Topic: Hill Knowlton

In 1990, a teenage girl known as Nayyirah gave emotional testimony to Congress alleging that Iraqi soldiers removed babies from incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals. It was later revealed that the story was a fabrication orchestrated by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton and that Nayyirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador. This propaganda campaign successfully swayed American public opinion in favor of military intervention in Iraq.

A documentary report by Darren McBreen examines the history of government deception used to rally public support for military intervention, focusing on the 1990 Nayyirah testimony. The report reveals that the "babies in incubators" story was a staged performance by the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, orchestrated by the PR firm Hill and Knowlton. It further analyzes how CNN and Hollywood commercialized the Gulf War through theatrical media coverage and celebrity performances.

The host revisits the 1990 "Nayirah testimony," where a 15-year-old girl claimed Iraqi soldiers took babies out of incubators in Kuwait. It was later revealed that the girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and the story was orchestrated by a PR firm to build support for the Gulf War. Dalley suggests that current headlines about atrocities are following a similar "propaganda machine" script used to stoke emotional responses for military intervention.