We’ve all heard either on the news or in crime investigation television shows that a witness holds immeasurable power. What happens when high authority abuses this power? This post delves into the theory that the CIA had Nayirah al-Sabah bear as a false witness.
Nayirah al-Sabah was a woman in Kuwait who, in 1990, testified on the floor of the House of Representatives that she had personally witnessed Iraqi soldiers invade Kuwaiti hospitals and take newborn infants out of their incubators and throw them onto the cold floor to freeze to death. Nayirah was invited primarily by Tom Lantos, who definitely provided subtle messages in support of the U. S. retaliating against Iraq for its offenses against Kuwait.
It was Nayirah’s testimony that provided the largest part of the foundation for American public opinion in favor of military force against Iraq, and the CIA was responsible for organizing the funds and advertisements to disseminate Nayirah’s testimony. They enlisted the help of Hill & Knowlton, a global Public Relations corporation that specializes in marketing, to reach the masses.
It was not until 1992 that John MacArthur of the New York Times discovered Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador of the U. S., and that her story had been utterly fabricated. Thus was it shown that the CIA assisted a few powers-that-were in America in waging war with Iraq for another purpose, and that purpose was oil. The Iraqis did invade Kuwait and should not have done so, but they did not throw babies out of incubators. The nurses and doctors who supposedly witnessed this with Nayirah had already fled, and most of them stated that she was lying. The CIA had paid her to lie, and even paid for her to attend acting classes to appear convincing. In the end, it worked. If this is the first time you are hearing about this, what are your reactions?
I still don’t understand the reasons that we supposedly invaded Iraq- none of them make sense, and they have nothing to do with the actual reasons. And although I am certainly not in favor of what the CIA did in that situation, it wouldn’t be such a big deal to me if they did it for a cause I agreed with. So I guess I can’t judge them too harshly. I just think that if they absolutely have to do something like that to preserve national security, they can. But anything short of that is just taking advantage of authority.
Wow. Just, wow. I had never heard of this before, and I find it disgusting. Such trickery to manipulate the public to go to war over such a stupid reason (and causing the deaths of many, for no good reason) is so utterly deplorable and ignoble! It is when I hear tales like these that I wonder where American integrity has gone, and how much it was bought for.
This is the first time I’m hearing this particular story, but not the first time I’m hearing something like this. I have COMM 110, a Media & Democracy class in which we delve on issues just as these. We read an article about “The Man Who Sold the War” which also includes persuasion and lying. It really sometimes scares me to think about what the CIA is capable of and how only a of stories like this come out to the public. When people want something, they will try to pursue it… no matter what it takes.
This is the first time I am hearing about this story- and I think it is awful. I always learned the saying that “With great power comes responsibility”, and both the government and Nayirah abused their power by lying to the masses. I am also a huge advocate of the government being open and honest about everything that they do, for as citizens we deserve the right to know, so this story makes me extremely angry. I wish that at least someone would have stepped forward to speak the truth, whether it be a nurse, doctor, or member of the CIA. Apparently money drives morality, too.