Sen. Tom Cotton isn't the soldier photographed with pile of gold bars in Iraq | Fact check
The claim: Image shows Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton posing with gold bars in Iraq
A Nov. 22 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of a post on X that includes separate images of a soldier crouching on a pile of gold bars and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas.
“A real image of Tom Cotton discovering WMD in Iraq,” reads text above the image.
The Instagram post was liked more than 100 times in two weeks. The original X post was reposted more than 15,000 times in two weeks.
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Our rating: False
That's not Cotton posing with the gold bars, his spokesperson said. The image is consistent with others taken by a particular Army unit in Iraq in 2003, a spokesperson said. Cotton didn’t enlist in the Army until 2005.
Image predates Cotton’s Army enlistment by two years
The soldier pictured in the Instagram post isn’t Cotton, Caroline Tabler, a spokesperson for the senator, told Paste BN.
Cotton enlisted in the Army in 2005 and completed combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served with the 101st Airborne Division and a Provincial Reconstruction Team, according to his website and military records. The image posted to Instagram resembles those showing a military operation performed two years earlier by a separate Army unit, a spokesperson for that unit said.
One key tell is the uniform. Cotton wore the Army Combat Uniform, which features a digitized camouflage pattern, but the soldier in the Instagram post is wearing the older Battle Dress Uniform, Tabler said.
The green patch on the soldier’s sleeve matches that of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Capt. Jennifer French, a spokesperson for the unit, told Reuters that the image doesn’t show Cotton, but “appears consistent with imagery taken by members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during operations in Iraq in 2003.” Paste BN reached out to French but did not immediately receive a response.
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That year, Stars and Stripes reported that members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade seized about $100 million worth of “crudely made, non-minted gold bars” while manning a checkpoint on the outskirts of Kirkuk, a city in Iraq about 150 miles north of Baghdad.
French confirmed to Reuters that the image in the Instagram post was related to that incident, adding that “following the seizure of the gold bars they were handed over to the appropriate authorities for disposition.”
Cotton has served in the Senate since 2015, most recently winning re-election in 2020.
Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources
- Caroline Tabler, Dec. 9, Email exchange with Paste BN
- MuckRock, accessed Dec. 9, Responsive Documents
- Tom Cotton website, accessed Dec. 9, Meet Tom
- Defense Department, accessed Dec. 9, Common Threads Army
- U.S. Army, Jan. 23, 2008, Army to Retire BDUs
- 173rd Airborne Brigade, accessed Dec. 9, The 173rd Airborne Brigade History
- Reuters, Dec. 4, Fact Check: Photo of gold bars taken in Iraq in 2003 predates Tom Cotton’s time in US Army
- Stars and Stripes, May 27, 2003, Gold bars pique 173rd's interest at checkpoint
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