INSURGENTS ON DRUGS?

Odd? Maybe. Predictable? Probably. Worrisome? Definitely. Word is
trickling back from Iraq, through official and unofficial channels,
that "opiates" (likely of Afghan origin) may be showing up in dead
Iraqi insurgents. Five questions flow from that trickle.

(1) Is it true? Is it possible that, consistent with anecdotal
reports of heroin and methamphetamines discovered more often
(especially in southern Iraqi cities of Basrah and Najaf), insurgents
are getting a mind-numbing dose of heroin prior to suicide attacks?
There are ways to find out. First, add that question to current and
future interrogations. Second, do basic testing where possible on
remains. Third, do a drug test shortly after apprehending someone, as
we often do after arrests in this country. We might discover
something worthwhile.

(2) If insurgents are getting "juiced" to commit horrific, suicidal
acts -- largely condemned by the Koran -- what would adherents to
so-called Radical Islam make of it? What would fence-sitters who
count themselves Islamic fundamentalists say? Is that even vaguely
Islamic? The word should spread, if these reports are true.

(3) What is the origin of the heroin, if it is heroin or a similar
potent opiate? One guess. The obvious answer is the country now
supplying 82 percent of the world's heroin: Afghanistan. The drugs
would have to move into Iraq via sea or across Iran. The latter is
likelier, given porous borders on both sides of Iran, a history of
smuggling drugs across both borders, and close ties between Shi'ites
in southern Iraq and Iran. Notably, earlier this year, the
International Narcotics Control Board observed "high levels of
insurgent violence and porous borders have drawn traffickers to
Iraq," and that "Jordan has seized large quantities of drugs on the
Iraq border."

(4) What is to be done? The answer is simple: Engage Iraqi Shi'ites
in helping close down transshipments and in public discussion of the
issue and a more aggressive effort to address the problem at its
source, inside Afghanistan.

(5) Finally, what does the possible link mean operationally? Not much
in terms of stopping a VBIED or mobile suicide attacker, since there
is little difference between an insurgent exercising murderous
irrationality and an insurgent exercising drugged-up murderous irrationality.

But there could be real implications for intelligence-gathering,
cross-fertilization of drug-related and insurgent-related
information, increased counter-drug training for Iraqi police,
greater reliance on Drug Enforcement Agency and other
counternarcotics experts, and a potential to leverage this connection
to find more bad guys.

Importantly, there is no official confirmation of the link yet, and
anecdotal reports offer little comfort for those who must make the
critical decisions. Multipoint verification, never mind proof beyond
a reasonable doubt, is not in hand.

Still, the power of logic, scattered reports of an emerging link, a
glance at the map, and the value of proving insurgents are drugged
when they explode, raise poignant questions -- for everyone.

The questions are worth asking; answers are worth pursuing. If the
link is real, it tells us a lot.

Robert B. Charles, president of the Charles Group in Washington,
D.C., and Gaithersburg, Md., is former assistant secretary of state
for international narcotics and law enforcement.