Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War will be 2024’s COD title and will release later in the year. Although we are yet to see any footage or even official stills from the upcoming FPS, we already know which war Treyarch is throwing players into. This has been common knowledge amongst the fan community for a while now thanks to multiple sources familiar with Activision’s plans corroborating the info.
For those who may not be aware, the Gulf War began in 1990 before ending just a year later in 1991 and consisted of two phases: Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. These operations, along with the decision to go to war itself, were spearheaded by the US, whom established a 42-country coalition to assist in the aforementioned large scale military operations. This is where things get murky.
Will Black Ops Gulf War Commit to Showing the Shady, Manipulative Tactics of the US Government?
Black Ops Gulf War will likely be more than happy to recount the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, as this was the foundation for the American Government’s decision to go to war. However, a couple of months after the war began, the world at large was beginning to question the decision. Public support in the US was waning and the Democrats were openly calling out the Republicans at any opportunity.
George Bush Sr was the President of the US at the time, and he desperately needed to paint Saddam Hussein out to be a monster. Saddam was a monster, but instead of conducting a proper investigation into his dodgy dealings during his time as Iraq’s President and reporting them back, Bush and his team elected to go with the less time-consuming option of falsifying evidence in a bid to create outrage-inducing propaganda.
On October 10, 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl called Nayirah gave testimony at the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus. During her statement, she claimed that she witnessed a number of barbaric, unspeakable war crimes. I do want to put a small trigger-warning here before posting the following quote for those of a sensitive disposition:
While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor. It was horrifying.
Black Ops Gulf War Should Recount This Lie For the Sake of Preserving Historical Accuracy
The consequences of this testimony were huge, as was the impact of the revelation that the statement was proven to be false years later. Nayirah al-Sabah turned out not to be a nurse as she originally claimed, but instead the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US. Her testimony was part of a larger PR campaign planned by the US Government and Kuwait.
Nevertheless, the testimony worked. Regardless of your political leanings, nobody is going to retort with a counterargument to something as brutally horrific as the image of leaving newborn babies to die on the floor that was being falsely perpetuated. Thus, this cultural impact should be reflected in Black Ops Gulf War along with any pro-American attitudes that are portrayed. Both sides of the story should be told.
While I have no doubt that there were atrocities carried out on both sides during that conflict, as is the case with every war, fabricating evidence like this is a despicable abuse of power. It also sets a horrific precedent that I won’t go into here, but if proof exists that the US Government lied about this, then it leads to the inevitable question of; what else have they lied to us about?
Taking off the tinfoil hat for a second, this is a hugely relevant part of the real life story, thus it is pretty imperative that it be included. Frankly, we won’t exactly how Treyarch plans to handle this fairly sensitive facet of the conflict until we get our hands on Black Ops Gulf War this November. COD has historically been quite good at showing things from the American perspective and also showing the perspective of the opposing side simultaneously. Hopefully this trend will continue.
What do you think, would it bother you if the Nayirah Testimony was omitted, or do you not mind whether it is included or not? How important is it to you that Call of Duty remains historically accurate when retelling war stories from years gone by? Let us know down in the comments section below.
