LONDON – The American military resorted to mockery yesterday in its fight with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, releasing video footage that appeared to show the Jordanian terrorist mastermind as unable even to fire a weapon properly.

Predicting that “it’s only a matter of time before Zarqawi is taken down,” the American military spokesman in Baghdad, Major General Rick Lynch, presented Mr. Zarqawi and his entourage as “desperate” and incompetent.

In a video message released on the Internet last week – the first time Mr. Zarqawi had shown his face – the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq adopted the pose of a determined warrior firing a machinegun.

But the unedited portions of the video, apparently captured by American forces in recent operations, showed Mr. Zarqawi needing help from a subordinate to clear a jam in the weapon.

At first he is only able to fire single shots and, after some help from an assistant, he fires a burst of automatic fire.

As he walks back to a pickup truck, Mr. Zarqawi is seen handing over the gun to a militant who gives it to a third who, “as you can see, holds the burning hot barrel of the gun” General Lynch said.

The American spokesman declared: “What he did not show is that he is not confident. He does not understand how to fire a weapon.”

General Lynch said Mr. Zarqawi had moved to the Baghdad area to supervise a campaign of suicide bombings.