of incubators, take the incubators, and leave the babies to die. Though reporters did not have access to Kuwait at the time, her testimony was regarded as credible at the time and was widely publicized. It was cited numerous times by United States senators and the president in their rationale to back Kuwait in the Gulf War.
Her story was initially corroborated by Amnesty International and testimony from evacuees. Following the liberation of Kuwait, reporters were given access to the country and found the story of stolen incubators unsubstantiated. However, they did find that a number of people, including babies, died when nurses and doctors fled the country.
In 1992, it was revealed that Nayirah's last name was al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح) and that she was the daughter of Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Furthermore, it was revealed that her testimony was organized as part of the Citizens for a Free Kuwait public relations campaign which was run by Hill & Knowlton for the Kuwaiti government. Following this, al-Sabah's testimony has since largely come to be regarded as wartime propaganda.
Background
Incubator allegations
Iraqis are beating people, bombing and shooting. They are taking all hospital equipment, babies out of incubators . Life-support systems are turned off. . . . They are even removing traffic lights. The Iraqis are beating Kuwaitis, torturing them, knifing them, beating them, cutting their ears off if they are caught resisting or are with the Kuwaiti army or police. |
—Evacuee's description as reported in St. Louis Post-Dispatch[1] |
Following the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait, there were reports from of widespread looting. On September 2, 1990 in a letter to the UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Kuwait's UN representative, Mohammad A. Abulhasan, wrote:
Further to those of our communications which are intended to inform you of the actions perpetrated by the Iraqi occupation authorities in Kuwait in contravention of all international laws, and on the basis of confirmed information provided to us by the Government of Kuwait, we wish to draw attention to a phenomenon which has no precedent in history, namely, the Iraqi occupation authorities' organized operation for the purpose of looting and plundering Kuwait. It is impossible to compare this operation to any similar incidents or to provide an exact account thereof because it is in effect an operation designed to achieve nothing less than the complete removal of Kuwait's assets, including property belonging to the State, to public and private institutions and to individuals, as well as the contents of houses, factories, stores, hospitals, academic institutes, schools, and universities...What has occurred in Kuwait is the perpetration of an act of armed robbery by a State which has used its military, security and technical organs for that purpose.[2]
In the letter, Abulhasan also noted that "theft of all equipment from private and public hospitals, including X-ray machines, scanners and pieces of laboratory equipment."[2] The allegations of looting were also retold by evacuees who described "soldiers looting office buildings, schools and hospitals for air conditioners, computers, blackboards, desks, and even infant incubators and radiation equipment." [3] Douglas Hurd, the British Secretary for foreign affairs surmised that "they are looting and destroying in a way which suggests that they may not expect to be there for very long."[4]
The looting of incubators attracted media attention because of allegations that premature babies were being discarded or dying as a result.<fix>[5] On September 5, Abdul Wahab Al-Fowzan, the Kuwaiti health minister-in-exile, stated at a press conference in Taif, Saudi Arabia "that Iraqi soldiers had seized virtually all of the country's hospitals and medical institutions after their invasion" and that "soldiers evicted patients and systematically looted the hospitals of high-tech equipment, ambulances, drugs and plasma" which resulted in the death of 22 premature babies.[4][6][6]The Washington Post described the origin of the Kuwaiti baby story as follows:
The Kuwaiti baby story originated with a letter from a senior Kuwaiti public health official that was smuggled out of the country by a European diplomat late last month, according to Hudah Bahar, an architect who received the letter here in London. It was supplemented by information gathered from fleeing Kuwaitis and other sources by Fawzia Sayegh, a Kuwaiti pediatrician living here. The letter claimed that Iraqi soldiers ordered patients evicted from several hospitals and closed down critical units for treating cancer patients, dialysis patients and those suffering from diabetes. Bahar and Sayegh said the Iraqis hauled sophisticated equipment such as dialysis machines back to Baghdad, part of the haul of cash, gold, cars and jewelry that is said by Arab banking sources to exceed $2 billion. Among the equipment taken were the 22 infant incubator units, they said.[6]
The Washington Post also noted that it was unable to verify the accusations as Iraq did not permit access to the area and had quarantined diplomats.[6]
On September 5, in another letter to the UN Secretary General, Abulhasan reiterated Fowzan's claims writing:
We are informed by impeccable sources in Kuwait's health institutions that the Iraqi occupation authorities have carried out the following brutal crimes, which may be described as crimes against humanity: ... 2. The incubators in maternity hospitals used for children suffering from retarded growth (premature children) have been removed, causing the death of all the children who were under treatment.[7]
The letter did not state how many babies had died.[6][8] The allegations in the letter received widespread media coverage in the following days.[9][10][11][12][13][14] That day, in an interview with released hostages on NPR's All Things Considered, a hostage stated that Iraqi troops were "hitting children with the butts of the guns, taking infants out of incubators and taking the incubators."[15] Reuters also reported they had been told "that Iraqi troops took premature babies out of incubators in Kuwait in order to steal the equipment."[16][17]
On September 9, NPR reported that "in a ward for premature infants, soldiers had turned off the oxygen on incubators and packed the equipment for shipment to Iraq."[18]
On September 17, Edward Gnehm Jr., the U.S. ambassador-designate to Kuwait, told reporters that Kuwaiti health officials told him 22 babies had died when Iraqi troops had stolen their incubators.[19] The Los Angeles Times reported that "refugees reported that incubators for premature babies were confiscated by Iraqi troops and the babies inside were piled on the floor and left to die."[5][20] The San Jose Mercury News also reported the same allegation that day, adding that Western diplomats thought "this is the kind of thing that some people call genocide, and if people wanted to construe it as such, it could be cause for some kind of military intervention."[21]
On September 25, the Washington Post reported that "Kuwait City's hospitals are being stripped of incubators."[5][22] The president of Citizens for a Free Kuwait wrote to Representative Gus Yatron stating of how he "recently learned that the Iraqi leader has ordered that maternity hospital incubators [in Kuwait], used for treating premature babies, be turned off, allowing these infants to die of exposure."[23]
On September 29, in a meeting between Kuwaiti leader Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah and president George Bush Sr., the exiled emir told the president that Iraqis were "going into hospitals, taking babies out of incubators and people off life-support machines to send the equipment back to Iraq."[24][25] In his remarks following the discussion, Bush stated that "Iraqi aggression has ransacked and pillaged a once peaceful and secure country, its population assaulted, incarcerated, intimidated, and even murdered" and that "Iraq's leaders are trying to wipe an internationally recognized sovereign state, a member of the Arab League and the United Nations, off the face of the map."[26]
On September 28, Kuwait's planning minister, Sulaiman Mutawa reported that 12 babies had died as a result of incubator looting.[27]
On September 30, U.S. News & World Report reported that that it had obtained secret US government cables based on eyewitness accounts that revealed "shocking acts of brutality inflicted by the Iraqis against innocent citizens at Kuwaiti hospitals."[28] The cables stated that on the sixth day of Iraqi invasion, Iraqi soldiers "entered the Adan Hospital in Fahaheel looking for hospital equipment to steal" and that "they unplugged the oxygen to the incubators supporting 22 premature babies and made off with the incubators" thus killing the 22 children.[28] The 22
On October 9, at a Presidential news conference, Bush stated:
I thought General Scowcroft [Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs] put it very well after the Amir left here. And I am very much concerned, not just about the physical dismantling but of the brutality that has now been written on by Amnesty International confirming some of the tales told us by the Amir of brutality. It's just unbelievable, some of the things at least he reflected. I mean, people on a dialysis machine cut off, the machine sent to Baghdad; babies in incubators heaved out of the incubators and the incubators themselves sent to Baghdad. Now, I don't know how many of these tales can be authenticated, but I do know that when the Amir was here he was speaking from the heart. And after that came Amnesty International, who were debriefing many of the people at the border. And it's sickening.[29]
Advertising
As far as the East is from the West, that's how far most U.S. advertisers want to be removed from any hint of capitalizing on the Iraqi conflict. |
—Advertisers steer clear of Mideast,St. Petersburg Times [30] |
Initially, most advertisers were ignoring the Middle East crisis in their ads.[30] It was noted that companies selling information, such as news organizations, were running advertisements for their coverage of the conflict.[30]
Citizens for a Free Kuwait
The Citizens for a Free Kuwait was a public relations committee set up by the Kuwaiti embassy, described by The Times News as a "Washington, D.C.- based committee comprised of concerned Kuwaitis and Americans".[31][32] Though the committee occupied embassy office space, they were to be working independently of the embassy.[31]
Hill & Knowlton
In 1990, after being approached by a Kuwaiti expatriate in New York, Hill & Knowlton took on "Citizens for a Free Kuwait."[33] The objective of the national campaign was to raise awareness in the United States about the dangers posed by Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein to Kuwait.[33]
Hill & Knowlton conducted a $1 million study to determine the best way to win support for strong action.[34] H & K had the Wirthington Group conduct focus groups to determine the best strategy that would influence public opinion.[35] The study found that an emphasis on atrocities, particularly the incubator story, was the most effective.[35]
Hill & Knowlton is estimated to have been given as much as $12 million by the Kuwaitis for their public relations campaign.[36]
Congressional Human Rights Foundation
The Congressional Human Rights Foundation is a non-governmental organization that investigates human rights abuse.[37] It was headed by Mr. Lantos and Mr. Porter and rented space in Hill & Knowlton's Washington headquarters at a $3000 reduced rate.[37]
Testimony
On October 10, 1990 Nayirah was the last to testify at the Caucus. In her oral testimony, which lasted about 6 minutes, she stated:
I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital with twelve other women who wanted to help as well. I was the youngest volunteer. The other women were from twenty to thirty years old. While I was there I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the babies on the cold floor to die.[crying] It was horrifying.[38][39]
Although Nayirah did not specify how many babies were in the incubators in her oral testimony, in the written testimony distributed by Hill and Howlton, it read "While I was there I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where 15 babies were in incubators."[40] The testimony was not given under oath.
Representative John Porter, co-chairman of the caucus, remarked than in his eight years of service on the caucus, he had never heard such "brutality and inhumanity and sadism."[41] Nayirah's testimony was described as the most dramatic.[41]
Hill & Knowlton
It is unclear how much of Nayirah's testimony was coached. Though the firm was supposed to provide only stylistic help,[42] it was reported that H&K "provided witnesses, wrote testimony, and coached the witnesses for effectiveness."[43]
Effect
Nayirah's testimony was widely publicized.[44] Hill & Knowlton, which had filmed the hearing, sent out a video news release to Medialink, a firm which served about 700 television stations in the United States.[45]
That night, portions of the testimony aired on ABC's Nightline and NBC Nightly News reaching an estimated audience between 35 and 53 million Americans.[43][45] Seven senators cited Nayirah's testimony in their speeches backing the use of force.[Note 1] President George Bush repeated the story at least ten times in the following weeks.[48] Her account of the atrocities helped to stir American opinion in favor of participation in the Gulf War.[49]
Initial Response
Corroboration
On January 13, 1991, the Sunday Times reported that a Dr Ali Al-Huwail could vouch for 92 deaths.[50]
Iraq
Iraq denied the allegations. On October 16, Iraqi information minister, Latif Nassif al-Jassem, told the Iraqi News Agency that "now you [Bush] are using what he [Sheikh Jaber] told you to make Congress ratify the budget which is in the red because of your policies" adding that "you, as the president of a superpower, have to weigh words carefully and not act as a clown who repeats what he is told."[51]
Kuwait visits
In a visit to Kuwait on October 21, 1990, journalists who were escorted by Iraqi information ministry officials, doctors at a Kuwaiti maternity facility denied the incubator allegations.[52] In the visit, the Iraqi head of the Kuwaiti health department, Abdul-Rahman Mohammad al-Ugeily, said that "Baghdad had sent 1,000 doctors and other medical to staff to help run Kuwait's 14 hospitals and health centres following the invasion."[52]
Revelation
A little reportorial investigation would have done a great service to the democratic process. |
—John MacArthur[53] |
On March 15, 1991, shortly after Kuwait was liberated, John Martin, an ABC reporter, reported that "patients, including premature babies, did die, when many of Kuwait's nurses and doctors stopped working or fled the country" and discovered that Iraqi troops had "almost certainly had not stolen hospital incubators and left hundreds of Kuwaiti babies to die."[54][55]
On January 6, 1992, The New York Times published an op-ed piece by John MacArthur entitled "Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?"[53] MacArthur discovered that Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S., Saud Nasir al-Sabah.[53] MacArthur noted that "the incubator story seriously distorted the American debate about whether to support military action" and questioned whether "their [Representatives Lantos and Porter] special relationship with Hill and Knowlton should prompt a Congressional investigation to find out if their actions merely constituted an obvious conflict of interest or, worse, if they knew who the tearful Nayirah really was in October 1990."[53] The story earned MacArthur the Monthly Journalism Award from The Washington Monthly in April 1992, and the Mencken Award in 1993.[40][56]
Subsequent response
Hill and Knowlton
We disseminated information in a void as a basis for Americans to form opinions. |
—Frank Mankiewicz, Vice Chairman, Hill & Knowlton[57][58] |
On January 15, 1992, the CEO of Hill & Knowlton, Thomas E. Eidson, responded to the concerns raised by MacArthur in a letter to the editor to The New York Times.[59] Eidson stated that "at no time has this firm collaborated with anyone to produce knowingly deceptive testimony" asserting that the firm "had no reason to question her veracity when she testified following her escape from Kuwait."[59] The letter explained that Nayirah's charge that Iraqi soldiers removed newborn babies from incubators was corroborated by Dr. Ibraheem Behbehani, head of the Red Crescent, before the United Nations Security Council and that the media was not permitted back inside Kuwait "until after the liberation, there was no way to check immediately on the stories of refugees."[59] Eidson concluded that "Nayirah's credibility should no more be questioned than if she had been a doctor or teacher" and the company's work with the Kuwaitis was consistent with firm's standards stating that "the public interest was fairly served."[59]
In August 1992, Howard Paster replaced Robert K. Gray as the general manager of the Washington office in order to cleanup the firm's image.[60][61]
Critics contended that the Hill & Knowlton had concocted a fake popular movement, Citizens for a Free Kuwait, and subsequently used questionable evidence and suspect witnesses to influence public opinion and policy in the United States and the UN.[58][62][63]
Hill & Knowlton's actions taken on behalf of Citizens for a Free Kuwait, together with those of other major clients including Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the Church of Scientology, and an anti-abortion campaign by Catholic bishops raised ethical concerns among public relations professionals.[64] The concerns, though not new, were more vigorous than previous ones due to the prominence of the issues.[33]
Tom Lantos response
Hold on to your hats. The grand campaign to rewrite the history of the Persian Gulf war is on. |
-Tom Lantos response to MacArthur[65] |
In an interview, Lantos stated that he had concealed the Nayirah's identity at the request of her father in order to protect her family and friends.[49] Lantos denied any allegations of wrongdoing arguing that "The media happened to focus on her. If she hadn't testified, they would have focused on something else."[49] Lantos also stated that:
The notion that any of the witnesses brought to the caucus through the Kuwaiti Embassy would not be credible did not cross my mind. I have no basis for assuming that her story is not true, but the point goes beyond that. If one hypothesizes that the woman's story is fictitious from A to Z, that in no way diminishes the avalanche of human rights violations.[49]
In a letter to the editor to the New York Times on Jan 27, 1992 entitled "Kuwaiti Gave Consistent Account of Atrocities", Tom Lantos responded to MacArthur's allegations. He wrote that "Mr. MacArthur's deceptive article serves only the cynics who seek to rewrite the history of the Persian Gulf war" noting "the article's sinister innuendo suggests that the girl was not even in Kuwait at the time of the Iraqi invasion, and that the whole gruesome incident was a diabolical plot by an American public relations firm." [65] Lantos wrote that "the fact that Nayirah was the daughter of the Ambassador of Kuwait made her a more credible witness" and that her "her relationship to the Ambassador and Government enhanced her credibility."[65] He also noted that "her account was consistent with the information we received from other witnesses, with hundreds of other atrocity stories from Kuwait carried by media around the globe, and consistent with reports by independent human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, who also testified at our hearing and subsequently published accounts similar to Nayirah's."[65] Lantos concluded that "given the countless cases of verified Iraqi human rights violations", it was "unnecessary and counterproductive to invent atrocities."[65]
Lantos also rejected the allegations of a special relationship between the caucus and Hill & Knowlton stating that "caucus activities are held without regard to whether these countries are represented by any law firm or public relations firm."[65]
In a subsequent letter to New York Times, MacArthur pointed out that the testimony had been retracted.[66]
Ambassador Sabah
The ambassador has stated that his daughter had witnessed the atrocities she described, and that her presence in Kuwait could be verified by the United States Embassy in Kuwait.[49] He also stated "If I wanted to lie, or if we wanted to lie, if we wanted to exaggerate, I wouldn't use my daughter to do so. I could easily buy other people to do it."[67]
Investigations
Middle East Watch
In 1992, the human rights organization Middle East Watch published the results of their investigation of the incubator story. Its director, Andrew Whitley, told the press, "While it is true that the Iraqis targeted hospitals, there is no truth to the charge which was central to the war propaganda effort that they stole incubators and callously removed babies allowing them to die on the floor. The stories were manufactured from germs of truth by people outside the country who should have known better." One investigator, Aziz Abu-Hamad, interviewed doctors in the hospital where Nayirah claimed she witnessed Iraqi soldiers pull 15 infants from incubators and leave them to die. The Independent reported, "The doctors told him the maternity ward had 25 to 30 incubators. None was taken by the Iraqis, and no babies were taken from them."[68]
Amnesty International
Amnesty International initially supported the story, but later issued a retraction.[69][70] It stated that it "found no reliable evidence that Iraqi forces had caused the deaths of babies by removing them or ordering their removal from incubators."[71]
Kroll Report
Kuwaiti officials do not discuss the matter with the press.[40] In order to respond to these charges, the Kuwaiti government hired Kroll Associates to undertake an independent investigation of the incubator story. The Kroll investigation lasted nine weeks and conducted over 250 interviews. The interviews with Nayirah revealed that her original testimony was wildly distorted at best; she told Kroll that she had actually only seen one baby outside its incubator for "no more than a moment." She also told Kroll that she was never a volunteer at the hospital and had in fact "only stopped by for a few minutes."[72]
Hill & Knowlton spokesman Tom Ross describes the report as a "vindication of Hill and Knowlton" and that "it conclusively demonstrates that there were incubator atrocities and that Nayirah was a witness to them."[40]
Television
Both 20/20 and 60 minutes featured investigative pieces on the testimony.
Criticism
The campaign has been described by critics as corrupt, deceptive and unethical and charge that it was used to spread false or exaggerated tales of Iraqi atrocities.[36][73][74]
Lantos was criticized for his withholding the information.[37]
The testimony has been regarded as false by the Chicago Tribune,[73] Huffington Post[75] and numerous other publications.
Aftermath
In fact, nearly everyone involved in peddling the tale of the unplugged babies, from Amnesty International to Kuwaiti doctors, has sprinted away from it. |
—Newsday[76] |
Following the end of the war, Reuters reported that Iraq returned "98 truckloads of medical equipment stolen from Kuwait, including two of the baby incubators".[77] Kuwait's chief ambulance officer, Abdul Reda Abbas, stated that "We think the Iraqis might have returned the incubators by mistake."[77]
Following the revelation of Nayirah's identity, there was a public outrage that the information had been withheld.[78]
Scholarly commentary
In the end, the question was not whether H&K effectively altered public opinion, but whether the combined efforts of America's own government, foreign interests, and private PR and lobbying campaigns drowned out decent and rational, unemotional debate. |
—The power house: Robert Keith Gray and the selling of access and influence in Washington[79] |
The content, presentation, distribution, effectiveness, and purpose of Nayirah's testimony have been the subject of multiple public relations studies.
In his book, Strategic Maneuvering in Argumentative Discourse, Frans H. van Eemeren stating that "visual messages which accompany verbal argumentation can be so drastic that rational argumentation becomes almost impossible" described Nayirah's story as an argumentum ad misericordiam.[80] In the paper The Hill & Knowlton Cases: A Brief on the Controversy by Susanne A. Roschwalb, the author noted that as H&K was a British firm, "what effect did British concerns -such as the possible collapse of its financial institutions, if the Kuwaiti currency, the dinar, became worthless -have on Hill & Knowlton’s efforts?"[81] Ted Rowse, in his article Kuwaitgate — killing of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers exaggerated in the The Washington Monthly noted that "Most reporters, having apparently been burned by Hill & Knowlton's handiwork in spreading the original Nayirah story without checking it out, seem to prefer to let the story fade away, passively falling, once again, for the company's public relations guile."[40] John R. MacArthur, who authored Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War has noted that "at the time, it was the most sophisticated and expensive PR campaign ever run in the U.S. by a foreign government."[73]
In popular culture
The 2002 HBO movie Live From Baghdad included several scenes dealing with the incubator allegations, without presenting the story as unquestioned truth. In that movie, several characters try to determine the accuracy or inaccuracy of the story, but are unable to draw any conclusions. After the final credits, a note stated that the incubator allegations were never substantiated.[82]
See also
- To Sell a War
- Live From Baghdad
- Jumana Hanna
- Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah
- Saddam Hussein's alleged shredder
Notes
References
- ^ "U.S. Evacuates 171 From Iraq, Kuwait - Women Who Made It Out Recount Tales Of Terror". St. Louis Post-Dispatch: p. 1A. September 8, 1990. "Cindy of San Francisco, who declined to be identified further, said, Iraqis are beating people, bombing and shooting. They are taking all hospital equipment, babies out of incubators . Life-support systems are turned off. . . . They are even removing traffic lights. "The Iraqis are beating Kuwaitis, torturing them, knifing them, beating them, cutting their ears off if they are caught resisting or are with the Kuwaiti army or police," she said."
- ^ a b United Nations Security Council masthead document Letter Dated 2 September 1990 From The Permanent Representative Of Kuwait To The United Nations Addressed To The Secretary-General on September 3, 1990
- ^ Leff, Lisa (September 11, 1990). "Weary, wary evacuees bring tales of horror". Washington Post. "The evacuees told of soldiers looting office buildings, schools and hospitals for air conditioners, computers, blackboards, desks, and even infant incubators and radiation equipment. They described food shortages that afflicted soldiers as well as civilians, and random acts of violence."
- ^ a b Beeston, Nicholas (September 5, 1990). "A battle ground to test Saddam - Iraq invasion of Kuwait". London, England.
- ^ a b c Rendall, p. 24
- ^ a b c d e Frankel, Glenn (September 10, 1990). "Iraq, Kuwait Waging an Old-Fashioned War of Propaganda (subscription required)". Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ United Nations Security Council masthead document Letter Dated 5 September 1990 From The Permanent Representative Of Kuwait To The United Nations Addressed To The Secretary-General on September 5, 1990
- ^ Walton, p 771
- ^ "Kuwait says seizure of hospital equipment caused many deaths". Reuters News. September 6, 1992.
- ^ "Iraq equipment removal killed patients - Kuwait.". Reuters News. September 6, 1992.
- ^ "Kuwaiti says Iraq plundered hospitals". Associated Press (North Carolina: Charlotte Observer): p. A16. September 7, 1990.
- ^ "Official: Hospitalized in Kuwait are left to die". Associated Press (Chicago Tribune): p. 12. September 7, 1990.
- ^ "Persian Gulf crisis - More about the Mideast". Houston Chronicle: p. A18. September 7, 1990.
- ^ "Kuwait Says Iraq Plundered Hospitals" (Associated Press). The San Francisco Chronicle: p. A21. September 7, 1990.
- ^ "Released Hostages Tell of Kuwait Terror" (Transcription of broadcast). All Things Considered (National Public Radio). September 7, 1990. "Total destruction everywhere, cars wrecked, burned, people thrown out of cars on the street you're driving down; they just throw people over the street. They're hitting children with the butts of the guns, taking infants out of incubators and taking the incubators."
- ^ "Kuwait offers to help cover mideast costs - contributions should offset U.S. liability". Newport News (Virginia). September 8, 1990. "Cindy, who refused to give her last name, and another woman who identified herself only as Rudi, told the Reuters news agency that Iraqi troops took premature babies out of incubators in Kuwait in order to steal the equipment."
- ^ Tamayo, Juan O. (September 8, 1990). "Iraqi hostage horror: `It smelled of death'". Austin American-Statesman: p. A1.
- ^ "Weekend Edition Sunday (News)" (Transcription of broadcast). National Public Radio. September 9, 1990. "`Time is running out,' said one, a pediatrician. She said in the last few days, the Iraqi troops had looted a local hospital. In a ward for premature infants, soldiers had turned off the oxygen on incubators , she said, and packed the equipment for shipment to Iraq. Dr. Fawzi al-Said said the report came to her by the hospital attendants, who had buried the dead infants."
- ^ "Iraq tightens its grip on Kuwait". Ohio. September 29, 1990. pp. 6A. "The U.S. ambassador-designate to Kuwait, Edward Gnehm Jr., told reporters Monday that Kuwaiti health officials told him 22 babies born prematurely died when Iraqi troops removed them from incubators they stole. Gnehm has been named to replace current ambassador Nathaniel Howell, who is holed up inside the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait."
- ^ Murphy, Kim (September 17, 1990). "Kuwaitis bolt for border amid reports of atrocities". The Los Angeles Times (The Tampa Tribune): p. 1A. "Western officials said that they are still investigating reports of atrocities in Kuwait and added that many appeared to be well-documented and supported by enough eyewitness accounts that they could be considered true. In one case, refugees reported that incubators for premature babies were confiscated by Iraqi troops and the babies inside were piled on the floor and left to die."
- ^ "Air Cutoff of Iraq Gains U.N. Support Kuwaiti Refugees Spill Across Border". San Jose Mercury News (California): p. 1A. September 17, 1990. "In one case, refugees reported that incubators for premature babies were confiscated by Iraqi troops and the babies inside were piled on the floor and left to die. "This is the kind of thing that some people call genocide, and if people wanted to construe it as such, it could be cause for some kind of military intervention," said a Western diplomat in close contact with the Kuwaitis."
- ^ Hoagland, Jim (September 25, 1990). "End Saddam's Reign of Terror". Washington Post: p. a23. "But while dissidents have been making such arguments, Saddam's actions in Kuwait show that he is not interested in compromise or in leaving Kuwait -- on any terms. He has begun to depopulate Kuwait, as he once did with Kurdistan, and to send in Iraqis with phony new citizenship documents. Based on Saddam's bloodstained track record, it is almost certain that the young Kuwaiti men being grabbed at the border and elsewhere in Kuwait are being sent to Iraq to die. American refugees and others report that Kuwait City's hospitals are being stripped of incubators and any other supplies that can be sent to Baghdad, leaving babies and infirm patients to die.ld give sanctions and negotiations a chance so he can avoid the costs of attacking Iraq's occupation forces is not enough. That does not stay Saddam's ruthless hand."
- ^ Hall, Lawrence. "Suffer the Children: Summit must herald a new era in lives of our endangered young". Newark, New Jersey. "The president of Citizens for a Free Kuwait recently wrote Rep. Gus Yatron (D-Pa.), decrying the brutality of this madman."Nothing points to the ruthlessness of Saddam Hussein more poignantly than his unmerciful misuse of the very young. His manipulation of political opponents through the abuse of their children is, sadly, a well documented fact. We recently learned that the Iraqi leader has ordered that maternity hospital incubators (in Kuwait ), used for treating premature babies, be turned off, allowing these infants to die of exposure," he wrote."
- ^ "Iraq plunders Kuwait, US warns war closer- The Gulf crisis". The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia): p. 8. September 30, 1990. "The emir told Bush of Iraqis going into hospitals, taking babies out of incubators and people off life-support machines to send the equipment back to Iraq."
- ^ Raum, Tom. "Iraqi provocation\Emir's tales of Iraqi atrocities in Kuwait may spur U.S. military response". Associated Press (Philadelphia Daily News).
- ^ "Remarks Following Discussions With Amir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah of Kuwait". September 28, 1990. "Iraqi aggression has ransacked and pillaged a once peaceful and secure country, its population assaulted, incarcerated, intimidated, and even murdered. Iraq's leaders are trying to wipe an internationally recognized sovereign state, a member of the Arab League and the United Nations, off the face of the map."
- ^ Spiegelman, Arthur (September 28, 1990). Reuters News. Its leaders in exile, Kuwait plans for the day of freedom. "He said that Iraqi troops were plundering his country, removing even the rides and merry-go-around from a children's amusement park. "They went into a hospital and took babies from incubators. Twelve babies died so they could send the incubators to Baghdad.""
- ^ a b Gergen, David (September 30, 1990). "The barbarities of Saddam Hussein - In Kuwait, 22 babies died when invaders stole their incubators". US News & World Report (The Seattle Times): p. A16. "Secret U.S. government cables, obtained by U.S. News & World Report, reveal shocking acts of brutality inflicted by the Iraqis against innocent citizens at Kuwaiti hospitals. The cables are based on eyewitness accounts from Kuwaiti doctors and others traumatized by what they have seen. Among their allegations: -- On the sixth day of their invasion, Iraqi soldiers reportedly entered the Adan Hospital in Fahaheel looking for hospital equipment to steal. They unplugged the oxygen to the incubators supporting 22 premature babies and made off with the incubators . All 22 children died."
- ^ "The President's News Conference". The American Presidency Project. October 9, 1990.
- ^ a b c AMOS, DENISE L. (September 3, 1990). "Advertisers steer clear of Mideast". p. 9.
- ^ a b Deparle, Jason (3 September 1990). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Gulf Crisis Starts a Costly Fight for Good Press". The New York Times: p. 31.
- ^ "Kuwaitis loan jets to transport troops". Associated Press (The Times News): p. 5. August 28, 1990.
- ^ a b c Roschbwalb, p. 268
- ^ Rowse, Aruther E. (October 18, 1992). "Teary Testimony to Push America Toward War". The San Francisco Chronicle: p. 9/Z1.
- ^ a b Andersen, p. 170
- ^ a b "Jury says 3 took Kuwaiti money to promote war". Sun-Sentinel (The Washington Post): p. 3A. July 8, 1992.
- ^ a b c "Deception on Capitol Hill". The New York Times: p. A20. January 15, 1992.
- ^ MacArthur, p. 58
- ^ Eemeren, p. 70
- ^ a b c d e Rowse, "Kuwaitgate - killing of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers exaggerated"
- ^ a b Brosnan, James W. (October 11, 1990). "Witenesses describe atrocities by Iraqis". The Commercial Appeal.
- ^ Pratt, p. 288
- ^ a b Sriramesh, p. 864
- ^ Walton, p. 772
- ^ a b Rowse, "How to build support for war"
- ^ Walton, p. 772
- ^ Eemeren, p. 70
- ^ Walton, p.771
- ^ a b c d e Krauss, Clifford (January 12, 1992). "CONGRESSMAN SAYS GIRL WAS CREDIBLE". The New York Times.
- ^ Alderson, Andrew; Wavell, Stuart (January 13, 1991). "Paradise lost: The full story of Iraq's violation of Kuwait - Gulf Crisis". Sunday Times.
- ^ "Iraq rejects U.S. charges of atrocities". Reuters News. October 16, 1990.
- ^ a b "Doctors deny babies killed in Iraqi invasion". Reuters News. October 21, 1990.
- ^ a b c d Arthur, John (January 6, 1992). "Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?". The New York Times.
- ^ Fowler, p. 22
- ^ Cohen, Mitchel (December 28, 2002). "How George Bush, Sr. Sold the 1991 Bombing of Iraq to America". CounterPunch.
- ^ "MacArthur, John R.". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Bennett, p. 131
- ^ a b Gilboa, p. 9
- ^ a b c d "P.R. Firm Had No Reason to Question Kuwaiti's Testimony". The New York Times. January 17, 1992.
- ^ Roschwalb, p. 273
- ^ Lee, Gary (August 28, 1992). "Troubled Public Relations Firm Names New Washington Manager; Paster Replaces Gray, Who Retains Title as Chairman of the Board". The Washington Post: p. A24.
- ^ Trento, p. 381
- ^ Grunig, pp. 137-138
- ^ Roschbwalb, p. 267
- ^ a b c d e f "Kuwaiti Gave Consistent Account of Atrocities". The New York Times: p. A20. January 27, 1992.
- ^ MacArthur, John (January 27, 1992). "Kuwaiti Gave Consistent Account of Atrocities; Retracted Testimony". The New York Times.
- ^ Stauber, p. 143
- ^ Leonard Doyle, "Iraqi Baby Atrocity is Revealed as Myth," The Independent (12 January 1992) p. 11.
- ^ "INCUBATOR STORY NEEDED VERIFICATION (subscription required)". Sun Sentinel. Jan 21, 1992.
- ^ Koenig, Robert L. (January 9, 1992). "Testimony Of Kuwaiti Envoy's Child Assailed". St. Louis Post-Dispatch: p. 1C.
- ^ Priest, Dana (January 7, 1992). "Legislator to Probe Allegations of Iraqi Atrocities; Accuser Identified as Daughter of Kuwait Ambassador to U.S. (subscription required)". The Washington Post.
- ^ Ted Rowse, "Kuwaitgate - killing of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers exaggerated," Washington Monthly (September 1992).
- ^ a b c Weiss, Tara (March 15, 2001). "NPR insists funding doesn't influence news". The Hartford Courant (Chicago Tribune).
- ^ Hebert, James (July 14, 2003). "Always consider the source … if you can identify it". Copley News Service. ""It was a corrupt, unethical thing to be doing," Broom says of the incident and Hill and Knowlton's role in it."
- ^ Sepahpour-Ulrich, Soraya (December 18, 2009). "Deadly Intentions: The Truth Behind The Iran Rumors".
- ^ Dwyer, Jim (July 3, 1992). "Desert Mirage Of Dead Babies (subscription required)". Long Island, New York.
- ^ a b Brough, David (September 6, 1992). "IRAQ RETURNS STOLEN INCUBATORS TO KUWAIT.". Reuters.
- ^ Richissin, Todd (October 17, 2001). "Media finds war access denied ; Coverage: Journalists are bristling at the Pentagon's tightening control on what they're allowed to see (subscription required)".
- ^ Qtd. in Trento, p. 389
- ^ Eemeren pp. 70-71
- ^ Roschwalb, p. 272
- ^ Live From Baghdad HBO: Related articles.
- Journals
- Bishop, Ed (April 2003). "Not so ancient history". St. Louis Journalism Review.
- Cull, Nicholas J. (Fall 2006). "'The Perfect War': US Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 1990/1991". Transnational Broadcasting Studies.
- Fowler, Giles; Fedler, Fred (1991). "A Farewell to Truth: Lies, Rumors and Propaganda as the Press Goes to War". Florida Communication Journal 22 (1): 22–34. ISSN 1050-3366.
- Gilboa, Eytan (2001). "Diplomacy in the media age: Three models of uses and effects". Diplomacy & Statecraft 12 (2): 1–28. doi:10.1080/09592290108406201. ISSN 0959-2296.
- Grunig, James E. (Summer 1993). "Public relations and international affairs: effects, ethics and responsibility" ((subscription required)). Journal of International Affairs 47 (1): 137–162. ISSN 0022197X.
- Mundy, Alicia (September/October 1992). "Is the press any match for powerhouse P.R.?". Columbia Journalism Review.
- Pratt, C (1994). "Hill & Knowlton's two ethical dilemmas". Public Relations Review 20 (3): 277–294. doi:10.1016/0363-8111(94)90041-8. ISSN 03638111.
- Rendall, Steve; Hart, Peter; Hollar, Julie (January/February 2006). "20 Stories That Made a Difference". Extra! 19 (1): 23–28. ISSN 0895-2310.
- Roschwalb, S (1994). "The Hill & Knowlton cases: A brief on the controversy". Public Relations Review 20 (3): 267–276. doi:10.1016/0363-8111(94)90040-X. ISSN 03638111.
- Rowse, Ted (September 1992). "Kuwaitgate - killing of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers exaggerated". The Washington Monthly.
- Rowse, Arthur E. (September/October 1992). "How to build support for war". Columbia Journalism Review.
- Walton, Douglas (1995). "Appeal to pity: A case study of theargumentum ad misericordiam". Argumentation 9 (5): 769–784. doi:10.1007/BF00744757. ISSN 0920-427X.
- Books
- Andersen, Robin (2006). A century of media, a century of war. Peter Lang. pp. 170–172. ISBN 9780820478937.
- Baillargeon, Normand (January 4, 2008). A short course in intellectual self-defense. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 9781583227657. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- Barra, Ximena de la; Buono, Richard Alan Dello (2009). Latin America after the neoliberal debacle: another region is possible. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780742566057.
- Bennett, W. Lance; Paletz, David L. (1994). Taken by storm: the media, public opinion, and U.S. foreign policy in the Gulf War. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226042596.
- Bivens, Rena Kim (October 2008). The Road to War: Manufacturing Public Opinion in Support of U.S. Foreign Policy Goals. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 9783640179312.
- Carpenter, Ted Galen (1995). The captive press: foreign policy crises and the First Amendment. Cato Institute. ISBN 9781882577224. Retrieved Marc.
- Doorley, John; Garcia, Helio Fred (October 20, 2006). Reputation management: the key to successful public relations and corporate communication. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415974707.
- Eemeren, Frans H. van (2009). Examining Argumentation in Context: Fifteen Studies on Strategic Maneuvering. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 70–71. ISBN 9789027211187.
- Effarah, Jamil E. (September 2007). Think Palestine to Unlock Us-Israelis and Arabs Conflicts. AuthorHouse. p. 240. ISBN 9781434332523.
- Ewen, Stuart (October 22, 1998). PR!: a social history of spin. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465061792.
- Foerstel, Herbert N. (June 2001). From Watergate to Monicagate: ten controversies in modern journalism and media. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 51–52. ISBN 9780313311635.
- Frenay, Robert (March 30, 2006). Pulse: the coming age of systems and machines inspired by living things. Macmillan. pp. 412–413. ISBN 9780374113278.
- Gardner, Lloyd C. (March 2, 2010). The Long Road to Baghdad: A History of U.S. Foreign Policy from the 1970s to the Present. The New Press. ISBN 9781595584762.
- Grandin, Greg (2007). Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805083231.
- Hatonn, Gyeorgos Ceres. From The Frying Pan Into The Pit Of Fire. Phoenix Source Distributors, Inc.. ISBN 9780922356904.
- Jaco, Charles (January 1, 2002). The complete idiot's guide to the Gulf War. Penguin. ISBN 9780028643243.
- Jamieson, Kathleen Hall; Waldman, Paul (June 21, 2004). The press effect: politicians, journalists, and the stories that shape the political world. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 9780195173291.
- Knightley, Phillip (2004). The first casualty: the war correspondent as hero and myth-maker from the Crimea to Iraq. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801880308.
- Loehr, Davidson (October 11, 2005). America, fascism, and God: sermons from a heretical preacher. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 9781931498937.
- Maass, Peter (August 10, 2010). Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil. Random House Digital, Inc.. ISBN 9781400075454.
- MacArthur, John R. (2004). Second front: censorship and propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520242319.
- Manheim, Jarol B. (January 2, 1994). Strategic public diplomacy and American foreign policy: the evolution of influence. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195087383.
- Marlin, Randal (2002). Propaganda and the ethics of persuasion. Broadview Press. ISBN 9781551113760.
- McCusker, Gerry (March 2006). "Propaganda-Truth is the first casualty of PR War". Public Relations Disasters: Talespin--Inside Stories and Lessons Learnt. Kogan Page Publishers. pp. 196–198. ISBN 9780749445720.
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- Miller, Karen S. (1999). The voice of business: Hill & Knowlton and postwar public relations. UNC Press Books. pp. 182–183. ISBN 9780807824399. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- Müller-Kulmann, Thomas (November 2007). Propaganda and Censorship in Gulf War I. GRIN Verlag. pp. 6–7. ISBN 9783638781459.
- Phillips, Kevin P. (September 6, 2004). American dynasty: aristocracy, fortune, and the politics of deceit in the house of Bush. Penguin. ISBN 9780143034315.
- Rossi, Melissa L. (November 29, 2005). What every American should know about who's really running the world: the people, corporations, and organizations that control our future. Penguin. ISBN 9780452286153.
- Schilke, Tim (March 29, 2005). Growing Up Red. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595793594.
- Spragens, William C. (1995). Electronic magazines: soft news programs on network television. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 51. ISBN 9780275941550.
- Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy (January 10, 2009). The global public relations handbook: theory, research, and practice. Taylor & Francis. pp. 864–865. ISBN 9780415995139.
- {{cite book|last1=Stauber|first1=John Clyde|last2=Rampton|first2=Sheldon|title=Toxic sludge is good for you: lies, damn lies, and the public relations industry|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zSw5XhNudR0C%7Cyear=1995%7Cpublisher=Common Courage Press|isbn=9781567510607}
- Trento, Susan B. (October 1992). The power house: Robert Keith Gray and the selling of access and influence in Washington. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312083199.
- Unger, Craig (March 16, 2004). House of Bush, house of Saud: the secret relationship between the world's two most powerful dynasties. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743253376.
- Walton, Douglas N. (June 1997). "The Nayirah Case". Appeal to pity: Argumentum ad misericordiam. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791434611.
- Winkler, Carol (2006). In the name of terrorism: presidents on political violence in the post-World War II era. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791466179.
- Willis, Jim; Willis, William James (2007). The media effect: how the news influences politics and government. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 9780275994969.
- Winter, James P. (1992). Common cents: media portrayal of the Gulf War and other events. Black Rose Books Ltd.. ISBN 9781895431247.
- Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education (U.S.) (1997). Public relations review. JAI Press.
External links
- Brian Eno, Lessons in how to lie about Iraq, The Observer, August 17, 2003.
- Ameen Izzadeen, Lies, damn lies and war, Daily Mirror of Sri Lanka, 2001 (no more precise date provided), archive.org mirror accessed 18 December 2006.
- Phillip Knightley, The disinformation campaign, The Guardian, October 4, 2001.
- Maggie O'Kane, This time I'm scared, The Guardian, December 5, 2002.
- Alexander Cockburn, Truth or Propaganda? Radio Interview with Geoff Pevere on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Prime Time, originally broadcast December 14, 1992.