Muslim Chew Toys was a visceral reaction to the graphic images from the Abu Ghraib scandal that shocked the world in 2004. The photos of prisoners suffering dehumanizing abuse at the hands of American soldiers shocked the sensibilities of many Americans and spawned a call for reform. At the same time many were unperturbed, unable to see the harm of the photos or the abuse because the war on terror had already warped their image of Muslims around the world.

Inspired by the photos, such as the image of a prisoner being forced to stand on a box with hands outstretched and the photo of the prisoner in an orange jumpsuit with his hands and feet bound behind him, kneeling and cowering in the face of snarling German Shepherd, the dolls were created as a guerilla product to be inserted on the shelves of pet stores. The sudden presence of chew toys designed as helpless Muslim Iraqi prisoners and made to "desensitize your dog to the taste of Muslim meat" was intended to inspire a conversation amongst shoppers about our tacit approval of the war in Iraq.