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U.S., 18 Other Nations, Wrap Up Eager Lion Military Exercise in Jordan
(Christian Science Monitor) Nicholas Seeley - More than 19 countries, led by the U.S., wrapped up the sprawling Operation Eager Lion military exercise Monday in Jordan. Michael Rubin, an adviser to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from 2002-2004 and now an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, says the exercise is useful as a reminder that the U.S. military presence in the region is still extensive. "In Washington we can convince ourselves we withdrew [from Iraq] per political agreements, but a lot of the propaganda in the region, especially the Iranian-backed propaganda, suggests we fled in defeat," Rubin says. "One of the perceptions we're trying to reverse is the perception among many of the Gulf monarchs, and the king of Jordan, that we dumped Hosni Mubarak way too quickly." "What this does is send a signal to many of the GCC states that we're not simply going to turn our backs on all the monarchs," Rubin says.