In the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, al Qaeda is doing a few things: first, distributing fliers claiming that the group promotes ethnic reconciliation ... Second, they’ve been passing out cash, as part of what is apparently an Eid Al Fotor tradition. Last, they’ve been doing small jobs around Adhamiya to encourage shuttered shops to reopen.

Does the attempt to attract sympathizers with good deeds, mean that al Qaeda has a new interest in longer-term influence in Iraq, whether it stays chaotic or not?