The recent video released by al-Qaeda in Iraq of Zarqawi has stirred up new interest in getting rid of this little fat rodent. Many in Iraq resent his foreign interference and murderous rampage.

Christian Science Monitor : "Before, I thought there was no Zarqawi, he was just a fiction. But now I believe in him. He's really out there,'' says Thalib Jabbar, a businessman in Baghdad. "Zarqawi wants to show his power and frighten people. But in reality, he's the one who should be afraid. We want him dead."

That's a common sentiment among many ordinary Iraqis, one played on by Iraqi officials Wednesday who condemned Zarqawi as a foreigner trying to destroy their country. Their strong response highlights the risk such a video poses for Zarqawi: The effort to show his strength within the insurgency also puts a foreign face on the movement, leaving an opening for his opponents to appeal to national unity.

In his video, the powerful and chipmunk-cheeked Zarqawi said the Iraqi government, "whether made up of the hated Shiites or the secular Zionist Kurds or the collaborators among the Sunnis, will be tools of the crusaders and a poison dagger in the heart of the Islamic nation."

The Jawa Report has full video and transcripts here.

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