Author Topic: Nurse Nayirah  (Read 1986 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Brassmask

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2600
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Nurse Nayirah
« on: November 30, 2006, 06:36:04 PM »
Many times I've heard on this forum of a story where Iraqis killed babies for incubators.

And now, after all this time, I find it just never happened.

That Lauri Fitz-Pegado sounds like a real loser.  (I'm being polite.)

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lauri_Fitz-Pegado

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah

"Nurse Nayirah" was a creation of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for promoting the 1991 Gulf War.

Fifteen-year-old "Nayirah" (Nijirah al-Sabah) testified before the United States Congress in October 1990 that she was a refugee volunteering in the maternity ward of Al Adan hospital in Kuwait City, and that during the occupation by Iraq she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers dumping Kuwaiti infants out of their incubators "on[to] the cold floor to die," and then leaving with the machines. The testimony came at a crucial time for the Bush administration, which was pressing for military action to eject Iraq from Kuwait. Nayirah's story was widely reported by the media and Bush referred to the story six times in the next five weeks. The story was an influence in tipping both the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen would say Nayirah's testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and seven Senators referenced the testimony in debate. The Senate supported the military actions in a 52-47 vote.

In reality, Citizens for a Free Kuwait, organized by the exiled Kuwaiti government, had hired Hill & Knowlton to gain support for the US counterstrike. Hill & Knowlton was paid $14 million by the US government for its help in promoting the Gulf War. It was not revealed until later that the girl was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US. Frieda Construe-Nag and Myra Ancog Cooke, two maternity nurses in that ward, later said that they had never seen Nayirah there and that the baby-dumping had never happened.

Lauri Fitz-Pegado, later Assistant Commerce Secretary, invented Nayirah's story and coached the girl. She also prepared Iraq-invasion testimony for the UN which was later discredited, and later promoted a book about the rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch during the 2003 Iraq War.

Home Box Office (HBO) presented Nayirah's story as truth in their 2002 Live From Baghdad. HBO eventually added, after the final credits, that the incubator "allegations were never substantiated."

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2006, 08:28:07 PM »
Brass, that the story was fake was known for years.  I never believed it the first time I heard it.  It's amazing to me that purveyors of deliberate falsehoods aren't held accountable for their lies, even when the lies lead to war and hundreds of thousands of deaths.  To say that we live in a Teflon, totally unaccountable society is perfectly true.  The only people to pay for their crimes are the lowest criminals in the pecking order, street criminals, more often than not black and underprivileged.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2006, 03:17:37 AM »
Quote
"Many times I've heard on this forum of a story where Iraqis killed babies for incubators."


Many times?

I haven't heard that one for years , and I read a lot of these posts , even yours.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2006, 03:19:27 AM by Plane »

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2006, 03:22:58 AM »
Quote
"  It's amazing to me that purveyors of deliberate falsehoods aren't held accountable for their lies, " 

Especially the exiled government of Kuait?

This particular tale seems to be a fabrication of a desprate band of Kuaiti exiles , but were there not several horrible storys that actually did turn out to be true?

_JS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3500
  • Salaires legers. Chars lourds.
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2006, 10:31:20 AM »
Wow, I haven't heard this one in a long time. Did they not hire a public relations firms as well to help perpetuate the lie?

I believe some Senators even used the lie in speeches on the Senate floor.

Interestingly, there was more opposition and scrutiny to that war than to the current invasion.
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
   So stuff my nose with garlic
   Coat my eyes with butter
   Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
   Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2006, 12:16:33 AM »
<<This particular tale [Iraqi troops tossing newborns from incubators] seems to be a fabrication of a desprate band of Kuaiti exiles , but were there not several horrible storys that actually did turn out to be true?>>

As was pointed out in an earlier post in this thread, it was disseminated by the American PR firm of Hill & Knowlton.  The "desperate band of Kuwaiti exiles" was the 15-year-daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S.  And given the enormous amount of lying bullshit that your government pumps out, from the Tonkin Gulf "attacks" to the "WMD" to the Jessica Lynch story, I'd be blown out of my socks with amazement if ANY of the "several horrible storys" turned out to have even the tiniest smidgen of truth amongst them.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2006, 12:32:59 AM »
<<This particular tale [Iraqi troops tossing newborns from incubators] seems to be a fabrication of a desprate band of Kuaiti exiles , but were there not several horrible storys that actually did turn out to be true?>>

As was pointed out in an earlier post in this thread, it was disseminated by the American PR firm of Hill & Knowlton.  The "desperate band of Kuwaiti exiles" was the 15-year-daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S.  And given the enormous amount of lying bullshit that your government pumps out, from the Tonkin Gulf "attacks" to the "WMD" to the Jessica Lynch story, I'd be blown out of my socks with amazement if ANY of the "several horrible storys" turned out to have even the tiniest smidgen of truth amongst them.


When did my government get involved in this discussion?

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2006, 12:38:55 AM »
<<When did my government get involved in this discussion?>>

They failed in the oversight of foreign lobbying - - permitted an American firm to spread lies on behalf of a foreign country that persuaded the American public to support an  attack an Arab country that posed no threat to it and thereby enraged many Arabs and Muslims.  Basically allowed themselves to be duped into taking sides in an Arab conflict and fanning the flames of anti-Americanism all over the world.  Bad move.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Nurse Nayirah
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2006, 02:06:04 AM »
<<When did my government get involved in this discussion?>>

They failed in the oversight of foreign lobbying - - permitted an American firm to spread lies on behalf of a foreign country that persuaded the American public to support an  attack an Arab country that posed no threat to it and thereby enraged many Arabs and Muslims.  Basically allowed themselves to be duped into taking sides in an Arab conflict and fanning the flames of anti-Americanism all over the world.  Bad move.

Should they shut Hugo Chevez or Al Jezera up?

I don't know what the governments responsibility is in this case.