How PR Sold the First War With Iraq

As the current Bush administration gears up for a second war with Iraq, now would be a good time to refresh our memories about the PR campaign used to sell the first war to the American people. In our book, Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, we showed how the first Bush administration collaborated with the Hill & Knowlton PR firm to peddle a false story about "babies removed from incubators by Iraqi soldiers," which helped swell public outrage against Saddam Hussein. Given the obvious relevance of this topic to the current buildup toward a second war against Iraq, we've added a relevant excerpt from our book to this site. (H&K staffer Lauri Fitz-Pegado, who helped prepare the "babies from incubators" story, is still trying to convince people that the story is true. PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton recently sparred with her on the web site of O'Dwyer's PR Daily.)