When he is finished, he hands the paper to someone off camera and, without hesitation, draws a knife and grasps the victim's chin, pulling it to the side to expose his neck. The other two lean forward to help.
Then the video pauses. The voice of an Iraqi security official comes on. "That is Abdel-Qadir Mahmoud on the left," said the official, referring to one of the masked men. "And that is Mohammad Hikmat on the right."
The man identified as Mr. Mahmoud had been shown earlier in the video in a very different way than when he was displayed masked, armed and acting with bravado as he helped to kill a man on his knees.
"The coalition forces arrested me last April as one of Saddam's special forces," he said, sporting a scraggly beard, his eyes wide and a crease furrowing his brow. He was shown from the neck up, a plastic sheet forming a backdrop behind him.
"I met a man named Sheik Mahdi in jail," Mr. Mahmoud said. "When I was released, we met again. He was organizing four groups. They hung out at a pool hall."
He coughed a few times, then leaned his head on his right hand and put a finger to his temple as if trying to appear sincere or thoughtful.
"The operations were in the Mahmudiya area," he said, referring to a town south of Baghdad where guerrilla attacks are frequent. "They killed someone named Metwalli al-Masri, along with four engineers."
In another scene, a man who gave his name as Muataz Jawba sat in front of a tiled wall. The camera was fixed on him from the shoulders up. He was heavyset and had a thick moustache.
The commentator said he was part of a gang led by the "prince" of terrorists, Khaled Zakia, who was a colleague of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate of Al Qaeda.
Mr. Jawba's heavy-lidded eyes darted nervously from side to side. Whispering into a little microphone held to his lips, he said he had pointed out to the gang a Christian man who worked for the Americans.
"They chose a day to kill him," Mr. Jawba said.
The gang went to the man's restaurant and shot him. But they found out he survived after they sent a scout to the hospital pretending he wanted to donate blood. They then demanded a $10,000 ransom from the family, which the family paid, Mr. Jawba said.
"As a group, did you fast and pray?" the questioner said, referring to two requirements of practicing Muslims.
"Khaled came and fooled us," said Mr. Jawba. "He said it's jihad, it's occupation, come help us."
"Do you call this jihad?" the interrogator said.
"No," Mr. Jawba replied meekly.
"Is Khaled Zakia a religious man?" the questioner asked.
"He brainwashed us," Mr. Jawba said.
Another man was identified as one who pumped bullets into the head of a prone man with his hands bound behind his back. The commentator said insurgents thought the victim worked for Americans because a mineral-water bottle was found in his car.
In another segment, after mentioning that Iraqi security forces had engaged in a gun battle, an Iraqi official says, as if making a grim public service announcement: "This is how we will treat the people beheading you." The video then showed what appeared to be a body covered by a sheet.
Iraqis are invited to call with their reactions and information during the programs, of which there have been at least three this week. On one broadcast, emotional citizens called the number imposed over the image of Mr. Jawba on the screen.
"My nephew was killed a while back," said a caller from Dohuk, a Kurdish city north of Mosul. "His name was Hassan Ibrahim. Are they the guys who did it? Please ask them if they killed someone in Sanaa Street in Mosul."
A woman called up, sobbing. "Someone murdered my son, Abdel-Salam Hamoodi," she said. "He was murdered near our house. Just ask them if they killed him. I want you to give me the answer, to ease my heart."