"His stature was helped by the Americans, who found it convenient to have a central figure to blame. In reality, however, it is far more complicated than that. For many months Iraqi insurgents had been complaining about Zarqawi's techniques. On the one hand they needed him for the financial support he was able to provide and his extensive network of contacts in the jihadi world, but on the other they blamed him for bringing the wrath of the Shia militias by targeting the Shia community."