Original U.S. Psychological Operations Leaflet, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, 2003
Original double-sided U.S. psychological operations leaflet produced during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. Printed in Arabic, the leaflet combines stark symbolic imagery with financial iconography to critique Iraqi leadership and highlight the human cost of continued loyalty to the regime.
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Conflict / War: Iraq War
Year: 2003
Country / Theater: Iraq
Language(s): Arabic
Format: Original printed leaflet, double-sided
Provenance: Acquired from the personal materials of an unnamed U.S. military servicemember.
Translation:
Front: “I can live another twenty years.”
Back: [Currency design with Saddam Hussein portrait; no additional operational text.]
Imagery:
The front shows a caricature of Saddam Hussein seated on a throne elevated above a mass of skulls, visually equating his rule with death and sacrifice. The exaggerated, almost casual posture reinforces indifference to the human cost beneath him. The reverse mimics Iraqi currency, featuring Saddam’s portrait and historical imagery, tying regime authority directly to state-controlled economic life.
Objective:
To portray Saddam Hussein as prolonging his own survival at the expense of Iraqi lives, encouraging disillusionment among soldiers and civilians by linking loyalty to the regime with death, exploitation, and personal sacrifice.
Featured in American War Propaganda Leaflets, 1990–2022, Khajistan Press.
Exhibited in Khajistan: Office of War Information (O.W.I.) at Pioneer Works, New York, May 08 – Aug 09, 2026.
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