U.S. drops propaganda bomb on ISIL

Tom Vanden Brook | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has launched a propaganda program in Syria aimed at creating fissures among Islamic State fighters by dropping 60,000 leaflets at the center of the militants' power base.

The leaflets depict recruits to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, being fed into a meat grinder. The leaflets were created by personnel from Military Information Support Operations, previously known as psychological operations.

"It's trying to set the stage for an internal uprising against ISIS," said Nicholas Heras, an expert on ISIL at the Center for a New American Security.

The leaflet drop represents the softer, less acknowledged side of the U.S. strategy to destroy the Islamic State. The U.S.-led coalition issues daily releases about the airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq it has conducted since August after militants gobbled up huge tracts of territory.

The Pentagon is less forthcoming about the more than $1 billion it has spent on propaganda publications and broadcasts to influence attitudes and behavior in the Middle East. The military often shields its role in the efforts, including broadcasts in Afghanistan, because it fears U.S. backing of the messages would diminish their effect.

The leaflet drop near Raqqa, the Islamic State's self-proclaimed capital, took place on March 16. An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter dropped a specialized leaflet-dispenser bomb for the first time in Syria, according to Col. Tadd Sholtis, an Air Force spokesman.

The sign on the leaflet says, "Daish Recruiting Office." Daish is another name for the Islamic State, and it also appears on the meat grinder. Another sign reads, "Now serving 6001," and the man in the front of the line drops a ticket with that number, Sholtis said.

The military appears to be attempting to exploit reported problems within the ranks of foreign fighters who have flocked to Raqqa in the last year to fight for ISIL, said Jennifer Cafarella, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Some of those militants have been reluctant to fight in the city of Kobani, on the border with Turkey, where U.S.-led airstrikes have killed hundreds of fighters.

ISIL has responded by executing those reluctant to fight, likely blunting the effect of the leaflet, she said.

Meantime, ISIL has also been producing weekly and daily news bulletins, possibly a reaction to counter U.S. propaganda, she said.

The leaflet may have another aim: showing ordinary Syrians that the coalition has not forgotten about them despite the focus on dislodging ISIL from cities such as Tikrit in Iraq, Heras said.

One measure of the leaflet's effectiveness, Heras said, will be the number of attacks by Raqqa residents against ISIL.