LAT: Al Qaeda "consolidating and expanding its reach" in Iraq

[Rose Siding]

....Al Qaeda in Iraq, the best known of the insurgent groups, continues to make inroads in the province, consolidating and expanding its reach. Al Qaeda in Iraq was led by Abu Musab Zarqawi until U.S. forces killed him in June. American officials had hoped Zarqawi's death would severely disrupt the group, but that does not appear to have happened.

"Al Qaeda has murdered, intimidated, co-opted or paid off all the local national insurgent groups," said Marine Lt. Col. Bryan Salas, a military spokesman in Fallouja. "They run an organized criminal enterprise that has its tentacles in everything from black-market gasoline sales to extortion of police and government paychecks. Al Qaeda provides the leadership and organization for this loose association of organized criminals."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-map7oct07,0,3782980.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines