FAST! Which company is the government contractor who printed the Iraq
Most Wanted Identification playing cards. Want to know the name.
Contact info earns a $5 tip.

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Request for Question Clarification by leep-ga on 15 Apr 2003 03:12 PDT

Is it possible that there was no contractor?

First, there's the question of number of decks:

"An official at the Pentagon told Knight Ridder that only a couple of
hundred decks had been sent to the combat zone, but that more could be
dealt out in a jiffy."
Troops dealt an old tool:
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/04/12/Worldandnation/Troops_dealt_an_old_t.shtml

"Lt. Col. David Lapan, a spokesman for the Pentagon, tells The Scoop
that it’s “highly unlikely” that any of the cards on eBay were the
ones handed out by the Pentagon because, he says, “fewer than 100
decks of cards were printed up.”
Buyers gamble on Iraq cards:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/898998.asp

The first article mentioned above also indicates:
"The cards were made by the U.S. military ... [a playing card company
executive] who hasn't seen the Iraqi cards other than in a photo said
they don't appear to be "real playable cards. They have no rounded
corners and look like paper with no lamination." ... The cards were
made up by wags at the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is on the
hunt for the depicted characters.  The Pentagon has not copyrighted
the cards, which means that anyone could produce them, a defense
official said.

It sounds like the cards could have been made in a few hours with
Photoshop by a bored military worker.

Does this info help at all?

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Clarification of Question by maxhodges-ga on 15 Apr 2003 06:12 PDT

yes, that is helpful!

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Clarification of Question by maxhodges-ga on 16 Apr 2003 06:04 PDT

Why the media is not your friend.
I just had a personal experience with the media which makes me doubt
anything I read in the future. In my CNN/Money interview the writer
totally put words in my mouth. He said I said I took the PDF to a
local printer which I never said and whic is false. I found a printer
(in Arlington mind you--I'm in Houston) who claims to print these for
the government:
http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/14/pf/saving/iraq_cards/

Maybe my printer is lying, but that CNN/Money writer shouldn't put
words in people's mouths.

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Clarification of Question by maxhodges-ga on 16 Apr 2003 06:07 PDT

for the record, the cards I'm selling here: 
http://www.white-rabbit.us 
 
were printed by this company, who claims to be a govt. contract
printer for the cards:
Komplete Group Inc. 2025 Meridian St Arlington TX 76011  
Phone: 817-800-8080

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Clarification of Question by maxhodges-ga on 16 Apr 2003 07:51 PDT

cool, CNN corrected their article.
Leep-ga, post to answer and I'll pay you.
thanks!

Greetings maxhodges!

Per your request, I am posting my earlier comments above as an answer.
 I have also included a link to the article you mentioned.

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Is it possible that there was no contractor? 
 
First, there's the question of number of "real" decks out there: 
 
"An official at the Pentagon told Knight Ridder that only a couple of
hundred decks had been sent to the combat zone, but that more could be
dealt out in a jiffy."
Troops dealt an old tool: 
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/04/12/Worldandnation/Troops_dealt_an_old_t.shtml
 
Also: "Lt. Col. David Lapan, a spokesman for the Pentagon, tells The
Scoop that it’s “highly unlikely” that any of the cards on eBay were
the ones handed out by the Pentagon because, he says, “fewer than 100
decks of cards were printed up.”
Buyers gamble on Iraq cards: 
http://www.msnbc.com/news/898998.asp 
 
The first article mentioned above also indicates: 
"The cards were made by the U.S. military ... [a playing card company
executive] who hasn't seen the Iraqi cards other than in a photo said
they don't appear to be "real playable cards. They have no rounded
corners and look like paper with no lamination." ... The cards were
made up by wags at the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is on the
hunt for the depicted characters.  The Pentagon has not copyrighted
the cards, which means that anyone could produce them, a defense
official said."
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/04/12/Worldandnation/Troops_dealt_an_old_t.shtml

A CNN article from this morning states:
"A real deck of the Most Wanted Iraqis playing cards will be tough to
find, however. An initial print run of only "a couple hundred decks"
has been sent to Central Command in Qatar for distribution, said
Lieutenant Commander Jim Brooks, a spokesperson for the the Defense
Intelligence Agency."

"The DIA printed that initial run in its own printing facility before
the war started, he said, and they were delivered at about the time
hostilities started. Should CentCom request a full run of cards, the
DIA would go to an outside contractor for printing."
Above from "Hot item: 'Most wanted Iraqi' cards":
http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/14/pf/saving/iraq_cards/

So, in summary, the small amount of actual decks were printed
internally by the military.  They did not use a contractor for this
first run.

I hope this information is helpful.  If you would like for me to
clarify any part of my answer or further research your question,
please let me know before issuing a rating.   Thanks and good luck
with your cards.

leep-ga


search strategy used:
"playing cards" + made   on Google News:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=%22playing+cards%22+made

Great work!

The cards can be viewed online:
http://www.centcom.mil/Operations/Iraqi%20Freedom/playing_cards.pdf

This UK company are selling reproductions
http://www.boxmx.co.uk/iraqcards/

DOD contracts are listed here:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/contracts.html

I didn't see that contract at first glance.  I think the contracts
listed there are for $5 million or more, but let's not rule out the
possibility that the U.S. military payed more than $5 million for
playing cards.

The following website claims to sell the cards that are "... printed
by the same company supplying these cards to the US Embassy in
Kuwait".  They don't say though they don't say who that company is.

http://www.greatusaflags.com/product_info.php?products_id=94&aff_id=8&aff_sub_id=11

Is the US Embassy in Kuwait getting the "official" cards though?  
I still think it sounds like there were a small number of cheap decks
produced directly by the military and now a bunch of "knock-offs"
decks (which may in fact be of better quality than the original) are
now hitting the market.

for the record, the cards I'm selling here:
http://www.white-rabbit.us

were printed by this company, who claims to be a govt. contract
printer for the cards:
Komplete Group Inc. 2025 Meridian St Arlington TX 76011 
Phone: 817-800-8080

Anyone selling these cards is selling a scam. I work for the Federal
Government, and know that no more than 200 authentic decks were
produced. Buyer beware definitely applies here. I also plan on
informing eBay of the scam and directing them to the official
information which confirms this.

>Anyone selling these cards is selling a scam.
No they aren't. Some people just want a deck not as an investment but
because its cool. They are happy to have a quality replica.

CNN reported today that the following company has the contract to
create the cards:
Liberty Playing Cards
1100 Harrison
Arlington, TX 76011
Tel: 817 275-2731
http://www.libertyplayingcard.com/

The Liberty Playing Cards web site indicates that they sell them
through retail channels:
http://www.card-press.com/
http://www.iraqs55mostwanted.com/

You can find the video version of the CNN story here, in the "Offbeat"
section:
http://www.cnn.com/video/

Looks like www.albertsgifts.com was the one who made the ones for the
Kuwaiti Embassy.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/wtae/a1596871.asp

Make that "Embassy in Kuwait".