Zarqawi can't even shoot blanks.

News.com.au: Zarqawi blooper lights up blogs

THE US military has said that it was hot on the heels of al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after discovering documents and an unedited video of him in a rural hideout near Baghdad. The video has been circulated online, and is set to become something of a hit.

The video, of a clearly challenged Abu Musab al-Zarqawi trying to fire a gun, has been mocked by US military sources and has provided some much-needed light relief to bloggers around the web. You can watch this film here.

Also part of the same package is another video, again a series of 'outtakes' from an al-Qaeda shoot involving Zarqawi, that shows the man responsible for a wave of insurgency attacks in Iraq wearing what seem to be a US brand of trainers.

US military spokesman Major-General Rick Lynch has made much of the video find. "What he didn't show you were the clips that I showed you," said the General to a press briefing.

"Wearing New Balance sneakers with his uniform, surrounded by supposedly competent subordinates who grab the hot barrel of a just-fired machine gun, ... a warrior leader, Zarqawi, who doesn't understand how to operate his weapons system. "It makes you wonder."

Heehee!