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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Zarqawi Shows Himself

Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has released a web video. It isn’t yet on the non-Jihadi Internet or stateside networks, but I am viewing it now on al-Jazeera. Will attempt to get a copy online. MSNBC reports here. Al-Jazeera here. This is a rare video—Z-man makes few—and perhaps the first where he shows his face. “Your mujahideen sons were able to confront the most ferocious of crusader campaigns on a Muslim state. They have stood in the face of this onslaught for three years,” Zarqawi says.

The man, though, looks tired, and he is having a difficult time keeping any fire in his voice. He runs out of breath at least once. These are the sorts of things usually masked when these tapes are dubbed in English, but all I have access to of now is the original video…

UPDATE: May not be able to post video immediately. Further information: The Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq released the video, which is called, “A Message to the People.”

Strangely, the only version of the video that seems to be going around is a screen shot of someone playing the video using RealPlayer. That screen shot is what al-Jazeera broadcast, and therefore what the American news networks are broadcasting.

UPDATE: Ian Schwartz says he may be getting the video. I’ve copies coming in as well, but Ian is likely to have it up first, so stay tuned to his site. Also read the excellent Counterterrorism blog on this.

WATCH: The full Zarqawi video is now live at Power Line Video here. It runs 34 minutes. Of the many interesting things to note, there is a five-minute scene of Zarqawi and his henchmen pointing and grunting as they kneel over an old map, pretending to plan terrorist operations. While the terror threat in Iraq is, of course, real, the disjointed and amateur ways in which those attacks are carried out virtually preclude top-down strategizing such as that depicted in the video. Later in the video, there is footage of old missiles being launched, and one near dud. But the star attraction is probably Z-man himself, who can bring himself to look the camera in the eye only half of the time and the other half looks, well, tired.

4/26/06: CENTCOM now has a full translation.

Posted on April 25, 2006 02:06 PM. Permalink