The Nayirah Testimony
A tearful 15-year-old girl testified before Congress that Iraqi soldiers were ripping babies from hospital incubators — the testimony helped build American support for the Gulf War, and it later came out that she was the Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter, coached by a PR firm.
In October 1990, a 15-year-old girl identified only as "Nayirah" testified before Congress describing Iraqi soldiers removing babies from hospital incubators in occupied Kuwait, testimony that received significant media attention and was cited by officials in building American public support for the Gulf War. It was later confirmed that Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, and that her testimony had been arranged and coached by an American public relations firm hired by the Kuwaiti government.
- →On October 10, 1990, a girl identified only by her first name, Nayirah, testified before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, describing witnessing Iraqi soldiers removing babies from hospital incubators in occupied Kuwait and leaving them to die.
- →The testimony received extensive media coverage and was subsequently cited by President George H.W. Bush and other officials multiple times in public statements building support for U.S. military intervention in the Gulf War.
- →It was later confirmed that Nayirah was, in fact, the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, a fact not disclosed at the time of her testimony.
- →Subsequent investigation confirmed the testimony had been arranged as part of a public relations campaign by Hill & Knowlton, an American PR firm hired by the Kuwaiti government-in-exile, and that Nayirah had received coaching before her testimony; no independent evidence was ever found to substantiate the specific incubator claims.