AI Generated Atrocity Propaganda

The weaponization of AI and digital forensics in information warfare.

What started as a bystander from the IDF stating in an interview that 40 beheaded Israeli babies were discovered, is now the NPC mantra of the entire Israel Palestine conflict. President Biden even came out and mindlessly read the line that was given to him saying “I never would have thought I’d see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children”. That’s because you didn’t see those pictures, since they don’t even exist.

Without any official confirmation from Israeli military and nothing more than a disturbing rumor, the Wikipedia article archived by the JIDF.

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
―Mark Twain

The Nayirah testimony was a significant event leading up to the Gulf War in 1990-1991. It involved a young Kuwaiti woman named Nayirah, who testified before the U.S. Congress and claimed to be a nurse at a Kuwaiti hospital. She provided a harrowing account of witnessing Iraqi soldiers committing atrocities, including taking babies out of incubators and leaving them to die on the floor.

Nayirah stated in her testimony, “I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns. They took the babies out of incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor.”

All it takes is those two words, “I saw”, followed by a statement that involves a horrific act against children, to invoke such a strong emotional response that those who hear it will instantly become so emotionally invested that they will become enraged upon hearing any skepticism. Biden’s handlers fed him the same formula to repeat in front of the country. It’s highly effective.

Similarly, Nayirah’s testimony was widely publicized and was cited numerous times by U.S. senators and President George H. W. Bush in their rationale to support Kuwait in the Gulf War. It was pivotal in garnering public support in favor of going to war with Iraq. In 1992, it was revealed that Nayirah's real last name was Al-Sabah and that she was the daughter of Saud Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. But by then it was too late. The propaganda had served its purpose.

What has changed this time is now we are in a time where AI image quality is advancing exponentially. AI images can now be generated in attempt to support the atrocity propaganda. This opened up a whole new layer of challenges for the atrocity propagandists in the internet age, where “pics or it didn’t happen” has become a valid argument. Videos are constantly rolling in modern warfare where civilians under extreme duress are still managing to record and post the horrors of war.