From early 1991, I began to research and write considerably about Middle Eastern affairs, primarily Iraq, because of the 1991 Gulf War. By then, I saw much sloppy and erroneous reporting, but I once again put it down to laziness and also realized the propaganda behind such writing. I didn’t like it and thought more time for accuracy should have been taken.
Then, I went into a Bookstar store one evening and perused the shelves. I picked up the book Rape of Kuwait. This was a couple of years after the 1991 Gulf War. I was astounded. “How could anyone have published this rubbish?” I asked myself. The more I read, the more appalled I became. The book was poorly-written and laden with outright lies. Plus, many of the names given to supposed recipients of atrocities were pseudonyms. Acknowledgements of praise were given to proven frauds and instances that never happened were written as true. Plus, the book was printed on pulp paper, the kind used for dime-store novels. Further research showed that the book was a New York Times bestseller. I was aghast.
After seeing the travesty of The Rape of Kuwait, I kept my eyes open for further frauds, although it was not at the top of my priority list at the time. I assumed it must have been a one-off and left it at that. I did not know that its author, Jean Sasson, went on to have an incredibly successful career as an author.
Then, the buildup to the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq came. With it were all sorts of ludicrous books, feature magazine articles and outrageous allegations from US and UK politicians and media. Few seemed to even try to find the truth or become skeptical about what was being printed.
After scrutinizing all the lies before and after the March 2003 invasion, I decided to go back and research in-depth the mother of all lies that set the pattern for ensuing hoax books about Iraq: The Rape of Kuwait by Jean Sasson. When I began, there were snippets here and there about the bogus book, but no one seemed to tie them all together.
The Rape of Kuwait consisted of interviews conducted by an unknown writer at the time, Jean Sasson. The people she interviewed were supposedly victims of the August 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. Their stories depicted horror, torture and murder of Kuwaitis at the hands of Iraq soldiers. All those interviewed were given pseudonyms, supposedly for their own safety.
Sasson seemed to be an unlikely candidate for writing such a book. She had lived in Saudi Arabia for 12 years and worked at a hospital. As incredible as it seems, she did not speak or read Arabic.
Now came the reality. The people she interviewed were sent her way by the Kuwaiti government, most of whom were in exile. No one checked to verify their authenticity. This was only one of a number of propaganda activities perpetrated by the Kuwaiti government. Nine days after the Iraqis crossed the Kuwaiti border, the Hill and Knowlton public relations firm, a shady organization occasionally used by US government agencies, such as the CIA, to conduct campaigns of deceit, created a front group called “Citizens for a Free Kuwait.” Like many other sham organizations, the name sounds benign and humanitarian. However, the activities this group engaged in were far from those ideals. In the following three months, the Kuwaiti government channeled in excess of $11 million dollars through the Citizens for a Free Kuwait group. The only other income the group had was a meager $17,861, donated by 78 individuals. Plus, many other smaller groups were set up with various names.
October 10, 1990 was a day that, as stated by a former U.S. president, would “live in infamy.” On that day, the world heard of Iraqi troops in Kuwait removing incubators from a Kuwait City hospital and shipping them to Baghdad. To add more shock value, the allegations stated that the Iraqi soldiers left the babies on the cold floor of the hospital to die. In one stroke, the U.S. had enough propaganda to paint Iraqis as barbaric less-than-human entities. The world was aghast at the actions of the Iraqi soldiers and government. The only problem was that none of the aforementioned atrocities occurred.
On that day, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) appeared on the nationally-televised Today Show and alleged that Iraqi troops threw babies out of incubators in a Kuwaiti hospital and shipped the incubators to Baghdad, leaving the babies on the cold floor to die. Later in the day, a special meeting of the House Human Rights Caucus was held in Washington, D.C. Although this group sounds official, it was not. It had no part of US government activities. Representatives Tom Lantos (D-CA) and John Porter (R-IL) set up the group and both had free office space in Hill and Knowlton’s Washington operation.
A tearful 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, named Nayirah, took the stand and told of seeing the Iraqi soldiers perform the inhumane actions. At the time, she said she saw 15 incubators taken away. In time, the number grew to more than 300 in statements of various politicians and US military leaders. No one took the time to travel to Kuwait and find that there were fewer than 30 incubators in hospitals in the entire country.
Everyone believed Nayirah. She was thought to have been a volunteer nurse, but some time later her true identity was discovered: she was the daughter of the Ambassador of Kuwait to the US, Saud Bin Nasir Al-Sabah. Before Nayirah’s testimony, Hill and Knowlton vice president, Lauri Fitx-Pegado, coached Nayirah for hours. Not one reporter was told this. In one day, Hill and Knowlton and the Kuwaiti government set up the scenario that would be the basis for Sasson’s book, The Rape of Kuwait.
Sasson quickly took the interviews and looked for a publisher. She got a bite from a small firm, Knightsbridge Publishing, and after the company’s agent rewrote and cleaned up some of Sasson’s poor writing, Knightsbridge proceeded to publish it and get it out before the beginning of possible hostilities that could start on January 17, 1991 in Iraq. The book was released to the public in late 1990 and became an instant best-seller. But, what we saw wasn’t real.
The sales figures included about 300,000 books purchased by the Kuwaiti government and each US soldier assembled in Saudi Arabia was given one to read in an effort to get them incensed about Iraqis.
Sasson was interviewed by many media outlets and publications. All of a sudden, this former hospital worker in Saudi Arabia who couldn’t speak Arabic became a spokesperson for the Arab world and women’s rights.
On January 17, 1991, bombs began falling on Iraq. A cease-fire was called on February 28, 1991. Then came all the accolades and celebrations and the dignitaries from the US were invited to Kuwait on a “freedom flight” in March 1991 to celebrate Kuwait’s “liberation.” All expenses were paid by the Kuwaiti government. Jean Sasson was one of those invited.
Shortly after the book was published and the bombs started falling on Iraq, a few rumblings about the legitimacy of The Rape of Kuwait began to emerge. On January 30, 1991, the Orange County Register got involved with reporting about the plethora of books emerging about Iraq. The article, “Persian Gulf Books Storm onto Best-Sellers List,” was written by Valerie Takaharma. She stated:
Sasson, who flew to Riyadh a week after the August 2 invasion, said she conducted interviews with about 180 Kuwaiti refugees in Cairo, London and Riyadh. She said that while she relied on Kuwaiti officials to help her contact the refugees, she received no financial assistance from the Kuwaitis to research or write her book.
The report continued:
Sasson said the horror stories in her book were further substantiated by a report from the human-rights group Amnesty International. “I found much of what Amnesty had found. When people say, ‘How do I know this happened’ I say, ‘Well, don’t believe me. Amnesty has documented many more cases.’”
That last statement from Sasson is another swerve. Amnesty International did not document any cases. The group merely took the bait from the published propagandas and condemned the alleged actions in general without sending one person to Kuwait, or make one phone call, to verify the claims of the stolen incubators. A red-faced Amnesty International admitted it had been conned.
Within a month of the publishing of The Rape of Kuwait, several sources touched on whether the Kuwaiti government had anything to do with financing either the publisher or the author. Immediate denials from both sides came forth. Soon after, Jean Sasson and Knightsbridge Publishing parted ways. Lawsuits from both sides ensued.
John MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine, began to publish articles here and there about the entire debacle and who was behind the creation and financing of Rape of Kuwait. In 1996, he again brought up The Rape of Kuwait. However, for the first time, the subject of the Kuwaiti government paying Knightsbridge and Sasson was highlighted in more detail. MacArthur’s article, “How Kuwait Duped The Times Best Seller List,” went deeper into the finances of publishing the book and how the New York Times became a willing accomplice in promoting what MacArthur called, “Ms. Sasson’s Shabby little tract.” According to MacArthur, writing for the March 11, 1996 edition of the New York Observer:
To make matters worse, Ms. Sasson and her publisher had the effrontery to pretend that The Rape of Kuwait was a real book. What no one knew amid the din or war hype then making idiots of us all was that Ms. Sasson’s and Knightsbridge’s enterprise was secretly funded by the Kuwaiti government.
Fortunately, liars and propagandists, like criminals, often fall out over money. Three weeks into the war, Ms. Sasson sued Knightsbridge for not paying her everything she was owed. According to papers filed in Los Angeles in California Superior Court, Knightsbridge had a secret agreement with the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Saud Nasir, Al-Sabah, which provided for the bulk purchase by the Kuwaitis of 300,000 copies at a cost of $540,000. (The Kuwaitis distributed 250,000 copies free of charge to American troops stationed in and around Saudi Arabia.) A separate agreement between Knightsbridge and Ms. Sasson guaranteed a cut to the author of $333,750 from the bulk sales, in addition to Ms. Sasson’s author contract with Knightsbridge, that paid her $50,000 in advance.
MacArthur concluded:
Without the Kuwaiti subsidy, The Rape of Kuwait would have been nothing except a small-time hoax, no more serious than George Bush’s commitment to human rights.
There is now no doubt as to who paid expenses for Sasson and Knightsbridge to produce The Rape of Kuwait. Many people know that the bulk sales of the book to the Kuwaiti government were included in total book sales, making it a high-ranking book on various best-seller lists, but the Kuwaiti government also agreed to pay for the printing of one million books that Knightsbridge could use for general sale. Here’s the two-page letter sent from the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US, the same man who allowed his 15-year-old daughter to lie to the world on October 10, 1990. I would think that any government official who allowed his minor child to participate in such a vile act should be accused of child abuse, but no one seemed to take that concept into account.
Of note on the following two-page agreement are parts four and seven. One tells of subsidizing Knightsbridge for printing costs not related to the sales to the Kuwaiti government and the other is adamant that no one other than the Knightsbridge publisher and Jean Sasson should ever see the contents. It ends with, ” ,,, and this document and its content are not to be known to others.”
Professor Doug Kellner of UCLA published an outstanding account of deceit of the media and the Kuwaiti government in producing the atmosphere that allowed the Gulf War to occur in his book The Persian Gulf TV War, published in 1992:
For instance, World War I propaganda campaigns often featured stories or images of German rape and murder of babies. In particular, British and U.S. propaganda teams produced copious atrocity stories of the dastardly deeds of German “Huns” against innocent Belgians during World War I. These atrocity stories helped mobilize an indifferent and isolationist American public to support U.S. entry into the war against Germany.
Then, Kellner brought up how the same theme was used against Iraq that had worked more than seven decades prior to galvanize public opinion about supporting war against a perceived enemy:
Following the model of the World War I “rape of Belgium” campaign, Hill and Knowlton discerned that the rape metaphor was powerful and carried through a “rape of Kuwait” campaign replete with a book (Sasson 1991), newspaper articles, packaged videos, pictures, press releases, news conferences, and demonstrations. There were frequent media events such as National Free Kuwait Day, National Prayer Day (for Kuwait’s liberation), and National Student Information Day. Local events were also organized. Bush, Schwarzkopf, and the media pundits used the rape metaphor continually and also repeatedly disseminated the baby atrocity story.
I recently corresponded with Professor Kellner about his knowledge of The Rape of Kuwait. He answered my queries by calling the book, “One of the biggest lies in history.” These are strong words coming from one of the foremost media experts in the world.
Almost 23 years have passed since The Rape of Kuwait was published. The book is still available to buy today from various Internet booksellers. The back cover still unashamedly contains these words: “Infants were torn from incubators and left to die on hospital floors.”
Jeff Archer is a journalist also known to his readers as Malcom Lagauche. Since 1991, he has been the editor of a weekly and a monthly newspaper as well as the editor of nationally-distributed sports magazine. In that time, he has had six books published. His latest is “The Mother of All Battles: The Endless U.S.-Iraq War.”
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The rape of the truth
Posted on December 10, 2013 by Jeff Archer
From early 1991, I began to research and write considerably about Middle Eastern affairs, primarily Iraq, because of the 1991 Gulf War. By then, I saw much sloppy and erroneous reporting, but I once again put it down to laziness and also realized the propaganda behind such writing. I didn’t like it and thought more time for accuracy should have been taken.
Then, I went into a Bookstar store one evening and perused the shelves. I picked up the book Rape of Kuwait. This was a couple of years after the 1991 Gulf War. I was astounded. “How could anyone have published this rubbish?” I asked myself. The more I read, the more appalled I became. The book was poorly-written and laden with outright lies. Plus, many of the names given to supposed recipients of atrocities were pseudonyms. Acknowledgements of praise were given to proven frauds and instances that never happened were written as true. Plus, the book was printed on pulp paper, the kind used for dime-store novels. Further research showed that the book was a New York Times bestseller. I was aghast.
After seeing the travesty of The Rape of Kuwait, I kept my eyes open for further frauds, although it was not at the top of my priority list at the time. I assumed it must have been a one-off and left it at that. I did not know that its author, Jean Sasson, went on to have an incredibly successful career as an author.
Then, the buildup to the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq came. With it were all sorts of ludicrous books, feature magazine articles and outrageous allegations from US and UK politicians and media. Few seemed to even try to find the truth or become skeptical about what was being printed.
After scrutinizing all the lies before and after the March 2003 invasion, I decided to go back and research in-depth the mother of all lies that set the pattern for ensuing hoax books about Iraq: The Rape of Kuwait by Jean Sasson. When I began, there were snippets here and there about the bogus book, but no one seemed to tie them all together.
The Rape of Kuwait consisted of interviews conducted by an unknown writer at the time, Jean Sasson. The people she interviewed were supposedly victims of the August 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. Their stories depicted horror, torture and murder of Kuwaitis at the hands of Iraq soldiers. All those interviewed were given pseudonyms, supposedly for their own safety.
Sasson seemed to be an unlikely candidate for writing such a book. She had lived in Saudi Arabia for 12 years and worked at a hospital. As incredible as it seems, she did not speak or read Arabic.
Now came the reality. The people she interviewed were sent her way by the Kuwaiti government, most of whom were in exile. No one checked to verify their authenticity. This was only one of a number of propaganda activities perpetrated by the Kuwaiti government. Nine days after the Iraqis crossed the Kuwaiti border, the Hill and Knowlton public relations firm, a shady organization occasionally used by US government agencies, such as the CIA, to conduct campaigns of deceit, created a front group called “Citizens for a Free Kuwait.” Like many other sham organizations, the name sounds benign and humanitarian. However, the activities this group engaged in were far from those ideals. In the following three months, the Kuwaiti government channeled in excess of $11 million dollars through the Citizens for a Free Kuwait group. The only other income the group had was a meager $17,861, donated by 78 individuals. Plus, many other smaller groups were set up with various names.
October 10, 1990 was a day that, as stated by a former U.S. president, would “live in infamy.” On that day, the world heard of Iraqi troops in Kuwait removing incubators from a Kuwait City hospital and shipping them to Baghdad. To add more shock value, the allegations stated that the Iraqi soldiers left the babies on the cold floor of the hospital to die. In one stroke, the U.S. had enough propaganda to paint Iraqis as barbaric less-than-human entities. The world was aghast at the actions of the Iraqi soldiers and government. The only problem was that none of the aforementioned atrocities occurred.
On that day, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) appeared on the nationally-televised Today Show and alleged that Iraqi troops threw babies out of incubators in a Kuwaiti hospital and shipped the incubators to Baghdad, leaving the babies on the cold floor to die. Later in the day, a special meeting of the House Human Rights Caucus was held in Washington, D.C. Although this group sounds official, it was not. It had no part of US government activities. Representatives Tom Lantos (D-CA) and John Porter (R-IL) set up the group and both had free office space in Hill and Knowlton’s Washington operation.
A tearful 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, named Nayirah, took the stand and told of seeing the Iraqi soldiers perform the inhumane actions. At the time, she said she saw 15 incubators taken away. In time, the number grew to more than 300 in statements of various politicians and US military leaders. No one took the time to travel to Kuwait and find that there were fewer than 30 incubators in hospitals in the entire country.
Everyone believed Nayirah. She was thought to have been a volunteer nurse, but some time later her true identity was discovered: she was the daughter of the Ambassador of Kuwait to the US, Saud Bin Nasir Al-Sabah. Before Nayirah’s testimony, Hill and Knowlton vice president, Lauri Fitx-Pegado, coached Nayirah for hours. Not one reporter was told this. In one day, Hill and Knowlton and the Kuwaiti government set up the scenario that would be the basis for Sasson’s book, The Rape of Kuwait.
Sasson quickly took the interviews and looked for a publisher. She got a bite from a small firm, Knightsbridge Publishing, and after the company’s agent rewrote and cleaned up some of Sasson’s poor writing, Knightsbridge proceeded to publish it and get it out before the beginning of possible hostilities that could start on January 17, 1991 in Iraq. The book was released to the public in late 1990 and became an instant best-seller. But, what we saw wasn’t real.
The sales figures included about 300,000 books purchased by the Kuwaiti government and each US soldier assembled in Saudi Arabia was given one to read in an effort to get them incensed about Iraqis.
Sasson was interviewed by many media outlets and publications. All of a sudden, this former hospital worker in Saudi Arabia who couldn’t speak Arabic became a spokesperson for the Arab world and women’s rights.
On January 17, 1991, bombs began falling on Iraq. A cease-fire was called on February 28, 1991. Then came all the accolades and celebrations and the dignitaries from the US were invited to Kuwait on a “freedom flight” in March 1991 to celebrate Kuwait’s “liberation.” All expenses were paid by the Kuwaiti government. Jean Sasson was one of those invited.
Shortly after the book was published and the bombs started falling on Iraq, a few rumblings about the legitimacy of The Rape of Kuwait began to emerge. On January 30, 1991, the Orange County Register got involved with reporting about the plethora of books emerging about Iraq. The article, “Persian Gulf Books Storm onto Best-Sellers List,” was written by Valerie Takaharma. She stated:
The report continued:
That last statement from Sasson is another swerve. Amnesty International did not document any cases. The group merely took the bait from the published propagandas and condemned the alleged actions in general without sending one person to Kuwait, or make one phone call, to verify the claims of the stolen incubators. A red-faced Amnesty International admitted it had been conned.
Within a month of the publishing of The Rape of Kuwait, several sources touched on whether the Kuwaiti government had anything to do with financing either the publisher or the author. Immediate denials from both sides came forth. Soon after, Jean Sasson and Knightsbridge Publishing parted ways. Lawsuits from both sides ensued.
John MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine, began to publish articles here and there about the entire debacle and who was behind the creation and financing of Rape of Kuwait. In 1996, he again brought up The Rape of Kuwait. However, for the first time, the subject of the Kuwaiti government paying Knightsbridge and Sasson was highlighted in more detail. MacArthur’s article, “How Kuwait Duped The Times Best Seller List,” went deeper into the finances of publishing the book and how the New York Times became a willing accomplice in promoting what MacArthur called, “Ms. Sasson’s Shabby little tract.” According to MacArthur, writing for the March 11, 1996 edition of the New York Observer:
MacArthur concluded:
There is now no doubt as to who paid expenses for Sasson and Knightsbridge to produce The Rape of Kuwait. Many people know that the bulk sales of the book to the Kuwaiti government were included in total book sales, making it a high-ranking book on various best-seller lists, but the Kuwaiti government also agreed to pay for the printing of one million books that Knightsbridge could use for general sale. Here’s the two-page letter sent from the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US, the same man who allowed his 15-year-old daughter to lie to the world on October 10, 1990. I would think that any government official who allowed his minor child to participate in such a vile act should be accused of child abuse, but no one seemed to take that concept into account.
Of note on the following two-page agreement are parts four and seven. One tells of subsidizing Knightsbridge for printing costs not related to the sales to the Kuwaiti government and the other is adamant that no one other than the Knightsbridge publisher and Jean Sasson should ever see the contents. It ends with, ” ,,, and this document and its content are not to be known to others.”
Then, Kellner brought up how the same theme was used against Iraq that had worked more than seven decades prior to galvanize public opinion about supporting war against a perceived enemy:
I recently corresponded with Professor Kellner about his knowledge of The Rape of Kuwait. He answered my queries by calling the book, “One of the biggest lies in history.” These are strong words coming from one of the foremost media experts in the world.
Almost 23 years have passed since The Rape of Kuwait was published. The book is still available to buy today from various Internet booksellers. The back cover still unashamedly contains these words: “Infants were torn from incubators and left to die on hospital floors.”
Jeff Archer is a journalist also known to his readers as Malcom Lagauche. Since 1991, he has been the editor of a weekly and a monthly newspaper as well as the editor of nationally-distributed sports magazine. In that time, he has had six books published. His latest is “The Mother of All Battles: The Endless U.S.-Iraq War.”