How much destruction can one little lie do?
In October of 1990, a 15-year-old Middle Eastern girl known as Nayirah al-Sabah appeared before Congress to decry the purported horrors of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
Prior to her evocative testimony less than 20% of the American population supported an armed conflict against the nation of Iraq. That number jumped to over 50% following her speech.
That’s not all though, Congressional backing for the war only passed by a razor-thin margin of five votes.
When questioned about the reasoning behind their votes several Congressional lawmakers cited Nayirah’s speech.
The worst part about this entire thing? The girl made the whole thing up—none of it was true.
This could be forgiven if the girl was some poor, wayward soul who was trying to speak truth to power and just wanted relief for her people, but Nayirah wasn’t any ordinary girl—she was the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States.
Operation Desert Storm I was waged upon a complete fabrication by a 15-year-old girl and resulted in the deaths of nearly 50,000 military personnel, mostly from the Iraqi side—this is not counting civilian casualties.
One could also make the case that Desert Storm I led the way for all future military strikes against Iraq and eventually the 2003 invasion of the country by U.S.-led coalition forces.
Some estimates place the civilian causality rate of the 2003 invasion, and the ensuing chaos, at close to 1 million innocent people, though this is a figure rarely cited and hard to calculate.
If we follow the logic to its conclusion, the testimony of that 15-year-old girl led to untold suffering in the Middle East and beyond—was it worth it?
Connor Boyack detailed the fraud perpetrated by Nayirah and the deep state in this lengthy thread:
October 1990: Nayirah, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, delivers harrowing testimony in front of Congress. Oxygen tanks unplugged, babies left to die—sounds horrific, right?
Well, Congress thought so, too. This testimony was a key factor in pushing the U.S. into the Gulf War.
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) October 4, 2023
Did it work?
In August 1990, 2 months prior to her testimony, only 17% of Americans said they supported US involvement in the Iraq/Kuwait conflict.
2 months later, nearly half of Americans thought the US needed to intervene.
And it gets worse…
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) October 4, 2023
In Jan 1991, Congress voted to send American troops to fight against Iraq.
Get this: the Senate passed their resolution by a margin of only five votes.
And seven senators (!!) cited Nayirah’s testimony as directly impacting their decision to vote in favor of going to war.
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) October 4, 2023
Democracy Now, a left-wing outlet, likewise called the 1990 testimony fraudulent:
Three months after Nayirah testified, President George H.W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq.
But it turned out Nayirah’s claims weren’t true. No human rights group or news outlet could confirm what she said.
It also turned out Nayirah was 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.
Foreign policy analyst and journalist Sameera Khan also pointed out the fabrication.
“Remember the infamous NAYIRAH testimony? You know, ‘incubator babies?’ That turned out to be a complete fabrication to sway public opinion in favor of intervention?
Well, Nayirah’s all grown up and openly bragging about how her testimony led to the ‘liberation’ of Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s ‘brutal occupation.’”
Remember the infamous NAYIRAH testimony?
You know, ‘incubator babies?’
That turned out to be a complete fabrication to sway public opinion in favor of intervention?
Well, Nayirah’s all grown up and openly bragging about how her testimony led to the ‘liberation’ of Kuwait from… pic.twitter.com/CQRfWwh21N
— Sameera Khan (@SameeraKhan) August 5, 2023
Earlier this year, Fox News reported that the authorizations for military force in Iraq were finally terminated—after 30 years:
The Senate repealed the 1991 authorization for use of military force (AUMF), which was used in the Gulf War to defend Kuwait against Iraq’s invasion, and the 2002 AUMF, which authorized military action against Iraq in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the U.S.
The legislation from Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., split Senate Republicans in the 66-30 vote to repeal the AUMFs.
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