The Times pimps for al-Zarqawi !

If there was any doubt that the New York Times was actively rooting against America and for the Iraqi insurgents in the War on Terror, it is eliminated in this article where they mount a bizarre defense of al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's inability to handle an automatic weapon:

Not All See Video Mockery of Zarqawi as Good Strategy


...The video clips, released on Thursday to news organizations in Baghdad, show the terrorist leader confused about how to handle an M-249 squad automatic weapon, known as an S.A.W., which is part of the American inventory of infantry weapons.
The American military, which said it captured the videotapes in a recent raid, released selected outtakes in an effort to undermine Mr. Zarqawi's image as leader of the Council of Holy Warriors, formerly Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and suggested that his fighting talents and experience were less than his propaganda portrays.

The weapon in question is complicated to master, and American soldiers and marines undergo many days of training to achieve the most basic competence with it. Moreover, the weapon in Mr. Zarqawi's hands was an older variant, which makes its malfunctioning unsurprising. The veterans said Mr. Zarqawi, who had spent his years as a terrorist surrounded by simpler weapons of Soviet design, could hardly have been expected to know how to handle it.

But the retired and active officers said the public presentation of the tape did not address elements that were disturbing, rather than amusing: the weapon was probably captured from American soldiers, indicating a tactical victory for the insurgents. And Mr. Zarqawi looked clean and plump...

OK, so according to the Times, the Americans lose again, because:
-Mr. Zarqawi, a self-declared jihad fighter, cannot be expected to actually handle a weapon!
-this gun was probably captured from an American, as opposed to the hundreds of other ways it could have gotten in Zarqawi's hands...and the fact that the Times admits it was an older weapon, thus unlikely to have been captured anytime recently? Irrelevant!
-Mr. Zarqawi is a fat murderous bastard, as opposed to a skinny murderous bastard.

Of course the Times, in their anti-American zeal, fails to note that the whole point of showing the outtakes is to discredit the video, which tried to portray Zarqawi as a machine-gun toting tough guy.
They ignore the contradiction regarding their claim on the origin of the weapon; it seems as if the Times is desperate to give the jihadis a talking point here.
And Zarqawi's weight? I hardly think the average terrorist, living hand to mouth, is likely to be encouraged by seeing his boss living high on the hog.

Surprised the Times didn't mention that Zarqawi's best weapon is the knife...I am sure the family of Nick Berg remembers that, though...

UPDATE: Other simialr thoughts at Little Green Footballs , Junkyard Blog, Sweetness and Light and The Mudville Gazette