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To Sell a War
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To Sell a War

1992 · 28 MIN · EN · STATUS: [ STREAMING ]
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In October 1990, a fifteen-year-old girl identified only as "Nayirah" testified before Congress that Iraqi soldiers had pulled babies from incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals and left them to die. This CBC fifth estate investigation, directed by Martyn Gregory and produced by Neil Docherty, traces that testimony back to its source: the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, hired by the Citizens for a Free Kuwait campaign to build American support for war. The film identifies the witness as Nijirah al-Sabah, daughter of Saud Nasir Al-Sabah, Kuwait's ambassador to Washington, and lays out how her account was coached and staged rather than independently witnessed. It follows the testimony's path through congressional hearings and news broadcasts, showing how a single unverified story, backed by a well-funded PR operation, helped shape public opinion in the run-up to the Gulf War. Originally broadcast in December 1992, the film treats the incubator story as a case study in how wartime narratives get built and sold.