Citizens for a Free Kuwait
Encyclopedia
Citizens for a Free Kuwait (CFK) was an astroturf
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...

 operation established by the Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

i government to persuade the US public to look favourably on US military action in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 (the subsequent Operation Desert Storm). Its principal payment was to public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 firm Hill & Knowlton
Hill & Knowlton
Hill & Knowlton is a global public relations company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with 79 offices in 44 countries. Hill & Knowlton was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927 by John W. Hill and is today led by Chairman & CEO, Paul Taaffe...

, who were associated with the false testimony to the US Congress given by Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ
Nurse Nayirah
Nayirah refers to the controversial testimony given before the non-governmental Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, by a female who provided only her first name, Nayirah...

.

In October 1990 Nayirah, a teenage girl, testified before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus
United States Congressional committee
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty . Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction...

, that she had seen Iraqi soldiers remove hundreds of Kuwaiti babies from incubators and leave them to die on hospital floors. The chairmen of the congressional group explained that the witness's identity would be kept secret to protect her family in occupied Kuwait. President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

 cited the incubator story six times in speeches and seven senators cited the story as a reason for voting to give the Bush administration authorization for the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

. The atrocities of the Iraqis in Kuwait were compared to that of the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

.

After the liberation of Kuwait, an ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 reporter interviewed hospital doctors who stayed in Kuwait throughout the Iraqi occupation and indicated that the story was almost certainly false. Subsequent investigation showed that, unknown to most members of the Caucus, the 15-year-old Kuwait girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah
Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah
Shaikh Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah is a member of the Kuwait House of Al-Sabah ruling family and the former Kuwaiti ambassador to U.S.His daughter Nayirah and himself were reportedly involved in Citizens for a Free Kuwait which was a front group established by the Kuwaiti government to promote the...

. As one reporter observed, such knowledge might have led to demands of proof of Nayirah's whereabouts when she said she witnessed the atrocities and calls for corroboration of the story.

The congressmen co-charing the committee, who apparently knew the true identity of the teen-age witness, had close relationships to Hill & Knowlton, the public relations firm hired by Citizens for a Free Kuwait, the group financed by Kuwait which lobbied for Congress for U.S. military intervention. A vice president of Hill and Knowlton helped organize the congressional hearings. The same Hill & Knowlton vice president had previously defended the human rights record of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, which had been criticized for jailing people without due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

 and torturing and killing them. He also lobbied for Hill & Knowlton on behalf of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, which has, since 1975, killed more than 100,000 people in East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

.

A video of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was the second most used PR video release in 1990, with 61 million viewers. It was produced by Hill & Knowlton for Citizens for a Free Kuwait.

In a letter of rebuttal, the president and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, Thomas E. Eidson, wrote that the firm had not at any time collaborated with anyone to produce knowingly deceptive testimony, that Nayirah was inside Kuwait at the time in question and had volunteered to work under an assumed name at the Al-Adan Hospital, and that the United States embassy confirmed that she was in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

 at the time. He also cited testimony to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 by the head of the of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent citing firsthand involvement in burying newborn babies taken from their incubators by soldiers.
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