I had to watch this video again because I was so shocked that a TV news reporter was openly defending the terrorist mastermind of Al Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but that is exactly what CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre does in the video.

I am going to summarize and put in quotes exactly what McIntyre had to say in regards to the bumbling al-Zarqawi trying to fire an American M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in a propaganda video:

The M249 machine has a “heavy trigger and is not easy to fire” making it “understandable” why he would “have trouble firing it” because the weapon requires “specific training” and “he is probably not trained to fire American weapons.”

To see the video for yourself you need to go to the CNN.com website and go to the Watch Video section and select the US Mocks al-Zarqawi Video in that section.  Sorry there is no specific link to access the video that I could find.  You will have to use the CNN.com website.

Anyway the M249 is not that difficult to fire.  In the Army we teach 18 year old privates who’s only weapons knowledge is playing Duck Hunt on the Nintendo, how to fire this weapon in no time.  Plus people with weapons experience know that if your weapon is jamming to pull back the charging handle to clear the chamber.  Zarqawi had to get someone to show him how to pull back a charging handle on the weapon.  This just makes me wonder how often he is actually handling weapons?  He is probably just like all the other Al Qaida big wigs, sending out kids filled with propaganda about 72 virgins to do their dirty work while they sit back make propaganda videos, collect the money coming in, and in Zarqawi’s case, buy new American made tennis shoes.

This report though just begs the question of who’s side are these US reporters on?  How in world can any journalist, especially an American journalist defend a brutal killer like Zarqawi and keep a straight face like Jamie McIntyre does?  I think these reporters are so used to watering down anything positive that CENTCOM puts out that he doesn’t even realize how ridiculous he sounds.  Is CNN becoming another Al Jazeera?