Iraqi Cash Is Funding Al Qaeda

A stepped-up CIA effort to hunt down Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan hasn't succeeded in locating the  terrorist, the LA Times reports, but it has uncovered evidence that cash is being funneled from Iraq to keep Al Qaeda alive and well. "Iraq is a big moneymaker for them,"  a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official told the Times.

Shattered financially after the war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is thought to be depending on Iraqi fundraising  to rebuild and reassert control over its far-flung network. The cash comes from a variety of sources in Iraq, including donations, kidnapping, car theft, and running protection schemes.  (More Osama bin Laden stories.)