THE ENEMY WITH MANY FACES

THE GRENADE WAS VISIBLE WHEN THE INSURGENT STEPPED IN FRONT of our car. His sinewy arm was cocked, ready to throw. Fifteen more men poured out from the corner of a nearby tenement, swirling about the car like angry floodwaters. They brandished grenades and AK-47s, pistol grips nudging out from under the folds of their shirts. Spotting me in the backseat, they went into a frenzy, yanking on the handles of the doors, thumping the window with the grenades. Across Iraq, the insurgents have gone on a kidnapping spree, seizing Italian aid workers, French journalists and American construction workers. As they ordered us out of the car, I wondered whether we were about to become their latest catch.

An Iraqi resistance fighter traveling as an escort was quickly out of the car, speaking to the group in a somber, authoritative tone, insisting they let us go. A furious curbside debate flared. My escort continued to plead, dropping the names of high-level insurgent leaders. After what seemed like an eternity, the insurgents relented. They pushed me back into our Mazda sedan and ordered us to leave. We were lucky. The fighters included Iraqis, Syrians and Jordanians. They were members of Attawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), a militant group loyal to Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq. The group's black flags flutter from the palm trees and buildings along the Baghdad boulevard where we were stopped, an area known as Haifa Street. It's a no-go zone for U.S. forces.

The fact that insurgents tied to al-Zarqawi are patrolling one of Baghdad's major thoroughfares--within mortar range of the U.S. embassy--is an indication of just how much of the country is beyond the control of U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government. It also reflects the extent to which jihadis linked to al-Zarqawi, 37, the Jordanian believed to be al-Qaeda's chief operative in Iraq, have become the driving forces behind the insurgency and are expanding its zone of influence. Though the U.S. has long believed that al-Zarqawi's group is using Fallujah as a base to stage operations, the militants appear to have also consolidated their grip on parts of the capital. Last week al-Zarqawi's forces launched one of their deadliest offensives yet, setting off at least a dozen car bombs in attacks across the country. On Tuesday, Sept. 14, alone, the insurgents killed at least 59 Iraqis, including 47 in a car bombing outside a Baghdad police station packed with men waiting to apply for jobs. Twenty U.S. troops died in seven days of fighting, bringing the total for September so far to 54. With militants roaming unmolested in parts of Baghdad, no one is safe. One week after gunmen abducted two Italian women from their home, a group of insurgents raided a house in an affluent Baghdad area and seized two Americans and a British engineer without firing a shot.