In 1990, CBS and ABC reported on the testimony of one Nayirah al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti refugee who told of watching Iraqi troops remove babies from hospital incubators and leave them on the cold floor to die. This helped convince the US public to go along with the first war in Iraq.

But, not surprisingly, it turns out al-Sabah’s testimony and identity were completely fabricated. She was no refugee; she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Her media performance was coached by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton.

Kuwaiti doctors later said on record that no such incident ever occurred. In short, an elite public relations firm trained an actress to feed the American press a lie that helped President Bush convince Congress and the public to initiate a war that would kill millions of Iraqis.

At no point in this unbelievable charade did any professional journalists at ABC or CBS critically analyze the source, the story, or the motives behind Hill and Knowlton’s client, Citizens For a Free Kuwait, an organization that was primarily funded by the emir of Kuwait.

This was not the first piece of propaganda used to fleece the American public into selling its interests down the tubes in exchange for slaughter overseas. But it’s one of the lies that began what is now 30 years of irredeemable mayhem the US has unleashed on Iraq.

The point of this anecdote—more or less erased in public consciousness today—is to remind everyone to never trust at face value intelligence briefings from the US national security state. These people are lying to you shamelessly and hiring the establishment press as cover.

Source: “How to Watch the News” by Neil Postman and Steve Powers (1992). Editorial extrapolations my own.