Al-Qaeda's Version of "Mission Accomplished"

Ahh, the banality of evil. Our side, their side, idiots either way.

Al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, released a propaganda video that, among other things, shows him firing an automatic weapon. Very macho.

But the U.S. DoD found and released out-takes from the same video (or so they say).

As the camera rolls, Mr. Zarqawi is flummoxed by how to fire the machine gun until an aide walks over and fiddles with the weapon so it discharges. Another scene shows Mr. Zarqawi hand the weapon off to several other insurgents, who absent-mindedly grab it by its scalding hot barrel.

And after his shooting scene, Mr. Zarqawi walks away from the camera to reveal decidedly non-jihadist footwear: Comfortable white New Balance sneakers.

Here's the New York Times article.