Side by side sit photographs of two tanks used by Saddam Hussein's armed forces. Both are mangled, burned-out husks of metal surrounded by debris. A caption in Arabic reads, "The 1st Tammuz Tank Bn of the 24th Mech Bde, 10th Arm Div. did not comply with Coalition Guidelines." The reverse side of this leaflet, produced by the U.S. Army's 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion, urges Iraqi forces to disarm and surrender.
A cartoon depicts Osama Bin Laden in a cave, seated cross-legged on an ornate red-and-yellow carpet. Armed bodyguards surround him. One of them points to the entrance of the cave, where a bomb falls from the sky. The caption reads "Al-Qai'da do you think you are safe..." On the reverse side, the caption concludes "...in your tomb?" Two bodyguards lay dead, buried under rubble. Bin Laden and the remaining bodyguards are drawn with wide-eyed expressions of fear. The cave's entrance, walled off by rock, is imposed with the faint, floating image of a grinning skull.
Leaflets such as these are printed by the 3rd PsyOps Battalion to lower enemy morale, warn civilians of impending attacks and educate them about new hospitals and safe houses. The battalion operates in combat zones, but recently they displayed their capabilities at the 2004 Graph Expo trade show and conference in Chicago. Attendees toured the battalion's mobile unit, consisting of a modified Humvee, deployable rapid assembly shelter (DRASH) and 20kw generator with an environmental control system. In Iraq, the environmental control system helped "cool" the shelter from 130 F to 93 F.
The Humvee houses a production development workstation composed of a PC with a dual Pentium 200 MhZ processor and 128 MB RAM; JAZ, ZIP and CD-ROM drives; an internal modem; a high-resolution scanner; and a color laser printer for proofing the leaflets. Translated text and graphics, including photographs from the field, are sent to the unit. The crew prints the leaflets on a Risograph RP-3105 digital duplicator and separates them with a Triumph 3915 electric paper cutter. They can produce more than 1 million black-and-white leaflets every 24 hours.
Soldiers roll or stuff the finished leaflets into leaflet bombs. After the bombs drop, a detonator automatically causes the casing to shatter into small pieces. Air drafts catch the leaflets and disperse them through the targeted area. For example, a leaflet drop in Baghdad, which stretches 48 square miles, requires 10 to 16 bombs. The bombs detonate at an altitude of 20,000 to 25,000 feet above ground level and disperse one to five leaflets per square meter.
--Andrew Brown
The U.S. Army 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion used simple language and graphics to create leaflets for illiterate populations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The text reads "Osama bin Laden. $25,000,000" (front) and "$25,000,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts or capture of Osama Bin Laden. Contact Coalition Authorities" (back).
Approximately 5,000 leaflets are rolled or stuffed loosely into each bomb. The casing shatters harmlessly in the air, and leaflets blanket the target area.
