In order to gain the support of the public, countries use propaganda. During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein and George Bush used propaganda to gain the support of their respective public. Propaganda was everywhere. It was on the radio and television and it brought the war into millions of homes. Propaganda was a vital part of the Gulf War because it provided the US and Iraq with the support of their public. Propaganda is always geared towards the populace claiming that the other country is the oppressor. The truth is often stretched or even fabricated to garner a public outcry for justice. The real truth, however, is very difficult to distinguish from fiction.
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The United States also used women and children in their propaganda. A weeping woman told the horrific tale of Iraqi soldiers taking babies out of incubators and throwing them onto the cold floor. This graphic description surely left a tremendous impact on the American citizens. The Iraqi's were portrayed as monsters and the US public felt obligated to do fight against this cruel force. The US military was now the protector and the hero of an entire nation. The United States had the support of millions of people.
The atrocities of war were not the only form of propaganda used by both Hussein and Bush. Hussein showed allied pilots that had been shot down and proclaimed that the allies were not infallible. In fact, the military was weak and could be defeated with the will of the Iraqi soldiers. One soldier was even broadcasted throughout Iraq saying that he was sorry and that what his country did was wrong. An admission of guilt was one of Hussein's greatest weapons. The United States declared that the Iraqi soldiers were so poorly equipped they did not even have shoes. The soldiers were seen as peasants so that the American military seemed almost god-like in comparison; so powerful that they would change the face of war forever.
Bush and Hussein also claimed that what their decisions to fight a war would change the world for the better. Hussein claimed that he would form a Pan Arab nation in which all of the Arab countries would unite to stop the imperialistic US. This was a great plan because Arab countries had fought each other before; peace and unification between brot...
