Staged War: The Fabricated Testimony of a 15-Year-Old Girl
Jakarta (ANTARA) — A 15-year-old girl named Nayirah — her full name was not disclosed at the time — claimed to be a volunteer at a hospital in Kuwait. Appearing before members of the U.S. Congress Human Rights Committee on 10 October 1990, she delivered an emotionally charged testimony, tears streaming down her face, about alleged atrocities committed by Iraqi forces in Kuwait, three months after Iraq’s occupation.
“When I was there, I saw Iraqi soldiers enter the hospital with weapons. They took babies out of incubators, took the incubators, and left the children to die on the cold floor. It was terrible,” Nayirah testified convincingly, her voice trembling.
“The Iraqi army has destroyed everything in Kuwait. They looted supermarkets, pharmacies, medical equipment factories, ransacked homes, and tortured my neighbours and friends.”
With television cameras rolling, several members of the Human Rights Committee appeared visibly moved and emotionally affected by her account. Nayirah continued, “I saw and spoke with a friend after he was tortured and released by Iraqi forces. He was 22 years old. The Iraqi army dunked his head in a swimming pool until he nearly drowned. They pulled out his fingernails and then electrocuted sensitive and private parts of his body. He was lucky to survive.”
Nayirah’s testimony was covered and widely disseminated by major American media outlets. That very evening, ABC’s Nightline and NBC Nightly News—reaching approximately 53 million viewers—broadcast her testimony.
The New York-based consulting and public relations firm Hill & Knowlton recorded Nayirah’s testimony and distributed video press releases to approximately 700 television stations across the United States. The public was outraged, condemning the alleged inhumane cruelties of Iraqi forces, which had invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
U.S. President George W. Bush cited Nayirah’s testimony in speeches and press statements. According to press reports, Bush referenced this issue at least ten times to secure public support for deploying American forces to defend Kuwait on humanitarian grounds.
Bush succeeded. The American public and senators supported his plan to send troops to Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 662 declared Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait an illegal act. The United States subsequently led a coalition of 42 nations to expel Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, beginning on 17 January 1991.
The False Testimony Exposed
A year after Operation Desert Storm and the successful American expulsion of Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, the scandal surrounding Nayirah’s false testimony unravelled. American journalists given access to visit Kuwait discovered that Nayirah’s testimony about premature babies dying at Al Adan Hospital in Kuwait was factually incorrect.
“The premature babies who died actually died because many Kuwaiti nurses and doctors stopped working and fled the country. It can be stated with certainty that Iraqi forces did not steal hospital incubators or allow hundreds of Kuwaiti babies to die,” said John Martin, an ABC journalist, on 15 March 1991.
Other journalists conducted further investigations. John MacArthur wrote an editorial in The New York Times on 6 January 1992. Under the headline “Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?”, MacArthur revealed that Nayirah was in fact the daughter of Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United States Saud Nasir al-Sabah.
MacArthur exposed that Nayirah’s testimony had been orchestrated by the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to manipulate American public opinion in favour of military intervention in the Gulf War. “Nayirah’s testimony about babies dying because Iraqi forces stole incubators completely distorted the discourse in America about whether the public should support military action,” MacArthur wrote.
Amnesty International USA, which had initially supported Nayirah’s testimony, revised its position. Executive Director John Healey even accused the George Bush administration of “opportunistic manipulation of the international human rights movement.”
An investigation by Kroll Associates, the New York-based private firm providing intelligence and investigation services, concluded that Nayirah’s testimony regarding the incubators lacked evidentiary support, and she had never actually worked as a volunteer at Al Adan Hospital in Kuwait.