# Bomb warnings and an invitation: Desert Storm leaflets in a CIA frame

A CIA museum display gathers coalition leaflets dropped on Iraqi positions in 1991. They warn that a location will be bombed, tell soldiers to leave their equipment, and invite them to surrender to the Joint Forces.

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      Desert Storm surrender leaflets (CIA museum display)

      Bomb warnings and an invitation: Desert Storm leaflets in a CIA frame
      Coalition leaflets from 1991, framed by the CIA, warn Iraqi troops "This location will be bombed next" and invite them to surrender. English and Arabic

## Techniques named on the archive record

Fear appeal
      Date1991Made byCoalition forces in the Persian Gulf War (leaflets air-dropped over Iraqi positions), displayed by the U.S. Central Intelligence AgencyMediumLeafletCountryUnited StatesRegimeGeorge H. W. Bush AdministrationSourceIdentified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they areSourceWikimedia Commons (file originally posted to Flickr by the Central Intelligence Agency) , retrieved September 29, 2026SourcePublic domain (U.S. government work, Central Intelligence Agency) The Central Intelligence Agency, public domain (work of the U.S. government), via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.
      Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

      Full record at propagandaarchive.org

  A CIA museum display gathers coalition leaflets dropped on Iraqi positions in 1991. They warn that a location will be bombed, tell soldiers to leave their equipment, and invite them to surrender to the Joint Forces.

## What the display holds

The object is a framed board, not a single sheet. It mounts several leaflets dropped over Iraqi positions during the Gulf War, with English captions on the display card beside the Arabic. Cartoon panels show aircraft striking an airfield and a column of tanks, a bomb stamped with a warning, and a two-frame scene of soldiers sharing a meal. A printed letter from the coalition command closes the set. The FRAME transcription gives the English and Arabic lines; an excerpt of the English:

This location is subject to bombing

Your equipment will be bombed!

Or defend it and die   Leave your equipment!

The choice is yours

Time is up!

This location will be bombed next

Leave your equipment save yourselves

[...]

Brother Iraqi Soldiers,

This is an open invitation to you and to your brother fighters. I hope you can accept it as soon as you get the chance.

Commander

Joint Forces in the Theater of Operation

Excerpt from the transcription in the FRAME record, which also gives the Arabic of each panel. Full record at propagandaarchive.org. A small Arabic invitation card on the board is recorded as illegible.

## Who made it

The archive credits coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War for the leaflets and the Central Intelligence Agency for the display, which the agency posted to Flickr. The archive took the image from Wikimedia Commons on 29 September 2026 and records it as a public-domain work of the U.S. government. How many of each leaflet were dropped, and where, is not in the record.

## How to read it

The leaflets work in pairs. One panel shows what is about to happen to a position; the next names the way out. "The choice is yours" is the hinge. As persuasion this is blunt but checkable: a soldier who read it learned that his site was a target and what to do to live. A warning that turns out to be true is a different thing from a lie told to frighten.

The invitation letter is softer. It promises the "full benefit of Arab hospitality, security, safety, and medical care" and a return home once the war ends. The archive record does not show how those promises were kept, so this page does not grade them.

The case study Bush borrowed the 1930s while Baghdad called its hostages guests quotes this invitation. A harsher leaflet from the same campaign, "Ruler of the dead", offers no exit at all.

## Sources

- FRAME object record, "Desert Storm surrender leaflets (CIA museum display)," 1991. Coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War; displayed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Wikimedia Commons (originally posted to Flickr by the CIA), retrieved by the archive 29 September 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).

Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/cia-desert-storm-surrender-leaflets-1991/