Before the Iraq War became Hollywood’s favorite war story, there was another chapter that set the stage for America’s media manipulation: The Gulf War (1991).

While the Iraq War (2003) was sold as a fight against “weapons of mass destruction” that didn’t exist, the Gulf War (also known as Operation Desert Storm) was marketed as a noble mission to save Kuwait from Saddam Hussein.

It was the first war in history where the U.S. military didn’t just fight on the battlefield—it fought on television screens.

It was a made-for-TV war, and the lessons learned from it shaped how America—and Hollywood—would frame the Iraq War a decade later.

The Gulf War: America’s First Televised War

In 1991, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering a crisis that led the U.S. and its allies to launch Operation Desert Storm.

For Americans back home, this war looked different from anything they had seen before.

Unlike Vietnam, which had turned public opinion against the U.S. government due to uncensored media coverage, the Gulf War was a carefully controlled PR event.

• The Pentagon heavily restricted journalists. No more raw battlefield footage—only official military-approved reports.
• CNN became the war’s official storyteller. It was the first 24-hour war, with Americans glued to their screens watching missile strikes as if they were watching a video game.
• The U.S. government framed the war as “good vs. evil.” Saddam Hussein was the new Hitler, and America was the hero swooping in to restore peace.

This wasn’t just a military operation. It was a Hollywood production.

The “Nayirah Testimony” Hoax: How Fake News Sold a War
One of the most powerful moments that pushed America into war was a heartbreaking testimony from a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl named Nayirah.

In October 1990, Nayirah appeared before the U.S. Congress, crying as she told a horrifying story:

"I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital, take babies out of the incubators, and leave them on the cold floor to die.”

The testimony went viral (by 1990s standards). It was broadcast on every major news network. Americans were outraged.

The story was perfect—too perfect.

And that’s because it was completely fake.

Years later, it was revealed that Nayirah was not a random Kuwaiti girl—she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S. And her testimony? It was scripted by a U.S. PR firm called Hill & Knowlton, which was hired by the Kuwaiti government to push America into war.

This was one of the biggest war propaganda scandals in U.S. history, but by the time the truth came out, the war had already happened.

Sound familiar?
Because the same playbook was used in 2003 to sell the Iraq War. You may refer to it as the original "40 decapitated babies".

Hollywood & The Gulf War: The Prequel to Iraq War Propaganda

The Gulf War’s PR success had a huge influence on Hollywood. After the war, studios began producing films that reinforced America’s heroism—and erased anything that questioned the military’s actions.

Movies like Courage Under Fire (1996) and The Finest Hour (1992) depicted American soldiers as selfless warriors, while films that showed the devastation of war were pushed aside.

According to media researcher Brenda Cronin, who studied Hollywood’s portrayal of the Gulf War, there was a clear pattern:

• The enemy (Iraq) was always faceless. No attempt to humanize Iraqis—only show them as generic bad guys.
• The U.S. military was portrayed as “precision warriors.” Bombing campaigns were described as "surgical strikes," suggesting no civilian casualties.
• Real horrors were erased. The mass bombings of Iraq, the destruction of infrastructure, and the thousands of civilian deaths were rarely acknowledged.
  Even after the war ended, Hollywood continued to push the narrative that the U.S. military was always right.

This set the stage for how Hollywood would handle the Iraq War in 2003—using the same tactics to make war look necessary, clean, and heroic.

The "Clean War" Myth & The Reality of War Crimes

One of the biggest lies sold during the Gulf War was that it was a "clean war" with minimal civilian casualties.

The Pentagon carefully controlled the media, ensuring that journalists only reported what the military wanted them to see. American audiences were shown footage of missiles hitting military targets—but never the aftermath.

In reality, the Gulf War was anything but clean:

• Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians died, many due to U.S. bombings.
• The U.S. deliberately destroyed Iraq’s water and electricity supply, leading to a humanitarian crisis.
• The infamous “Highway of Death” incident saw thousands of retreating Iraqi soldiers—many of them teenage conscripts—slaughtered in a U.S. bombing campaign.

Yet, if you only watched American news—or Hollywood movies—you’d think the war ended with a clean victory.

This illusion of a "clean war" paved the way for the Iraq War in 2003.

Americans believed that U.S. bombings were precise and justified, making it easier to sell the next invasion.

And once again, Hollywood played its part in keeping this illusion alive.

The Gulf War’s Influence on the Iraq War

By the time the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the lessons from the Gulf War had already been applied:

✔ Tightly controlled media coverage. No raw footage of civilian deaths, just high-tech military operations.
✔ A simple “good vs. evil” story. Saddam Hussein was the villain, and America was saving the world.
✔ Hollywood ready to glorify the war. Studios lined up to tell stories of heroic soldiers—not the devastation left behind.

And just like in 1991, the truth took years to come out.

• The “weapons of mass destruction” were a lie. Just like Nayirah’s testimony, it was a fabricated excuse for war.
• The invasion was a disaster. The U.S. destroyed Iraq, but there was no exit plan—leading to years of chaos.
• War crimes were covered up. Just like in the Gulf War, American abuses—like Abu Ghraib—were ignored by Hollywood.

The Gulf War was the blueprint for how to sell a war, and Hollywood helped turn it into a successful franchise.

The Bottom Line

The Gulf War set the stage for everything that happened in Iraq a decade later.

It proved that the U.S. government, the media, and Hollywood could work together to manufacture public support for war.

• The Nayirah testimony showed how fake stories could push Americans into war.
• The controlled media coverage proved that you could bomb a country while keeping public support.
• The Hollywood war machine helped erase war crimes and promote a “clean” American victory.

By the time the Iraq War started in 2003, the formula was perfected.

But no matter how well Hollywood packaged it, the reality of war always finds its way out.

In Part 4, we’ll explore how public perception changed over time, and how the war in Iraq—despite Hollywood’s efforts—ended up becoming one of America’s biggest embarrassments.