Original U.S. Psychological Operations Leaflet (Sectarian Violence Deterrence / Tip Line Promotion) Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, c. 2005–2008
Original double-sided U.S. psychological operations leaflet condemning sectarian violence and encouraging civilians to report insurgents and criminal actors via a centralized hotline.
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Conflict / War: Iraq War
Year: c. 2005–2008
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:
“Security is not achieved through sectarian violence.”
“Report terrorists and criminals by calling number 130.”
Reverse:
Iraqi national flag (with “Allahu Akbar” inscription), presented as a unifying national symbol.
Imagery:
Front combines two photographic scenes: a grieving elderly woman in distress and a funeral procession carrying a coffin through a crowd. The layered composition emphasizes collective mourning and the civilian cost of sectarian conflict. The use of real photographic imagery, rather than illustration, intensifies emotional immediacy.
Reverse displays the Iraqi flag in full color, reinforcing national unity and identity over sectarian division.
Objective:
To delegitimize sectarian violence by associating it directly with civilian suffering and communal loss, while redirecting responsibility toward individual action through reporting mechanisms. The hotline “130” is foregrounded as a simple, actionable step. The pairing of grief imagery with the national flag reframes the conflict as a threat to Iraq as a whole, rather than to any single sect, encouraging alignment with state authority and coalition-backed security efforts.
Exhibited in Khajistan: Office of War Information (O.W.I.) at Pioneer Works, New York, May 08 – Aug 09, 2026.
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