US tactics swelling Al Qaeda in Iraq: Sunni moderate

Sunnis radicalised by brutal US tactics and disillusioned mainstream insurgents are swelling the ranks of Al Qaeda, which believes it can turn part of Iraq into an Islamic emirate, a moderate Sunni politician said on Sunday.

‘In the beginning it was a percentage that did not exceed two to four percent of the total resistance,’ Mutlaq said in an interview in Amman. ‘Now Al Qaeda’s growth is at the expense of the nationalist resistance.’

Mutlaq said heavy-handed US tactics against civilians have propelled many ordinary Sunnis into the arms of Al Qaeda. 'They want to capture territory to attract more jihadists to destabilise everywhere and they think they can take over all of Iraq later when they have the territory to operate,’ he said.

He said Al Qaeda plans to turn its territorial gains into a launching pad for expansion in Iraq and beyond its borders.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/October/focusoniraq_October216.xml§ion=focusoniraq

And I use the word "tool" loosely.