Here's the CIA-Designed Osama bin Laden Demon Action Figure
CIA considered plan to demonize bin Laden by giving kids these dolls that hid demon face http://t.co/XA3OWBnmcS pic.twitter.com/TfWEmYvU11
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 19, 2014
In an attempt to counter his influence in Pakistan, the CIA once made a heat-sensitive action figure of Osama bin Laden that morphed into a demon. The goal was to scare children and their parents away from al-Qaeda.
According to a report from the Washington Post, the toy was developed by former Hasbro executive Donald Levine starting in 2005. It was designed to peel away layers in the heat, revealing Osama bin Laden, The Devil, a character with green eyes, a red face, and black facial markings. The CIA code name for the project was "Devil Eyes," naturally.
It's not clear if the toy was ever distributed in Pakistan — one source says hundreds were sent to Karachi in 2006, but a CIA official claims only three toys were ever made. "To our knowledge, there were only three individual action figures ever created, and these were merely to show what a final product might look like," CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani told the Post. "After being presented with these examples, the CIA declined to pursue this idea and did not produce or distribute any of these action figures. Furthermore, CIA has no knowledge of these action figures being produced or distributed by others."