Zarqawi Schmarqawi

On Air America this morning, Rachel Maddow played a clip of a US general narrating a “blooper” tape of arch-villain Zarqawi. Maddow wondered why reporting of the tape made no mention of the previously discovered Pentagon propaganda campaign to portray Zarqawi as an evil genius in the Lex Luthor/Professor Moriarty mold. I wonder whether (a) the general didn’t get the memo about how Zarqawi is supposed to be portrayed; or (b) the Pentagon has something new up its sleeve. Why would the Pentagon now want to downplay the competence and significance of its favorite boogeyman?