  In view of the recent experimental facts in the iron-pnictides, we make a
proposal that the itinerant electrons and local moments are simultaneously
present in such multiband materials. We study a minimal model composed of
coupled itinerant electrons and local moments to illustrate how a consistent
explanation of the experimental measurements can be obtained in the leading
order approximation. In this mean-field approach, the spin-density-wave (SDW)
order and superconducting pairing of the itinerant electrons are not directly
driven by the Fermi surface nesting, but are mainly induced by their coupling
to the local moments. The presence of the local moments as independent degrees
of freedom naturally provides strong pairing strength for superconductivity and
also explains the normal-state linear-temperature magnetic susceptibility above
the SDW transition temperature. We show that this simple model is supported by
various anomalous magnetic properties and isotope effect which are in
quantitative agreement with experiments.
