The Zarqawi That Zarqawi Didn't Want You To See

Now we know. Zarqawi wears “New Balance” tennis shoes when he’s wearing his baggy black terrorist clothes and shooting his gun across the empty desert at the horizon.

Apparently, the U.S. military has found discarded out-takes of the self-promoting video that Zarqawi released to al-Jazeera last week.

The out-takes (you can view them here) were shown to reporters today by U.S. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch who pointed out that Zarqawi’s rifle skills leave something to be desired.

In one clip, Zarqawi tries shooting his rifle but, rather than shooting out a burst of automatic fire it appears to be shooting only one shot at a time. Clearly not knowing what to do, Zarqawi asks for help in fixing his rifle. When it has been taken care of he shows us all that he can hold a rifle and pull the trigger. Wow.

At one point one of his “associates” takes the rifle by grabbing onto the still hot barrel, letting go of it is a hurry!

Later, as he walks back to his truck, he hands the rifle to someone else, clearly showing that it wasn’t his rifle to begin with but a borrowed one.

According to CNN,

Lynch said that what was seen on the Web last week was what al-Zarqawi "wanted the world to see."

"Look at me," he said al-Zarqawi was trying to impart, "I'm a capable leader of a capable organization and we are indeed declaring war against democracy in Iraq and we're going to establish an Islamic caliphate."

"What he didn't show you were the clips that I showed you," he said, adding, "it makes you wonder."

Lynch was asked how al-Zarqawi can be a "terror mastermind" if he can't handle a firearm.

"You'll probably need to defer that question to his followers," Lynch said, noting that they have allowed him to be established as a leader.

Lynch said the images he showed indicate that al-Zarqawi "tends to have a problem" with mastering his own weapons system and with finding capable and competent aides.

"Why he's their leader, I don't know."