''To Sell a War'' is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, first aired in December 1992 as part of CBC programme '' The Fifth Estate''. The programme was directed and produced by Neil Docherty. It chronicles the

Citizens for a Free Kuwait Citizens for a Free Kuwait (CFK) was an astroturf operation established by the Kuwaiti government to persuade the American public to look favourably on US military action in the Persian Gulf (the subsequent Operation Desert Storm). Its principal p ...

campaign efforts to

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

public relations sentiment in the United States in favor of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, focusing on the story of

Nurse Nayirah The Nayirah testimony was false testimony given before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, by a 15-year-old girl who was publicly identified at the time by her first name, Na ...

, who was, in fact, Nayirah al-Sabah, the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the United States Saud Nasir Al-Sabah. Her infamous

testimony In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...

about Iraqi soldiers removing babies from incubators, which was widely disseminated, was a result of coaching by PR firm

Hill & Knowlton Hill+Knowlton Strategies is an American global public relations consulting company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with over 80 offices in more than 40 countries. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927 by John W. Hil ...

Awards

*1993 – American Film and Video Festival - Blue Ribbon *1993 – Canadian Association of Journalists Awards for Investigative Reporting - CAJ Award - Network Television Category *1993 – The New York Festivals - Bronze Medal *1992 – Columbus International Film and Video Festival - Chris Award *1992 – Columbus International Film and Video Festival - Bronze Plaque *1992 – International Emmy Awards - International Emmy Award Documentary *1992 – Yorkton Short Film/Video Festival - Golden Sheaf Award - Best Documentary

References

Gulf War films Canadian documentary television films 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films {{1990s-Canada-documentary-film-stub

Awards

See also

References