A US Air Force (USAF) MC-130E Combat Talon loadmaster ties down boxes to the aircrafts cargo ramp containing 120,000 leaflets that will be dropped over Basra, Iraq, sending a message to Iraqis that they not get in the way of coalition forces and that soldiers capitulate, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM

Iraq War aka Operation IRAQI FREEDOM was the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, under the code-name "Operation Iraqi Freedom". 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.