I just watched about forty minutes of Iraqi “insurgent” propaganda video on Google video.

It’s like all military recruiting films. There are lots of explosions and weapons firing, there are scenes of the defeated enemy, and there is the testimony of happy members of the team. I did learn some things about these guys from the video.

• Whenever they are mortaring or rocketing their enemies, there is someone whose job it is to yell “Allahu akbar!” every time the mortar or rocket fires off. This is a much, much better job than dropping the shells in the mortar or lighting off the rockets.
• They aren’t doing too well at shooting down airplanes. There are a few sequences in which they shoot missiles at aircraft, and one in which they appear to hit one, but no crashes. They proudly display a few crashed/shotdown UAVs, which are like big model airplanes and don’t look so good on film.
• They couldn’t get a lot of guys together for this film. The best they can do for the “masses of our victorious hordes” shot is about seven of them running through the desert and rocks looking like Power Rangers.
• They aren’t so good at the showmanship. They keep trying to do things like jump on top of a disabled truck and yell victory and pump their fists but they look kind of dorky doing it, and confused, like they’re saying “DO I YELL ALLAHU AKBAR YET OR KEEP WAVING THE HELMET OF THE ENEMY? A LITTLE HELP?”
• Their music sucks in the same way that military music sucks everywhere.