I recognize the Plato shadows on a wall ref and someone commented about Sisyphus. Obviously, Saddam was in a hole. What's the rest? Looks like pick-axe people are part of a 2d video game. I don't get anything other than what I've described.
The gray silhouette in the hole is a nutty putty cave reference. It's pretty horrifying. Tl;dr version, cave exlorer gets so stuck it's actually impossible to remove him.