November 28, 2002
Release 02-11-15


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OSW FORCES DROP LEAFLETS TO DISCOURAGE REPAIR OF COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

MACDILL AFB, FL – Operation SOUTHERN WATCH aircraft dropped 360,000 leaflets at about 4 a.m. EST today over unmanned communication facilities located between Al Kut and Al Basrah, approximately 100-150 miles southeast of Baghdad in Southern Iraq. These sites were damaged or destroyed by Coalition strikes on Nov. 22.

Three separate leaflets were combined for this drop. Two leaflets urged Iraqi military not to repair the communication equipment and facilities that aid in tracking and engaging Coalition aircraft. A third leaflet states that Coalition aircraft enforce the no-fly zones to protect the Iraqi people, and that threatening Coalition aircraft may result in air strikes.

The 3-inch by 6-inch flyers, written in Arabic, were dropped by six fiberglass “leaflet bombs” that contained a mixture of all three leaflets, with a total of 60,000 leaflets in each bomb. The bombs exploded over the target areas and drifted to the ground.

This was the fifth OSW leaflet drop in the last two months.

Previous leaflet drops:
October 3 tear Tallil
October 27 near Al Basrah and As Samawah
November 8 around the town of Al Amarah
November 17 around the town of Ar Rumaythah

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