Incubators: 1990 and 2003

["LouPaulsen" <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From a post by James Heartfield to lbo-talk:

A LONG INCUBATION

In the first Gulf War the US authorities and Kuwaiti exiles manufactured
atrocity stories to galvanise support for action against Iraq. One
'eye-witness' account was that Iraqi troops had thrown Kuwaiti babies
onto the floor to steal the incubators. The story was widely reported as
the final proof of Iraqi barbarism. Only subsequently was the story
revealed to be a myth cooked-up by PR firm Hill & Knowlton. But life
imitates art, and 12 years later the story came true, not under an Iraqi
occupation of Kuwait, but an American occupation of Iraq. A shocked BBC
reporter saw looters leaving a hospital with incubators. Attacking the
story, Downing Street argued that the hospital looted was a privilege of
the regime and therefore a legitimate target. So that's all right, then.