Pundits increasingly question whether the insurgency within Iraq has foreign roots, as some Administration officials have claimed. The National Review’s Michael Ledeen argues that question is not easy to answer. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently tried to disassociate the word insurgent from the enemy forces in Iraq. Ledeen explains that the “so-called” domestic insurgents have “Iraqi DNA” but “Iranian ideology.” These are the “millions,” says Ledeen, of Iraqi Shiites who joined with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and spent nearly 20 years in Iran. Many were absorbed by Iranian intelligence and terror networks. Ledeen also maintains that Sunnis and Shiites do cooperate, many becoming “Iranian-trained terrorists,” working with or within Iran.
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force recently, as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S., as the bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.