Arch-conservative Newsmax.com's site says:

] These playing cards are the same ones the U.S. government
] is using to produce for our servicemen and women in Iraq.
] We even offer the cards made by the same manufacturer the
] Pentagon uses.

But according to the Stars & Stripes today (http://www.stripes.osd.mil/article.asp?section=104&article=14912):

That’s not possible, Brooks said, because DIA gave the cards to CENTCOM, not the embassy, and has never had the cards printed by a commercial contractor.

NewsMax.com 'Iraqi Cards' Fraud

] ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Pentagon's "most wanted" playing cards
] are turning into the hottest collector's item since Beanie
] Babies, but with an ugly twist: unscrupulous sellers are
] offering "real" cards that were never produced by the
] U.S. government.
]
] Meanwhile, Pentagon officials say, those decks that have
] been printed — fewer than 200, total — are still sitting
] at U.S. Central Command headquarters, waiting for
] distribution to selected troops in Iraq.
 . . .
] Less than a week since the public learned about the playing
] cards, sellers have burst out of the woodwork, ready and eager
] to offer “the real thing” to gullible buyers.

I'd still be willing to buy a "copy" deck, if I could find a reputable seller... I have genuine concerns though that most of the sellers out there are offering an item that they have neither the original *nor* a copy of.

Buyers beware: The real Iraq 'Most Wanted' cards are still awaiting distribution

The arch-conservative paper at Newsmax.com is offering the "55 Most Wanted Iraqis" cards for "free", if you order a 4-month starter subscription to Newsmax for four months ($15 and then automatically renews at $35/year). But they don't seem to have a "just sell me the damn cards without the subscription" price. ;)

Update: The Newsmax site (http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2003/4/16/183900)says:
These playing cards are the same ones the U.S. government is using to produce for our servicemen and women in Iraq. We even offer the cards made by the same manufacturer the Pentagon uses.

These cards depict 55 "Most Wanted" Iraqi war criminals, beginning with ace of spades Saddam Hussein.

However, see the Stars and Stripes article from today:
That’s not possible, Brooks said, because DIA gave the cards to CENTCOM, not the embassy, and has never had the cards printed by a commercial contractor.

Bah.

NewsMaxStore.com: Deck of Death

] What happened to the majority of journalists living the
] Marine life is that we experienced it from the inside. I
] can honestly say that seven weeks as an embed has changed
] me forever. And I have often found many similarities
] between Marines and Arabs.

ArabNews: An Account of Marines' Incredible Gestures

] UMM QASR, Iraq -- Ahmed Ali believes Saddam Hussein can
] never die. All his life, the 23-year-old laborer has
] heard about the dictator's powerful stone.
]
] Saddam, the story goes, had the stone made shortly
] after he came to power 24 years ago. Its powers were
] first tested inside a chicken. One of his soldiers pulled
] out a gun and shot at point-blank range. The chicken's
] feathers fell off, but it lived.
]
] So the dictator implanted the stone in his upper arm.
]
] As the curtain falls on Saddam's reign, many ordinary
] Iraqis are reluctant to believe that their much-feared
] dictator has lost power, much less that he is actually
] dead. Stories abound of Saddam's mystical powers that
] have helped him elude assassination attempts and missile
] strikes.
]
] "The stone makes him bulletproof," Ali, a slim man
] with a Saddam-style moustache, said in a serious voice.

Talk about urban legends . . .

Myths About Saddam Fuel the Fears of Iraqis

] Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley described the vehicles as
] dual-use -- biological and chemical -- mobile labs. The
] troops also found about 1,000 pounds of documentation.
] The mobile labs were found buried close to an artillery
] ammunition plant.

Sounds a lot like what Powell was talking about at the U.N. If nothing else, these labs should definitely have been documented in the Iraqi declaration last December.

CNN.com - Eleven Mobile Chemical Labs Found Buried in Iraq

Pictures of the 55 cards on the Department of Defense website. Interestingly, some of the cards only have names, and don't have pictures.

I'm also surprised that they didn't include the Arabic script of the names on the cards, as that would have been an easy tool for the soldiers to use when talking to helpful people on the street: Show them the cards and ask people if any of the names were familiar. I'm sure that there are plenty of Iraqis who are more than eager to help find many of the people in that deck!

Lastly, I was extremely surprised that our beloved Iraqi (Mis)Information Minister, Sahaf, isn't in the deck. I would have put his card at a high trade value, up there with Mark McGuire and Ozzie Smith or something. ;)

The Iraq 55: Personality Identification Playing Cards

A U.K. company, "Box MX" is evidently selling decks of the "most wanted" cards, as well as wall posters with the pictures. I have no idea if they're legitimate or not, but their website is here:

Iraq 'Most Wanted' Posters

] IRAQI TOP 55
]
] Name--Position
]
] 1. Saddam Hussein--President of Iraq/CINC of Military
] 2. Qusay Hussein--SSO, SRG & RGFC Commander
] 3. Uday Hussein--Saddam Fedayeen Commander
] 4. Abid Hamid Mahmud Al Tikriti--Presidential Secretary (WMD Release Authority)
] 5. Al Hasan Majid--Pres. Advisor, Fmr South Reg Cmdr
] 6. Izzat Ibrahim al Duri--Vice Chair of the RCC, North Reg Cmdr
] 7. Hani Abd Latif Tilfa al Tikriti--SSO Director
] 8. Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan Tikriti--RG Secretary
] 9. Barzan Abd Ghafur Sulayman al Tikriti--SRG Commander
] 10. Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al Tikriti--Air Defense Force Commander

This is a straight text list of the 55 people on the "Most Wanted" deck of cards that are being issued in Iraq. I've been trying to find a URL to meme with the actual pictures of the cards, but every mirror site that I've checked seems to be either slashdotted, or is linking to the DoD site (which is evidently being slashdotted). If you'd like to try that URL yourself, try here:

 http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2003/pipc10042003.html

Also, if anyone sees any place that's selling these cards, please meme it? I'd really like to get my hands on a deck. I'm positive it would spice up any Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. ;)

55 'Most Wanted' in Iraq

] On April 9, 2003, Dr. Umayma Jalahma briefed the Arab
] League's "Center for Coordination and Follow-Up" and
] claimed that the U.S. war in Iraq was timed to coincide
] with the Jewish holiday Purim. Dr. Jalahma, a professor
] of Islamic Studies at Saudi Arabia's King Faysal
] University, made headlines last year when she claimed
] that Jews use human blood to make pastries for the Purim
] holiday. In an article published in the Saudi daily
] Al-Riyadh on March 12, 2002, Dr. Jalahma wrote about "the
] Jewish holiday of Purim... for this holiday, the Jewish
] people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can
] prepare the holiday pastries... that affords the Jewish
] vampires great delight as they carefully monitor every
] detail of the blood-shedding with pleasure... After this
] barbaric display, the Jews take the spilled blood, in the
] bottle set in the bottom [of the needle-studded barrel],
] and the Jewish cleric makes his coreligionists completely
] happy on their holiday when he serves them the pastries
] in which human blood is mixed."

Wheee, this one gets the record for the weirdest Arab "Jewish Conspiracy" accusation I've heard.

Some of the other weird ones can also be read here:
 http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=3170

Oh, and as a followup on Dr. Jalahma:

] Following MEMRI's release [in 2002] of a translation of this
] article, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security
] Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and White House Press Secretary
] Ari Fleischer, criticized the Saudi government and press.
] Subsequently, Dr. Jalahma was prevented from writing for
] Al-Riyadh, but began writing for Al-Watan, another Saudi
] daily.

Maybe Arnett should go over there too?

MEMRI: Saudi Conspiracy Theorist Umayma Jalahma