A Videotape showing the most wanted terrorist in Iraq wearing American tennis shoes and struggling to fire a US-made machine gun was shown on television across the country on Friday as many Iraqis began their weekend.The video—released on Thursday by the US military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of Abu Musab al Zarqawi—was repeatedly shown on Friday on Iraqi state television and pan-Arab satellite TV Al Arabiya.It was strikingly different from video posted last month on Islamist websites showing a stocky al Zarqawi, head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, confidently firing bursts from the weapon like an experienced jihadist fighter. But the US military said the images were all from the same video. The US command said the unflattering clips shown to reporters on Thursday in Baghdad were part of a longer video that American troops seized in a raid last month.Major General Rick Lynch, spokesman for the US command, showed the new takes as the US military is stepping up operations against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and making overtures to other Sunni Arab groups. The Americans hope to isolate religious extremists from insurgents they believe are more likely to cut a deal to end the war.On the streets of Baghdad on Friday, some Iraqis welcomed the US part of the Al-Qaeda in Iraq video, saying they hoped it would hurt al Zarqawi’s image as a powerful insurgent. But others dismissed it as US propaganda and said that if al Zarqawi, a Sunni, was as incompetent as the Americans claimed, why haven’t they been able to capture him, as they did former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein when he was hiding in his hometown of Tikrit.‘‘If it is authentic, the part of the video I saw on TV today shows that al Zarqawi lacks the basic knowledge of weapons that any soldier should have,’’ said Falah Abdel Hassan, a Shi’ite and a government employee. ‘‘This could hurt his image.’’Sattar al Dulaimi, a Sunni, questioned the significance of the original video or its takes. He also said, ‘‘The reason the Americans haven’t captured or killed al Zarqawi is that they need an Al-Qaeda connection to justify their occupation of Iraq.’’ Elsewhere, US and Iraqi forces clamped a curfew in Samarra on Friday as they searched homes looking for insurgents, police Captain Laith Mohammed said.Lynch mocked al Zarqawi as the previously unseen footage showed a smiling Al-Qaeda leader first firing single shots from a US-made M-249 light machine gun.SAMEER N YACOUB
