The Paper Trail of War: American War Propaganda Leaflets by Khajistan Press

“Saddam is the only reason to bomb Iraq!” reads an Arabic leaflet from Operation Desert Shield, prepared and distributed by the CIA to persuade Iraqi Soldiers to betray Saddam Hussain and save the Iraqi nation from his cursed shadow. The message is written on a blood-stained Iraqi flag, juxtaposed with a caricature of Saddam Hussain. That is only one leaflet among hundreds that were distributed among Iraqi soldiers during The Gulf War. The messages on these leaflets were carefully crafted in local language to instill mutiny amongst the soldiers, making them believe that Saddam Hussain is the primary reason behind their country getting blown to smithereens by a foreign power. 

In 2022, The Khajistan Archive and Press started collecting hundreds of such leaflets and war propaganda material from collectors in Pakistan, Iraq, and the U.S., tapping into Psyop techniques employed by the U.S military over the last three decades during its war on terror and invasion of Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. This carefully curated war propaganda material, which covers The Gulf War, The War in Afghanistan, The Iraq War, and The Libyan Civil War, was translated into English from local languages like Arabic, Dari, Pashto, and published as American War Propaganda Leaflets by The Khajistan Press, providing the readers a closer look at the psychological messaging during wartime and its devious objectives. 

“If Saddam puts Iraqi civilians in military headquarters to die instead of his thugs, then by this he shows he is ready to sacrifice all of you, the holy places, and the history of Iraq for his survival,” reads another leaflet, imploring the Iraqi soldiers to betray Saddam Hussain and save their homeland, using also ‘holy places’ to invoke religious sentiments, which CIA knew would prove effective in the Middle East and Arab world. The CIA tells the Iraqi soldiers that by dying for Saddam, they are prolonging his life, but shortening the life of their beloved homeland. One can imagine what sort of impact such messaging must have had, particularly when you are on the ground fighting. These leaflets were also an attempt to justify the horrific Gulf War, holding Saddam Hussain responsible for all the death, destruction and mayhem unleashed by the military of the U.S. 

Many leaflets, particularly those with long messages, are merely plain papers, but there are many that use imagery - it could be a bloodied flag, a caricature, or a black-and-white photo of Saddam Hussain with the caption “The Cold Face of Death and War” underneath. While cutting all supplies, cornering all those who resisted and fought, the CIA were simultaneously giving out the message that “My Iraqi brother, what we want is peace.”. It was not just a war on the ground, a war that uses bombs and blatantly disregards civilian lives and reduces historical sites to rubble to appease American imperialism. It was also a psychological war, an effort to capture the heart and souls of Iraqi people, using crooked mental gymnastics to make the locals believe that they are being bombed for their own benefit; that the deadly and horrific operations carried out by the American military are actually for the liberation of Iraqis from a tyrant like Saddam; that there are actually noble intentions behind the relentless onslaught. 

 

 

During Operation Desert Storm, a leaflet with a rather long message starts out as “There is no longer any difference between your money and this piece of paper. What are the essentials available in the country? Food is scarce, medicine is unavailable, and famine is widespread.” and in the middle there is a clear-cut warning: “Death is looming over you, and you have no intention of changing anything.” It ends with the rather predictable message of overthrowing Saddam to save Iraq from eternal suffering: “Fill the streets and alleys, and overthrow Saddam and his followers.” By collapsing the country’s economy, by cutting all essentials such as food, medicines and hygiene products, the American military wants “peace” with their Iraqi brothers. Apart from instilling mutiny against Saddam Hussain, the CIA psyops projected the American military as a symbol of benevolence and peace during The Gulf War. All evil, all oppression, the horror and rancor, was equated to only one man: Saddam Hussain. With the benefit of significant hindsight, when one goes through all the leaflets published under The Gulf War in this book, it is quite easy to see through the unadulterated BS of the U.S military’s propaganda machine. 

Not in a dissimilar vein, psyops were used fairly frequently in Afghanistan during America’s global war on terrorism (GWOT), which was aided by the state of Pakistan under the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf. The region surrounding northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, commonly referred to as The Pashtun Belt, was designated as the site for The Great Game by the British empire during the 19th century, using the region for their geo-strategic goals. The state of Pakistan, too, after the British left, has unleashed mayhem in this region; getting millions of dollars in military aid for all their lickspittling and subservience to the American imperialism, fighting their wars in the region against the Pashtun people. In doing so, they have created crises that might not resolve for decades: killing thousands of innocent civilians, rendering millions as refugees of war (Afghan refugees represent one of the world’s largest protracted refugee populations), destroying the country’s economy and social fabric. In short, Afghanistan has been reduced to a shadow of its former self on the back of GWOT. 

In Pashto and Dari, several leaflets were distributed in Afghanistan legitimizing Hamid Karzai’s authority, while calling for the heads of the leaders of Al-Qaeda and The Taliban. “It is terrifying,” reads a leaflet, “these are people who sent your brothers and sisters to the war to die,” with a photo of Bin Laden, a skull, and a few people bearing arms. In others, there’s a promised reward of 25 million dollars for any reliable information on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri (a physician and second General Ameer of Al Qaeda). The message to the people of Afghanistan was clear: the Americans were here to liberate the poor Afghans from the shackles of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, from the evil incarnates that had held the future of Afghanistan hostage. 

But forces like Al Qaeda and The Taliban, which came back to haunt America in September 2001, were their own Frankenstein's monsters created to curb the spread of communism in Russia during the cold war. The Taliban, or the Mujahideen, who were trained by the Pakistani military to fight Russian communism were being taught and brainwashed through a curriculum carefully designed at the University of Nebraska, costing 53 million dollars between 1980 to 1994. Once the cold war ended, and the short term goals were met,  America had no use for these militias, so they discarded them (Medea Benjamin’s book Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind The U.S-Saudi Connection uncovers a lot about America’s (once cozy) relationship with Al Qaeda). The Pakistani army was devious enough to have back-door connections with these militias and kept getting dollars under the garb of fighting these terrorists, conducting military operations that displaced millions of Pashtun civilians, laying out mines that still explode and kill hundreds of civilians each year. To resist this colonial violence and call out the Pakistani army’s double dealings, the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement played a significant role in unravelling the state's authoritarian structures. 

“The government of Afghanistan and the coalition forces are trying to help you with humanitarian assistance,” with two photos of Afghan troops handing out supplies to poor people. These psyops are designed to make people live or believe in an ahistorical moment, depriving them of the context of war, its objectives; the invader is projected as the liberator. The American soldiers, out of the goodness of their heart, on the back of the generosity of the empire, are here to rescue a populace under the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban. The wars of the Empire, from Latin America to Africa, from Asia to the Middle East, are projected as necessary efforts to save the local people using such propaganda materials. The buck doesn’t just stop there, to rub salt on the wounds of those traumatized by American wars, Nobel Peace Prizes are handed out to Presidents like Barack Obama and secretaries of the state like Henry Kissinger (whose books are also a must-read for anyone aspiring to undertake civil services exam in Pakistan). 

 

Interestingly, sometimes the news outside the region was also used to make people recognize the global monstrosity of terrorism, persuading them to help the coalition forces. A leaflet is titled “Mass murder all over the world,” followed by news of terrorist attacks in Nairobi, Bali, Riyadh. People are asked to inform about the possible plans of Al-Qaeda, giving them phone numbers and email addresses to either reach the U.S Awards Program for Justice or the Coalition Embassies, promising hefty rewards to the brave informers. 

“If you move from your current position, you will be attacked by the coalition forces. For your safety, remain in your positions and wait for the coalition's instructions. The coalition is here to end the unjust rule that Saddam and his regime have established,” superimposed on hellfire and what seems like the crooked face of the devil (of course an Arab) and an American tank underneath. Same tactics with cooler imagery. The leaflet was distributed during The Iraq War, which killed and displaced hundreds and thousands of civilians. 

Similar leaflets were issued against ISIS during The Libyan Civil War. One reads as “Soldiers committing crimes against humanity will be held accountable by the international community. Gaddafi has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. Will you share a prison cell with him? Who will support your family? Make a choice before it is too late - peace and future prosperity or continued war and further death and destruction.” But there’s another really interesting one: “Libya is one and its people are one, turn the dial to station 104.1 FM,” which must have been a radio channel used to spread the same war propaganda CIA had become accustomed to. There are other leaflets with shots of specific localities like housing complexes, warning the “leaders” of the former Gadaffi regime to stop fighting and leave or be prepared to take off for hell. 

 

 

This book by The Khajistan Press should be read by everyone interested in learning how the war works on a psychological plane. Using images, artworks, carefully chosen words, the propaganda machine is employed to manipulate the local populace into believing that the war is a doing of their own leaders, while the help can only arrive from American shores. American War Propaganda Leaflets lay bear the workings of psyops. These never-seen-before leaflets will alter the reader's understanding of the war and its many fronts.    

To gain deeper insights into American War Propaganda Leaflets (1990–2022), visit Khajistan Press to get your copy.