By all accounts, Saddam Hussein’s move to invade and annex Kuwait upset the fragile peace in the Middle East. It drew widespread condemnation for even close allies, and worse still for Iraq, brought the United States into the fight. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, fearing they would be next on Iraq’s list, asked for U.S. military assistance.

On this day, January 12, 1991, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. By this time, the U.S. had half a million troops in Saudi Arabia in “Operation Desert Shield.” The resolution gave them the authority to go on the offensive, in an operation that would become “Desert Storm.”

Public and congressional opinion tipped toward war as a result of a tearful testimonial before congress, delivered by a 15 year-old Kuwaiti girl. Identified only as “Nayirah,” ostensibly to protect her family, she said Iraqi soldiers had visited her hospital and ripped babies from incubators and threw them on the floor. Nayirah’s story turned out to be fabricated, as was Nayirah herself – she was the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S., and a member of the Kuwaiti royal family.