Chief Wiggles is arranging for a container to be sent from Kuwait to Baghdad, where he has been able to obtain warehouse space, he added.

As of Sunday, more than 500 boxes had been delivered to the chief.

Evensen said orphanages asked for school material and underwear, and these are being forwarded also.

Internet commentator Dean Esmay, a volunteer in Detroit, said that in one week, the Iraq end of the pipeline received more than 200 boxes of toys and $21,000 in donations.

A lawyer has been setting up a nonprofit corporation to handle the contributions, he added.

Evensen wrote in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News saying that on Monday, Chief Wiggles was "visiting a 300-bed children's hospital in Baghdad. The Army is sending a film crew along."

The toy drive has drawn so much interest that an English newspaper plans to visit Chief Wiggles next week in Iraq and MSNBC is planning a special report on him, he added.

One of Chief Wiggles' most ardent supporters is Gail S. Halvorsen, the Spanish Fork man who became known as the "Candy Bomber" and "Uncle Wiggly Wings" when he dropped candy to the children of post-World War II Berlin, 55 years ago.

"I'm 100 percent for it," Halvorsen said of the chief's drive. "I'm Uncle Wiggly Wings and he's Chief Wiggles. . . . I think it's a marvelous thing he's doing."

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E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com