I have written numerous articles reporting on the use of banknotes as a powerful tool
of psychological operations (PSYOP). Banknotes have always been a popular medium for
propaganda messages since they immediately attract the eye and finders will almost always
pick them up off the ground. It is a way for the propagandist to be sure that his message
will be read. In addition, banknote propaganda can be easily hidden in a wallet to be read
or used at a later and more convenient time. The United States PSYOP effort in Operation
Desert Shield and Desert Storm made great use of banknote propaganda.
Currency propaganda has not been used in such numbers since World War II.
A few words about the Arabic-English translations. I have seen many translations for
the same leaflets and they all differ slightly. I worked closely with a Jordanian master
sergeant during the war and he told me that there were many errors in the Arabic text on
the coalition leaflets. In some cases he had to guess at the meaning of a word. For the
purposes of this article I have combined translations and published the message that I
believe is the closest to what the coalition wanted to say. I have made compromises for
the sake of clarity.
The United States Army has long been a proponent of PSYOP. The propagandist’s
bible, Psychological Operations (FM 33-1) states:
Psychological factors are an integral part of all battlefields…The
psychological effect of combat actions can be seen in the heightened morale of a
successful unit and fear of a defeated unit.
On 2 August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and quickly conquered and occupied the
tiny nation. On 8 August Iraq declared the annexation of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti
government-in-exile fled to Saudi Arabia where it was recognized as the legitimate voice
of Kuwait. Overwhelming disapproval of Iraq’s actions led the United Nations Security
Council to authorize the use of a coalition of allied troops to protect Saudi Arabia and
other Persian Gulf countries, and to liberate Kuwait. A six-week air campaign called Operation
Desert Shield destroyed Iraq’s military capabilities and destroyed the morale of
the frontline Iraqi troops. On 24 February 1991, Operation Desert Storm commenced
and Coalition ground forces attacked Iraq, overwhelmingly defeated them, and caused them
to retreat under fire back to Iraq. By 26 February, the Iraqi forces were beaten and sued
for peace. President George Bush called a halt to the UN Coalition advance on 27 February
after a 100-hour ground war.
The coalition forces disseminated approximately 29 million leaflets during the Gulf
War. A decision was made that no Iraqi soldier would be able to rest or sleep through the
night without hearing the sound of coalition aircraft. The plan was to dispatch aircraft
over Iraqi defensive positions every three hours, often accompanied by a leaflet drop.
Loading leaflets into aerial leaflet bomb
There were just a little over 100 different aerial propaganda leaflets dropped on the
Iraqis during the Gulf War. The most common variety or theme was the banknote leaflet.
Four types were prepared and disseminated by U.S. PSYOP forces stationed in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, U.S. PSYOP forces stationed in Turkey dropped an additional six different
types. Finally, another six types were distributed that are rumored to be from the Central
Intelligence Agency or some other clandestine organization. We don’t know who printed
them, but we do know that the U.S. Army takes no credit for their production in official
military records of the war.
Some of the pertinent facts about the PSYOP war were part of the 4th PSYOP Group
official slide briefing entitled PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS IN DESERT SHIELD/DESERT
STORM.
29 million leaflets (29 tons) dropped in Kuwaiti Theater of Operations by balloon,
MC-130, F-16, F/-18, and B-52.
The basic leaflet themes were surrender (12.4 million), inevitability of defeat (6.6
million), abandon equipment and flee(1.9 million), Saddam is to blame (4.7), and other
(3.5 million).
98% of enemy prisoners of war interviewed had seen Coalition leaflets. 88% believed the
leaflet message. 70% said that the leaflet message influenced their decision to defect.
4th Psychological Operations Group
The banknote parodies prepared in Saudi Arabia were produced by the Psychological
Operations Dissemination Battalion (Airborne) Print Company of the 4th Psychological
Operations (PSYOP) Group, working with the Central Command (CENTCOM) headquartered in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The parodies were purposely blurred at the urging of the Saudi
government, which was uncomfortable with the thought of producing high-quality forgeries
of bank notes. In fact, Saudi concerns may have caused the cancellation of the operation
after only very small quantities of leaflets were dropped during the first two days of the
ground war.
There is a personal anecdote about these banknotes that always amused me and pointed
out how easy it is to misunderstand an item. During Desert Storm I was sitting on a
footlocker with a PSYOP Captain discussing the Coalition leaflets and he mentioned
“the blurry notes.” I assumed he was talking about all the printing errors and
miss-registrations among the notes made in Turkey. We talked for a few minutes and could
not quite come to an agreement. I thought I understood him and he thought he understood
me. He said they were about the same size as regular Iraqi notes and I said they were
smaller. Then a little light went on over my head and I realized he was talking about the
four banknote leaflets made in Saudi Arabia and I was talking about the six made in
Turkey. The lesson: listen more carefully and don’t assume you know what someone else
is talking about. Some of the notes made in Turkey were blurry. All of the
notes made in Saudi Arabia were blurry. Listen harder!
Richard Johnson says in Seeds of Victory – Psychological Warfare and
Propaganda that none of the blurry leaflets were disseminated due to Saudi worries
about taking part in a counterfeiting scheme. Whatever the truth, a second PSYOP unit
operating in Turkey, which had been preparing another set of propaganda parodies of the 25
dinars note, was not told of the Saudi concerns. They dropped large quantities of their
banknote leaflets on Iraqi forces.
Blurred Banknote
The leaflets produced in Saudi Arabia are slightly smaller than genuine Iraqi
banknotes. They all are imitations of the same note, the Iraqi 25 dinars Central Bank of
Iraq note of 1986. These notes are mentioned and illustrated in the booklet prepared by
the Psychological Operations Dissemination Battalion (Airborne) entitled Print
Company: Leaflet Magazine – Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm. The caption
beneath the illustration is:
25 Dinar Note: The intention of this leaflet was not to counterfeit Iraqi monies
but to entice the population to read the message on the other side. This was printed as
the first four-color process product. The technique uses the four primary inks CYAN,
MAGENTA, YELLOW and BLACK and is printed in a small dot patterns to create an infinite
variety of colors. As PSYOP product became more complex, the use of this color printing
process became more prevalent. Color separations were manufactured by a new piece of
technology, the PSYOP Analyst Terminal (P.A.T.) system.
Each of the four 25 dinars notes prepared in Saudi Arabia contained a short propaganda
messages in Arabic on the back. The fronts are faithful but blurred reproductions of the
original, and show charging medieval horsemen in center and Saddam Hussein at right, with
a watermark area showing Hussein at left. The serial number (in Arabic) is 0703356. A
total of 179,000 of the four types were printed. The parodies measure about 173x76 mm,
slightly smaller than the 178x81 mm of the genuine note. They were listed in the 4th PSYOP
product book as "I-J 25 dinar." The four "blurry" banknote parodies
produced in Saudi Arabia have the following messages on the back:
Type 1. "Saddam lives in luxury while you and your family
starve."
Type 2. "Saddam has made your money worthless while he hoards
gold."
Type 3. "No amount of money will buy back your honor."
Type 4. "You cannot cleanse your hands when they have
been stained by the blood of decent Arabs."
At the same time, the United States PSYOP forces in Turkey were printing banknote
leaflets. Once again the fronts are imitations of the Iraq 25 dinars Central Bank of
Iraq note of 1986. Text on back is in Arabic except where noted. The serial number in
Arabic is 0473385. The parodies measure 164x73 mm, whereas the genuine notes measure
178x81 mm. The Hussein watermark is indistinct in the parodies. There are 6 leaflets in
the series, assigned code numbers beginning with "A0"; the code numbers do not
appear on the leaflets.
The leaflets were prepared and disseminated by elements of the Psychological Operations
Dissemination Battalion (Airborne) Print Company of the 4th Psychological Operations
(PSYOP) Group, working with the European Command (EUCOM) in Ankara and Incirlik Air Base,
Turkey. The parodies were rolled, placed in the M129 leaflet bomb that held 54,000
leaflets, and dropped by F-16 fighters over Iraqi troops. On 4 May 1993, Iraq devalued all
prewar 25-dinar notes, allegedly to strike at holders of Iraqi currency in Kuwait and
elsewhere; it is possible that the devaluation was related to the Gulf War currency
forgeries and parodies. The six propaganda messages on the back of the banknotes are as
follows:
Type 1. Back shows a cartoon in color of a soldier carrying Saddam, with 3-line
ballooned text:
I have carried you for 11 years. I have no strength to carry you anymore.
A crow sits on a sign in the cartoon that reads "Kuwait." The
crow is a sign of bad luck in the region. When my Jordanian colleague read the text he
started to sing and told me that the words were from an old Arab love song. An important
variety exists in which the text on the cartoon was omitted.
Error Leaflet with Omitted Text
During the war many of us were on the watch for interesting banknote errors. The above
note missing black text is probably the most interesting error of all. Among others are
banknote leaflets with blank back, paper cutting errors, misregistration of colors,
greenish or brownish tint, with a "pimple" on Saddam's nose, or a blue streak
across Saddam's face.
Type 2. The back features a large "?". The 14-line black-and-white text in
vertical format is framed by a black border and reads:
Saddam’s daily ration for you is ? The daily ration for coalition soldiers is:
Breakfast: eggs, bread with butter, meat, two fruits, juice, milk, coffee, and tea. Lunch:
meat, beans or potatoes, biscuits with cheese, candy, juice, and coffee. Dinner: meat,
bread with butter, vegetables, cake, milk, juice, coffee, and tea. Prisoners are fed the
same meal as coalition soldiers.
A EUCOM
“Blurry” note
I add this example just to show why I thought the Captain mentioned
above was discussing these banknote leaflets made in Turkey when he brought up
“blurry notes.” This leaflet was poorly printed and you can see two distinct
color passes not in registration. Whenever I ran across a leaflet like this I would grab
it as an example of a printing “error.”
Type 3. The back shows "SAFE CONDUCT PASS" in English in two places. The
21-line black-and-white Arabic text is in vertical format framed by a black border:
SAFE CONDUCT PASS. You do not have to die. You can be safe and return to your
family and loved ones if you cease resistance. You must follow these steps strictly: 1:
Remove the magazine from your weapon. 2: Sling your weapon over your left shoulder with
the muzzle down. 3: Raise your arms above your head. 4: Approach positions slowly. Hold
this pass in your hand above your head. If you do this, you will not die. You will be
treated well and someday return to your family. NOTE: Beware of mine fields along the
border. The Iraqi soldiers that carry this safe conduct pass are using it as a sign of
their sincere desire to cease resistance and be removed from the battlefield. They are to
be disarmed, to be well treated, to receive food, water, and medical treatment if
necessary. Safe Conduct Pass. Commander, Combined Forces.
Type 4. The back shows 14 lines of black-and-white text in vertical format framed by a
black border:
Attention V Corps Soldiers. Saddam is leading you to death and dishonor. Do not
obey his orders. If all the tires on your truck are cut, it cannot move. If your tank is
mired in the mud, it cannot move into battle. If your weapons cannot fire, you don’t
have to fight. If your radio does not work, you cannot hear the orders of your leaders. Do
not die for Saddam, but live for peace!
The Iraqi V Corps was based north of Baghdad along the northern border of Iraq. It
consisted of 5 infantry divisions.
Type 5. The back shows 19 lines of black-and-white text in vertical format framed by a
black border:
There is no difference between your money and this piece of paper. Worthless money
is plentiful in the land and the deprivation is spreading. No remedy is in sight. The
suffering is spreading. There is no nourishment, but there is filth. There is no water or
soap to be found. The darkness has settled. The electricity is out. You are in distress.
You have needs but your wife is not with you. You are afraid of Saddam but you do not
disobey. You are in imminent danger of death but have no plan to change it. Oh people of
Iraq, you still have the power to do something but you are sitting in your houses. Oh
soldiers, Oh civilians, Oh elders, Oh youth, Oh women, Oh men! The time has come for you
to respond to the call of duty. Rise up and flood the streets and alleys for the overthrow
of Saddam and supporters.
Type 6. The back shows 5 lines of black-and-white text in horizontal format framed by a
black border:
The money of Iraq has no value. There is no food, no peace, no happiness in Iraq.
There is thirst, there is hunger, there is misery, and there is death in Iraq. Saddam is
responsible for all this misery! Act against Saddam now! His fall is inevitable.
The Joint Task Force Proven Force product book entitled VAN KEDISI -
DESERT STORM depicts a number of the leaflets prepared in Turkey and gives their
Coalition internal code numbers. The currency leaflet "The money of Iraq has no
value" is coded A022A. The leaflet "There is no difference in value..." is
coded A022B.
These banknotes got a lot of press at the time. The Turkish newspaper Express
wrote about them on 28 February 1991. The front page showed the banknote leaflet and the
text:
Planes from Incirlik Air Base drop millions of leaflets which had "dinar"
on one side. U.S.A. POURS MONEY ON IRAQ! They are conducting propaganda with leaflets that
look like money. The leaflets which have been disseminated by the U.S. fighter planes from
Incirlik have money on one side and statements on the other and have been very effective.
Officials on base say that the leaflets have several statements on the back.
A block of 500 Desert Storm Propaganda Banknotes
One Official report states that there were only seven F-16 leaflet missions flown
from Turkey with about three million leaflets disseminated. The EUCOM leaflets from Turkey
have always been more plentiful than the CENTCOM leaflets from Saudi Arabia. That is
strange because close to twenty million leaflets were printed in Saudi Arabia and just
about ten million in Turkey. However, rumor had it that there was a lot of souvenir
gathering up north in Turkey. It is probably an exaggeration, but there were stories of
military five-quarter ton trucks filled with leaflets leaving print shops and
disappearing. One PSYOP soldier went so far as to say “if we printed ten million
leaflets, five million went into duffle bags.”
I know that after the war there were numerous offers of the six banknote leaflets
from Turkey in bulk. One fellow wrote to me and offered me 50 cents each if I would sign
individual guarantees that about 10,000 of the leaflets that he had were genuine. I did
see those same banknote leaflets later offered on eBay inside faux leather wallets.
In 2018, an EBay dealer offered a block of 500 Desert Storm banknotes for $750.
Maybe the stories are true and more of the leaflets from Turkey went missing than were
dropped on the Iraqis.
Fake Desert Storm Propaganda Banknotes
In 2019, this group of five different Iraq War propaganda leaflets was placed on the
auction block for sale starting at $14.99. The war has been over for almost three decades
and suddenly we see some new fake leaflets. The two at top and the surrender pass at the
right seem legitimate, but the two banknotes below, green and purple, would appear to be
recent fakes.
The final six propaganda banknotes are not acknowledged as 4th PSYOP Group product. It
is therefore assumed that they are clandestine products. We call them the United States
"black" parodies of Iraq 25 dinars Central Bank of Iraq note of 1986. They were
printed in full color on thin, white paper. The fronts show good replicas of the 25-dinar
note. The backs show cartoons in black. The parodies measure 152x76 mm, whereas the
genuine note measures 178x81 mm. The serial number on all notes is 0342845.
Central Intelligence Agency
Little is known about the PSYOP actions of the CIA during Operation Desert Shield and
Desert Storm. The agency is mentioned just three times in the United States Special
Operation Command Booklet PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS DURING DESERT SHIELD/STORM -
A POST-OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS, and very little is said about what they actually were
tasked with doing:
However, at his direction (Office of the Director of the Joint Staff) the campaigns
and their component actions were divided into two subplans; a "white" (overt)
subplan to be executed by the Department of Defense, and a "black" (covert)
subplan passed to the CIA as a "recommendation."
In fact, few if any of the proposed actions were truly covert. Most of the
"non-white" actions involved clandestine delivery of overt US messages through
channels not accessible by the United States Commander in Chief, Central Command, e.g.,
the Kuwaiti resistance. The planning cell assumed the CIA had such access and therefore
suggested the agency as an appropriate action agent. The distinction was apparently lost
during the review process.
But the actions and campaigns were found to stubbornly overlap and resist easy
division of Department of Defense versus CIA responsibility
These black leaflets are thought to be products of the CIA, which may have used a
classified military operation as a cover. The leaflets are quite similar to items known to
have been prepared by the 4th PSYOP Group. Some sources state that the leaflets were
produced as a part of Joint Task Force Proven Force, whose goal was the destabilization of
the Saddam regime.
A Pentagon report to Congress states that JTF Proven Force was primarily an
Air Force effort based in Turkey, under the operational control of EUCOM, but under the
tactical control of CENTCOM. JTFPF controlled over 6000 men and large number of aircraft
based in Turkey, including B52s used for bombing and leaflet missions. Sources allege that
(at least a part of) Proven Force was and is a highly secret special operations
force engaged in clandestine activities. Stanley Sandler in Cease Resistance:
It’s Good For You: A History of the U.S. Army Combat Psychological Operations,
2nd edition, 1999, says that JTFPF contained an ad-hoc 21-person PSYOP detachment who
designed and prepared propaganda leaflets and broadcasts that were disseminated by a
hastily organized multi-aircraft special Air Force unit designated the 7440th Composite
Wing (Provisional). This ad-hoc detachment was probably the 8th PSYOP Task Force (8th
POTF), which, according to a veteran who was with the 4th PSYOP Group, was left behind
after the majority of U.S. troops left the Gulf. Part of the 8th POTF went to Kuwait to
help in the restoration of civil affairs after the liberation; another part worked with
the Kurds as part of the "refugee" resettlement. The CIA, not having the
capability to print these items, might have given the printing job to one of the
contingents of the 8th POTF. The only published reference to these parodies appeared in Newsweek,
8 June 1993, two years after the end of the war. The article, entitled "First: Smart
Bombs. Now: Funny Money" says, "Some funny money ridicules the regime with
pictures of an empty grocery store or of Saddam chomping on a cigar. It’s no smart
bomb, but the dinar’s value is plunging."
These notes have been very slow in coming to light. In fact, it is mostly the
retirement of former CIA officers who have offered their souvenirs for sale over the past
few years that allow us to identify all the banknotes. The first two "CIA notes"
discussed below were offered in England in March 1994. I questioned the owner and he said
that they had come from an American who said he had received them from a former
intelligence operative. A second group appeared in 1999, said to be from the personal
collection of a former CIA agent.
As the war neared end, U.S. Special Forces encouraged the Kurds in the north and the
Shi'ites in the south to rise up against Saddam Hussein. This third banknote campaign
could have been part of such a "black" operation.
The entire six "CIA" notes were printed on a very thin paper. Such paper is
sometimes used by the military because it is lighter, more specimens of a leaflet can be
placed in a leaflet bomb or balloon, and the lighter paper also causes the
leaflets to disperse in a different pattern. In fact, there were several such leaflets
produced by the 4th Group during the war. Some leaflets were printed on both bond and a
thin tissue paper.
It is time for another personal anecdote. We were never sure who produced these
small banknote leaflets, but always suspected the CIA. In 1993, I was in the CIA
Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It was lunchtime so we went downstairs to eat. There is
a small museum just outside their cafeteria. Not really a museum as much as a series of
glass cases holding CIA souvenirs from many wars. I looked through some of the exhibits of
exotic weapons, hollow coins, documents and cameras, and found a display of leaflets which
were identified as “CIA-Produced Pamphlets.” The description was:
During the Persian Gulf War, copies of this CIA-produced pamphlet were
air-dropped over a designated area prior to an Allied bombing run. These leaflets gave the
civilian population time to evacuate and military units an opportunity to surrender.
I immediately recognized the leaflets as very similar to the 4th Group leaflets and
assumed that the CIA was taking credit for an Army PSYOP campaign. When I looked closer,
however, I realized that each of the leaflets on display were on a thin tissue-like paper.
They were just a bit different from the Army leaflets. These slightly changed leaflets all
on thin paper seem to be proof that the CIA probably did print the six mysterious
banknotes leaflets.
The NY Times reported on 19 January 1991 that President Bush had signed three
"findings" that allowed the CIA to join in the psychological operations. The
first authorized the CIA to take part in propaganda and deception campaigns. The second
gave permission for the CIA to work with Army Special Operations forces to support
guerrilla fighters in Kuwait. The third empowered the CIA to work to destabilize Saddam
Hussein's government. It was also reported that the CIA had taken over Kuwait's
intelligence apparatus. A final quote from the article is, “The Pentagon units are
coordinating efforts with psychological warfare experts from the CIA.”
We will now describe the six “CIA Banknote Leaflets.”
Type 1. The back shows a grinning Saddam sitting atop a pile of skulls. Vertical
format. Arabic text in 1 line is "I can live for 20 years." The cartoon of
Saddam’s head can be seen through the watermark area on the front.
Type 2. The back shows cartoon of Saddam standing behind seven starving children.
Vertical format. Arabic text in 3 lines is "We can live for 20 years. But our stores
are empty and your stores are full." The cartoon of Saddam’s head can be seen
through the watermark area on the front.
Type 3. The back shows Saddam lighting a cigar with a map of Kuwait and holding a glass
of champagne. Horizontal format. Arabic text in two lines is "I can live for 20
years." Mentioned in Newsweek, 8 June 1992, page 38.
Type 4. The back shows a nearly empty grocery store, with only a large roll of Iraqi
banknotes printed on wrapping paper. Horizontal format. Arabic text in one line is
"At least it has a value now!" Mentioned in Newsweek, 8 June 1992, page 38.
Type 5. The back shows the front page of an Arabic newspaper The Green March,
with black bars at top and bottom framing a cartoon of Saddam throwing Kuwait onto the
fires of war. Vertical format. The bottom black bar contains large text "The Butcher
of Baghdad." Small text beneath the masthead is "Social Weekly Newspaper produced
by the Revolutionary Committee." The cartoon is autographed with the date 1986 in
Arabic, leading to speculation that the cartoon was published in an earlier newspaper and
copied.
Type 6. The back shows two Iraqi soldiers sitting on a prayer rug in the desert. In the
distant background are some palm trees. The Iraqi at right faces the viewer; the Iraqi on
the left is shown in profile and faces the one at right. Both soldiers hold glasses of
tea. Two lines of Arabic text in the center ask: "Have you heard what Radi’s
father has agreed to?" I suspect that Radi is a nickname for Saddam or perhaps an
allusion to the Koran, but I have never been able to get an acceptable answer to
the meaning of this text.
Johnson 2015 offering
25 years after the end of the Operation Desert Storm Richard Johnson offered four of
the CIA banknote leaflets for a price of $85. He added a photograph to the offer that
indicates that he had saved at least a dozen of each of the banknote leaflets.
The Kaufman Reproduction of the Coalition Propaganda Banknote
We should point out that commercial reproductions of the United States propaganda
parodies of Iraq 25 dinars Central Bank of Iraq note of 1986 exist. For instance, Kaufman's
West of Albuquerque, NM, advertised shortly after the war:
Kaufman's has meticulously reproduced the original 12 PSYOP propaganda
leaflets. We have printed them in exacting detail and send them complete with English
translations. Several of the leaflets share the same front, a full color counterfeit of
the 25 Dinar (Iraqi currency) because the Iraqi soldier could be shot for possessing
propaganda from the enemy. This way, the soldiers could fold the leaflet in half and it
looks like a regular bill.
The leaflets are printed on a four-color press and the set is offered at $9.95 plus
postage. The Kaufman’s fakes have fairly good color rendering on the front, but with
background tending toward brownish-green rather than blue. The reproductions measure
173x77 mm, slightly smaller than the genuine notes and considerably larger than the 164x73
mm of the parodies. A spokesman for the firm told me that over 600 sets were sold between
May and July of 1991. They are fairly close in color and detail to the original banknote
leaflets, except that they are larger, measuring 173x77 mm. Kaufman’s also produced
"reprints" of several of the non-currency leaflets. Several other dealers
subsequently offered reproductions similar to Kaufman’s, but slightly smaller (162x72
mm) than the genuine leaflet, and with a more purplish cast.
The Mississippi Reproduction
Another reproduction of the Iraqi propaganda banknote was made by a firm in
Mississippi. They got the colors mostly right, but the watermark area to the left is not
quite as blue and Saddam’s face is a bit browner. You can also see some of the text
on the back of the note in the clear watermark area at the left, probably a sign of a
slightly thinner paper. The size is a bit off measuring just 163 x 72 mm.
A 2017 Oddity
In late 2017, 27 years after the first Gulf War, a new alleged propaganda banknote was
offered for auction. The front depicts an Iraqi 250 postwar dinar banknote, not the 25
dinar used by the Coalition, and in violet rather than full color. The back depicts an
image of a Coalition leaflet, but not the back of any of the U.S. Army banknotes. Instead
it is an image of Iraqi weapons hidden among buildings with a warning “Innocent
civilians are Saddam's first line of defense,” normally found with a long Arabic
message on the back, usually printed in black and white. This version is again in a violet
color. I can only assume that someone put these together to bilk the public, but I wonder
why? The genuine banknotes sell very cheaply so there is not much money to be made by
faking them, especially in the wrong colors
There is reason to believe that at the same time the 4th Group was making imitations of
the Iraqi currency, the CIA was forging their currency. Prior to the 1991 Gulf War,
Iraq’s currency was prepared abroad, by Thomas de la Rue of England and, presumably
another country. According to Triumph without Victory, U.S. News and World
Report, 1992, page 190, in an operation called "Blink, Saddam, Blink,"
Washington persuaded the two countries that had produced the Iraqi currency to:
print counterfeit Iraqi currency, which was then distributed to Kurdish leaders,
who flooded the market with worthless bills.
I questioned the editor in 1992 about the alleged forgery campaign and he answered:
Unfortunately, like so many pieces of information my colleagues and I came
across in the course of reporting on the Gulf War, we were unable to develop more than the
barest outlines of an operation codenamed "Blink Saddam Blink." We were told
that the operation did involve the infiltration of counterfeit Iraqi currency into the
country, but we were singularly unsuccessful in learning more about it.
In Newsweek, June 8, 1992, Ray Wilkinson in Amman, Jordan adds:
Can a blizzard of banknotes succeed where Desert Storm failed? Some of those still
working to topple Saddam Hussein evidently think it’s worth a try. In a campaign Iraq
denounces as a CIA plot called "Laundry," counterfeit Iraqi and U.S. dollars are
flooding into the country across all of its borders. The Iraqis say bales of fake dollar
bills have been dumped from American helicopters; U.S. intelligent sources say it’s
an all-Arab operation led by the Saudis. Whoever is at the helm clearly knows his
business. Many of the fake dinars can scarcely be distinguished from the poor-quality,
blue and orange bills Iraq itself is printing at a furious rate to pay for reconstruction
and military raises.
Coin World of 18 May 1992 added "CIA mum on counterfeit Iraqi
currency." Richard Giedroyc went on to say in part:
Official of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency are refusing comment on media
reports that the agency has placed counterfeit Iraqi money into circulation in Iraq in an
attempt to disrupt the economy and government. The undercover operation in Iraq is called
"Operation Laundry." CIA media spokesman Mark Mansfield told Coin World "It
is not our policy to comment on such allegations."
The highly respected London newspaper The Sunday Telegraph says that the CIA is
quietly flooding Iraq with counterfeit money, especially, it is believed, 5, 25 and 50
dinar notes in an attempt to destabilize Saddam Hussein's government by making the money
worth next to nothing.
The New York Times also wrote about the counterfeits in 17 May 1992. Some of
their comments are:
Iraq's economy is the target of an American-led destabilization campaign to pour
vast amounts of counterfeit currency into the country. The (Arab) officials, who insisted
on not being identified, said the countries behind the separate counterfeiting operation
included western nations, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel. "People joke about it and
some have become experts in telling which denominations are printed in Israel, the United
States or in Saudi Arabia", said an Iraqi who insisted on not being identified.
A Saudi official, who insisted on not being identified said, "All borders are
being used."
Since no official is willing to be identified and every enemy of Iraq is mentioned as a
possible counterfeiter, one might suspect that the Iraqi complaints are meant to explain
away a corrupt system, internal counterfeiting of poorly made banknotes produced in Iraq,
and a failing economy.
Twenty years after the war there was still debate about the counterfeiting of Iraqi
currency. One researcher told me in 2010 that there was an unverified report that the
counterfeits were made in Beirut, Lebanon, and transported to Saudi Arabia from where they
were smuggled by Kuwaitis back into occupied Kuwait.
Saddam Hussein’s U.S. “Dollar” Carpet
This is not exactly propaganda as we usually think about it, unless you consider
walking on an enemy's banknotes propaganda. This section has to do with a carpet that was
probably a gift given to Saddam that was made up of counterfeit U.S. banknotes. How do we
know they are counterfeit? They all have the same serial number: B80069438P.
The Victory Monument
The carpet is mentioned in a 2004 scrapbook that depicts the famous monument the Iraqis
built to honor their alleged victory in the Iraq-Iran War. Saddam’s arms were molded
into two hands holding swords. The swords were allegedly made from captured Iranian
rifles. The final sentence of the caption is:
An Iraqi security officer at the site told me through my interpreter that Saddam
later incorporated a carpet of American one dollar bills to be tread on by his troops and
sent me away with a great souvenir [the two notes above attached to a thick cloth].
A second soldier stated that he had a piece that was two bills deep and about two feet
wide. Apparently the carpet had been cut up into hundreds of collectible pieces.
The counterfeit bills seem to be sewn or glued to a thick cloth. Another soldier who
was in Iraq added:
I know this rug quite well. It comes from the parade ground; specifically, under the
stands and behind the Presidential box. This was a fairly large series of rooms that
contained art, poetry, ceramics, statues and even all of the plastic flowers that you
would see young girls presenting Saddam at official appearances and in propaganda photos.
There you will find “The Museum of Present's to the President.” The entire floor
was covered in this carpet.
Discussing Counterfeit Money in Iraq
Curiously, while the United States might have been trying to counterfeit Iraqi
currency during Desert Storm, the tides were turned in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the
invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the eventual fail of Saddam, the United States wanted to
protect the new banknotes of the more democratic government. Above, an Iraqi soldier from
the 14th Iraqi Division and U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Adam Vinglas of the 305th PSYOP
Company speak with a local cash exchange businessman about counterfeit money in the local
community during a joint foot patrol in Basra, Iraq, in 2009.
An Iraqi officer tests the chemical composition of both real and fake currency during
an anti-counterfeiting class being taught in 2010 by the 3212 Tactical PSYOP Detachment,
318th PSYOP Company, 8th PSYOP Battalion.
During their invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi forces looted Kuwaiti banks and stole billions
of dollars in Kuwaiti banknotes.
Some of this story is told by Adel Al-Yousifi in Evidence II – a Study of
the Damage to Kuwait from the Iraqi Invasion of 1990-1991. He says:
The volume of currency within the banking system in mid-1990 was estimated at 3.3
billion…During the invasion, the banks and their money were at the mercy of Iraqi
forces. They made the Iraqi dinar the official currency at the exchange rate of
one-to-one, though the real value of the Iraqi dinar was one tenth of the Kuwaiti dinar.
The Iraqis stole all assets and funds in the vault of the man commercial banks
and their branches. The Central Bank lost all its contents, including gold reserves
totaling 1.3 billion ounces. Also taken to Iraq were gold and silver souvenir coins and
bonds worth an estimated 484 million. Brand new banknotes worth 1.152 billion were also
taken to Iraq. The Iraqi invasion severely disrupted the banking system and also caused
international distrust of Kuwait’s currency right from the start of the occupation.
After the Gulf War, Kuwait replaced its currency with the 1992 Post Liberation Issue,
and declared all previous note issues worthless. Although the stolen notes were not used
in propaganda, we list them for reference. The Iraqis stole notes in the denomination of
1/4 Dinar, 1/2 Dinar, 1 Dinar, 5 Dinars, 10 Dinars, and 20 Dinars.
Confiscated Kuwait Currency
Some of the notes were recovered. The Kuwaiti government had a list of all the serial
numbers, so they were worthless to the Iraqi looters. In 1991, the British Ministry of
Defence’s Central Cash Management Branch presented the confiscated notes to the
government of Kuwait. The government stamped them all with an Arabic statement
disqualifying the validity of the banknotes. The back of each banknote is stamped
‘MINISTRY OF DEFENCE.’
About those overprinted banknotes. Coin World International explained in more
depth in their issue of 1 Jan 1996:
When the Iraqi soldiers stormed across the desert borders into Kuwait, one of the
first places they broke into was the Central Bank. Large quantities of notes were looted
from the vaults. Later, British armed forces units on active service "relieved"
captured Iraqi soldiers of their spoils of war.When hostilities ceased, all these notes
were collected by the Ministry of Defence's Central Cash Management branch and presented
for payment at the National Bank of Kuwait. But the Kuwaiti government refused payment
because the notes had been stolen and overprinted them with a purple handstamp to this
effect. It is estimated that more than 2 billion worth of gold and negotiable paper money
were stolen by Iraq. The serial numbers on all stolen notes were identified and publicly
announced.
Confiscated Iraqi Currency
The British 1st Armored Division was a vital part of the Coalition forced during the
Persian Gulf War. During the attack into Iraq, and the dash across Kuwait north of Kuwait
City, they overran and occupied a number of Iraqi headquarters and military installations.
They advanced 290 kilometers, destroyed three Iraqi divisions, and captured or destroyed
more than four thousand Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles. They captured several millions
of dollars in Iraqi currency. The banknotes were returned to England where the Ministry of
Defense Cash Management Branch stamped the front of each note with the words,
"MINISTRY OF DEFENCE" and "CERTIFIED OFFICIAL."
In 1998, the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait published a book entitled Kuwaiti
Resistance as Revealed by Iraqi Documents. It shows that in order to better control
occupied Kuwait the Iraqis declared the Kuwait dinar invalid and forced the use of their
own Iraqi dinars. An 8 September 1990 document complains:
Information has been received from a reliable source on the large-scale
circulation of Kuwaiti dinars in preference to Iraqi dinars, in violation of a decree
rendering both currencies equal. The phenomenon is widespread in Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti
dinar equals 1 to 4 Iraqi dinars. This practice is instigated by the so-called resistance,
and the objective is to indirectly belittle the decree referred to above…Take the
necessary measures, watch those acts, hit ruthlessly at such people and keep us informed.
An October 1990 document shows the Iraqi occupiers getting tougher:
Withdraw the Kuwaiti dinar (all denominations, as well as coins) and compensate
holders thereof by the nominal value in the Iraqi dinar on the basis of one for one.
Deadline for the exchange process is end of working day on 6 October 1990, after which the
Kuwaiti dinar shall be deemed invalid and illegal…
This sort of exchange of currency is quite common in military theaters during
wartime. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Government would routinely exchange old Military
Payment certificates (MPC) in order the attack the local black market and those that had
illegally hoarded the currency.
Are there still millions of dollars in the old Kuwaiti banknotes floating around the
Mideast? Perhaps! In 2011, I received information that there is a huge quantity of old
Kuwaiti dinars available in the United Arabs Emirates. The source suspected that the old
dinars could be those stolen by Iraq during the occupation. He felt that buying such notes
was most likely illegal; there would be no way to trade or exchange any of the notes
through the Central Bank of Kuwait and it would be a worthless and dangerous proposition
to be involved with. He asked my opinion. I was short and to the point.
I am not an expert. But I know that the serial numbers of all the stolen currency
is recorded and the money is invalid. It has no value.
2nd Anniversary of Gulf War Victory
The government of Kuwait is proud of their independence and thankful to the nations of
the Coalition that drove the Iraqis from their land. On the second anniversary of the
liberation of Kuwait they produced a commemorative one-dinar note and the statement:
On the 26th of February 1991, the sovereignty of the State of Kuwait was restored
and the people of Kuwait were freed from the tyrannical occupation. Thereby, the
legitimate government has resumed its duties toward the reconstruction, progress and
prosperity of the country.
This special note has been issued to express gratitude and appreciation for the
sacrifices and support, which culminated in the liberation of Kuwait.
The note also serves as a reminder of the devastation inflicted on Kuwait under
occupation, in particular, the human suffering and the environmental tragedy.
The front of the one dinar note depicts a map of Kuwait and lists all the countries
that took part in the coalition. The back depicts the liberation and burning oil wells.
10th Anniversary of Gulf War Victory
On the 10th anniversary of Liberation Kuwait once again printed a commemorative one
dinar note and the following message:
The Tenth Liberation Day - like all other liberation days - also reminds us of the
strong perseverance and will evidenced by us during the treacherous Iraqi occupation, and
of the sublime manifestation of sacrifice made by our martyrs, whose blood was shed for
their dear homeland. On the occasion of our liberation, we shall not forget to commend all
effective assistance and support offered from the peoples and governments of 34 brotherly
and friendly countries, and international organizations as well. We shall always pray to
Allah the Almighty for protection for Kuwait against all adversity, for compassion for our
martyrs and the prompt release of our Prisoners of War.
25th Anniversary of Gulf War Victory
On 5 March 2016 the Central Bank of Kuwait announced two new coins to mark the 25th
anniversary of the nation’s liberation following Operation Desert Storm. A silver
5-dinar coin and a gold-plated silver 5-dinar coin mark the Feb. 26 anniversary of
liberation. The coins went on sale at the bank office, with the silver coin costing about
$116 in U.S. funds and the gold-plated version available for about $153 U.S.
The front of commemorative coins marking the Silver Jubilee of Liberation Day
carries the date of the occasion in both Arabic and English, the inscription “The
Twenty Fifth Anniversary of Liberation of the State of Kuwait” in Arabic, circular
decorative assortments, the State’s Official Logo and portraits of a Kuwait soldier
giving the military salute and a tank.
The reverse of the coin carries similar inscriptions in English, the Central Bank of
Kuwait Logo, a portrait of a Kuwaiti Boom (sailing boat), circular decorative
assortments and the symbolic value of “5 dinars.”
New Iraqi Currency
There is one last leaflet that should be mentioned in an article on the subject of
banknotes. After the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition forces and the fall of the
government of Saddam Hussein, the old currency was invalid. The occupying powers, working
with selected individuals within Iraq and the Central Bank of Iraq designed a new series
of Post-Saddam banknotes. The Coalition printed a leaflet that depicted the various
banknotes and explained the features that the Iraqi people should look for to be assured
that the currency was legitimate and genuine. The leaflet was coded CPA G0075 and printed
in full color.
New Iraqi Currency Planned for but Never Used
On 24 March 2022, three decades after the end of Operation Desert
Storm, banknotes were offered at auction that had been printed by the
British firm Thomas de la Rue for use in Iraq.
Author Christopher Dahncke wrote about the Stacks Bower
auction in a “Rare money blog.” He said:
Our April Valkenburg auction is nearly completely cataloged
and soon will be posted to StacksBowers.com for viewing and bidding. One
interesting lot that we will be offering are these Thomas de la Rue produced
(TDRL) overprints for the planned 1991 invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War
– a neat piece of history created for that conflict.
The Gulf War began in 1990 when Iraq annexed Kuwait. The
annexation was internationally condemned, and a coalition of 35 countries
was formed to liberate Kuwait. The liberation of Kuwait began on 24 February
1991 and the country was fully liberated by the 28th of that month.
Coalition forces began to advance past the Kuwaiti border into Iraq,
resulting in these items. TDLR created this specimen and overprints in 1991
for the planned invasion of Iraq and the expected overthrow of Saddam
Hussein, which never happened as a cease-fire was issued. We believe the
specimen note was originally produced with Saddam's portrait by TDLR, before
the invasion of Kuwait. Specimens were produced and approved for eventual
production, but after 1990 it was decided to cover up Saddam given the
conflict. The overprints were created to replace his portrait with a design.
Two renditions of the overprints are included on paper, with printer's
annotations noticed on both; one has a glue stain. The specimen note is
housed in a booklet from TDLR which shows where the overprint would have
been placed. The note is encased in plastic, while a cutout of the overprint
has been pasted on top of the plastic. Neat and presumably unique.
This concept of a design rather than the face of a human has been
done before by certain Muslim countries. For instance, in my article on
Cold War Banknotes I mention that:
During the Shah's reign, Iranian currency bore his picture.
However, the new Supreme Leader of Iran after the fall of the Shah was the
religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini. He enforced a
more Muslim concept and portraits of the Shah on banknotes were forbidden.
As a result, all the portraits of the Shah on Iranian banknotes were
obliterated.
Addendum
In 2003, the United States once again went to war with Saddam Hussein. This time Iraq
was invaded and occupied and Hussein was hunted down, tried, convicted in an Iraqi court
and executed. At the end of this “second Persian Gulf War” some entrepreneurs,
presumably in Israel, overprinted some Iraqi banknotes. I am reasonably certain these are
civilian-made for profit, and not really what we consider to be propaganda, and they are
also for the wrong war, but since we have covered Iraqi banknotes in such detail in this
article I thought I would add them here. The banknote depicts Saddam Hussein on the front
and both the front and back bears the overprint:
HUSSEIN’S REGIME WAS DEFEATED IN 2003 AND PAPER MONEY WAS
WITHDRAWN FROM CIRCULATION.
Conclusion
The use of banknotes as a medium for propaganda has always been popular. Cash on the
ground will catch the eye much quicker than a standard propaganda leaflet. People will
pick up banknotes and often read the text almost before realizing that they hold
propaganda and not a gift from Heaven. The author is always interested in hearing personal
anecdotes about the use of such items. Interested readers, or those with comments or
corrections to this story are encouraged to write to sgmbert@hotmail.com.
©17 January 2004
