GI Joe Creator Helped CIA Make Osama Demon Doll

It never got past the prototype phase
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2014 2:00 AM CDT
GI Joe Creator Helped CIA Make Osama Demon Doll
Just add heat...   (AP Photo)

To combat al-Qaeda in Pakistan, the CIA teamed up with one of the finest minds in the toy industry to create something even stranger than the exploding cigar it wanted to kill Fidel Castro with. The agency created an Osama bin Laden ­action figure treated with a heat-dissolving material that would peel off to reveal a demonic face, the Washington Post finds. The project, started in 2005, was code-named "Devil Eyes," and GI Joe creator Donald Levine played a key role in designing a doll to scare kids—and their parents—away from the terror network.

One source says hundreds of the 12-inch dolls were shipped to Pakistan, but the CIA says the idea was rejected at the prototype stage and only three of the figures were ever made. "After being presented with these examples, the CIA declined to pursue this idea and did not produce or distribute any of these action figures," a spokesperson tells the Daily Mail. "Furthermore, CIA has no knowledge of these action figures being produced or distributed by others." Insiders say the CIA decided to tap Levine for the project because of his expertise and his contacts in China, where the toy could be mass-produced discreetly. "Don Levine was a dedicated patriot, and proud Korean War veteran," his family said in a statement. "When called on, he was honored to assist our country." (More Osama bin Laden stories.)

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