BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A video posted Wednesday on the Internet in the name of an extremist group claimed to show Iraqi insurgents dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter.\nParts of the video were blurry, and the face of the man was not shown. His clothes were so tattered it was impossible to tell if he was wearing an American military uniform, but he appeared to be wearing military fatigues.\nThe U.S. military condemned the posting and said that although reports of a Web site video "suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site, the authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed."\nThe U.S. military said an AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday because of possible hostile fire west of Youssifiyah, about 10 miles southwest of Baghdad, while the pilot was conducting a combat air patrol.\nThe time and date stamp on the video was Sunday, April 2, and it runs from 4:03 to 4:08 p.m. The stamp shows that the minutes and seconds do not run sequentially and the scenes appear disjointed, suggesting the tape was altered.\n"We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said.\nOn Sunday, the military said the pilots were "presumed dead" and that recovery efforts were under way, indicating they had not fully secured the site or retrieved the bodies. The military later identified the pilots killed as Capt. Timothy J. Moshier, 25, of Albany, N.Y., and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael L. Hartwick, of Orrick, Mo.\nThe video, posted by a group calling itself the Shura Council of Mujahedeen, claimed its military wing had shot down the aircraft.\nAccording to statements on Islamist Web sites, the Mujahedeen Shura Council was organized in January to consolidate al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgent groups. The move was seen as a bid by insurgents to lower the profile of al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, whose mass attacks against Shiite civilians have tarnished the image of the insurgents among many Iraqis.\nThe video was blurry, but the burning helicopter could be seen clearly. It showed the outlines of its destroyed blades and blood on various jagged pieces of wreckage spread over a field. It was not possible, however, to see if it had U.S. markings.\nThe video also clearly showed the bloodied, burning body of a man being dragged by other men through a field. Before the body was moved, the camera zoomed in on what appeared to be his waistline, which showed a scrap of underwear with the brand name "Hanes" on it. The man also appeared to be wearing camouflage fatigues.\nThe U.S. military said it had recovered "all available remains found on the scene, given the catastrophic nature of the crash."\nIn political developments, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he won't abandon his bid for a second term to break the deadlock over a new government, and more than 1,000 of his supporters rallied in the holy city of Karbala, urging an end to "U.S. interference" in Iraqi politics.\nAlthough parliament might have to decide al-Jaafari's future, Shiite officials said they are reluctant until there is a deal among all ethnic and religious-based parties, including an agreement on who will be the new president.\nU.S. officials believe a broad-based government of Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds offers the only hope for reversing Iraq's slide into anarchy. Without such a government, the Americans cannot begin withdrawing troops.
\nTalks on a unity government stalled after Sunni Arab and Kurdish officials said they would not accept al-Jaafari, who won the nomination of the dominant Shiite bloc in balloting among Shiite lawmakers in February.\nAl-Jaafari told The Guardian newspaper he was rejecting calls to give up the nomination of his Shiite bloc "to protect democracy in Iraq." He added that the Iraqi people "will react if they see the rules of democracy being disobeyed. Everyone should stick to democratic mechanisms no matter whether they disagree with the person."\nPress writers Nadia Abou El-Magd in Cairo and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi in Baghdad contributed to this report.
