I never knew what to make of the composite character Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As best as I could tell, he either didn’t really exist or he was 9/10’s hype.

“We were basically paying up to $10,000 a time to opportunists, criminals and chancers who passed off fiction and supposition about Zarqawi as cast-iron fact, making him out as the linchpin of just about every attack in Iraq,” the agent said.

“Back home this stuff was gratefully received and formed the basis of policy decisions. We needed a villain, someone identifiable for the public to latch on to, and we got one.”

Then we killed Zarqawi. At least, that’s what we were told. I don’t necessarily believe it. But is it any wonder that another man…another villain…was created to replace him?

BAGHDAD — In March, he was declared captured. In May, he was declared killed, and his purported corpse was displayed on state-run TV. But on Wednesday, Abu Omar Baghdadi, the supposed leader of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq, was declared nonexistent by U.S. military officials, who said he was a fictional character created to give an Iraqi face to a foreign-run terrorist organization.

A remarkable admission. But, read a little further and you’ll realize that the U.S. military is not confessing. They are accusing al-Qaeda of pulling a fast one. According to the military, al-Qaeda hired an Iraqi actor to represent their views because foreigners are resented and would not have the same influence.

The front organization was aimed at making Iraqis believe that Al Qaeda in Iraq is a nationalistic group, even though it is led by an Egyptian and has few Iraqis among its leaders, [U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin] Bergner said at a news conference.

“The Islamic State of Iraq is the latest effort by Al Qaeda to market itself and its goal of imposing a Taliban-like state on the Iraqi people,” Bergner said.

The Iraqi government has a completely take on this man.

Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari rejected the U.S. assertion, insisting that Baghdadi is real. “Al-Baghdadi is wanted and pursued. We know many things about him, and we even have his picture,” Askari said. However, he said he could not release a photograph or additional information because it could jeopardize attempts to capture Baghdadi.

None of this is consistent with the story that he was captured in March and killed in May. This is apparently an example of a psychological operation gone bad. It’s impossible to tell who is really behind it, but it looks bad.