March 26, 2015
U.S. drops propaganda bomb on ISIL
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.