June 9, 2006






Here is a briefing slide prepared for Army General George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq:

The slide appeared as an adjunct to the Washington Post's famous article
from April 10, which described the psyop campaign to create a Zarqawi
myth. Since that time, we have seen the emergence of a Zarqawi video of
questioned authenticity, in which the oft-"killed" terrorist was seen
conducting exercises in a landscape that resembled the American
southwest.

Previously, I asked a question that remains
unanswered: If, in fact, Zarqawi conducted these maneuvers (which
included the firing of anti-tank weaponry in open desert beneath a
clear sky) within the borders of Iraq, why didn't American spy
satellites catch sight of him immediately? Google Earth has spotted
firefights on Baghdad streets. Surely, American overseers must
scrutinize Iraq from the sky carefully and routinely.

Shortly
after this video hit the net, the American military released outtakes
which showed that Z handled his weapon in an amateurish fashion.
Everyone was so busy giggling that few thought to ask questions about
the source of this convenient footage. Supposedly, American soldiers
found it during a raid. Which raid? Why not humor us with a few details?

On
second thought, don't bother. Any details provided by officaldom would
never convince, since so many recent events have justified cynicism.
The Casey slideshow confirmed what many had already suspected: Zarqawi
existed solely because he fulfilled a propaganda function. Once that
fact became known, it was necessary to bury the revelation. First came
the video. When that ploy failed, Zarqawi lost his value as bogeyman
and thus had to die.

Maybe we should put quotation marks around
the word "die." Maybe those gruesome images of his corpse were
photoshopped. Maybe they were real. Who can say? The only thing we can
know for sure is that the scarecrow no longer performed its intended
function and was thus subject to removal.

If you know classical
music, you've probably heard Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije" suite, which
originated as the score for a now-lost Russian film based on an old
short story. (The same story inspired an early episode of MASH.) The
Lieutenant was the fictional creation of a group of pankster soldiers
who wanted to give their unit an heroic and inspiring figure. When the
Tsar asked to meet this famed warrior, his "death" became mandatory.

The tale of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is simply the latest variant of the Lieutenant Kije legend.