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DAYTON - Most Wanted Iraqi playing cards are for sale all over the Internet, and now a giant Cincinnati card maker has joined the game.

The United States Playing Card Co. began printing decks of "Iraq's Most Wanted" playing cards Wednesday to cash in on the huge national demand, according to George White, vice president of marketing.
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The specialty cards are based on the 200 decks created by the U.S. military to help find top leaders of the ousted Iraqi regime. Saddam Hussein is the ace of spades.

Brig Gen. Vincent Brooks first displayed the simulated cards in a briefing April 11, and said they would be distributed to units in Iraq.

White noted that the original 200 decks made by the military are not plastic-coated and do not have rounded corners.

When the Department of Defense posted the pictures on the cards on its Internet site, the race was on by various manufacturers to make their own versions.

One company, NewsMaxStore.com offers its "Official Most Wanted Iraqis" cards for $14.95 on the Internet's Drudge Report. Chicago-based GreatUSAflags.com, the licensed distributor for the Cincinnati-made cards, says it has orders for more than 700,000 decks and expects to sell more than 1 million of the high-quality cards. The price is $5.95, plus shipping and handling charges.

White said the Pentagon took the liberty of using United States Playing Card's copyrighted red and yellow Hoyle joker in the cards it made. United States Playing Card is demanding that rival makers stop using its joker in their versions of the special cards.

The 55-card decks feature the names, titles and photos of Iraq's 52 most-wanted leaders. Some of the leaders are represented by silhouettes. Each deck has two jokers, one showing Iraqi military ranks and the other Arab tribal titles.

During World War II, United States Playing Card provided war-related playing cards that were mailed to U.S. soldiers in German prison camps.

The cards were specially designed to conceal maps detailing escape routes. The maps were revealed when the cards were moistened.

Louis Amoroso, a partner in GreatUSAflags.com, said the military is in talks with his company to purchase more decks for the troops.

Amoroso said a portion of each sale will be given to armed forces charity organizations. Already, $10,000 was given to the AMVETS Special Scholarship Fund.

Copyright © April 24, 2003. The Dayton Daily News.