It is time for some new Zarqawi wanted posters

BBC:

A website has posted a video message which shows unmasked a man who appears to be the Iraqi insurgency's most wanted leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In the tape, the man says holy warriors are fighting on despite a three-year "crusade". US experts told the BBC they believed the recording was genuine.

The Jordanian-born militant has until now only been linked to audiotapes, photos, and masked men in videotapes.

Zarqawi's insurgent group rebranded itself al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2004.

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Addressing US President George W Bush, he says: "Why don't you tell people that your soldiers are committing suicide, taking drugs and hallucination pills to help them sleep?"

"By God," he says, "your dreams will be defeated by our blood and by our bodies. What is coming is even worse."

The speaker in the video also reproaches the US for its "arrogance and insolence" in rejecting a truce offered by "our prince and leader", Osama Bin Laden.

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Well Z-man if you are doing so well and the US is doing so bad, why don't you just hold an open press briefing rather than cowering in front of a video camera to have a message slipped out on the internet? Could it be that your situation is such that you would be killed or caught if you attempted to have an open press briefing? Thanks anyway for the mug shots to add to the wanted posters.

Update: Bill Roggio has a post with several links on Zarqawis lastest video.

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Walid Phares comments at MSNBC on Zarqawi's videotape [paraphrased]: The decision on Iraq’s new PM is obviously not what Zarqawi wanted... this is the third event in 3 days and linked strategically if not logistically. Coordination is required on when to release tapes – each event takes time to prepare – the rumors of splits put pressure on him to end rumors – we will know more soon about Zarqawi's real status in iraq – he tried to provoke iraq political collapse and failed – now he wants a caliphate after US leaves – we are still waiting for someone to take responsibility for Egypt – so we’ll see if there are more events.

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The formation of the new Iraq goverment does seem to have prompted an unusual outbreak of al Qaeda publicity stunts. It should be noted that one of those publicity stunts was the murder of innocents. Since these killings do not change the corelation of forces, would they do them if they got no publicity? They certainly have no other value from a military sense. However the media does not seem to mind being played by al Qaeda. Just was al Jazeera plays Osama's tapes being Osama's useful idiot is no problem for them. If they are going to do it they should register at least the moral outrage they did over Abu Ghraid where no one was killed.

Gateway Pundit quotes Zarqawi's ultimate admission, "the new government in Iraq a "poisoned dagger" in the heart of Islam."

That is a funny thing to say about a goverment made up entirely of Muslims. Saddam at least had a few token Christians thrown in to his thugocracy.