IRAQ WAR - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Stressed US troops in Iraq 'turning to drugs' |
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by Thomas Harding news.telegraph Entered into the database on Saturday, July 23rd, 2005 @ 14:23:15 MST |
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Two years into the occupation of Iraq the menace of drug abuse appears to be afflicting
American troops. Aware of the debilitating effect drugs had on the morale and effectiveness of
GIs in the Vietnam War, the authorities are attempting to stifle a repeat in Iraq. Aside from random urine tests and barrack room searches, commanders have asked
their troops to inform on colleagues. In the past month a soldier has been arrested for selling cocaine and two per
cent of the troops from one brigade have been charged with drug and alcohol
abuse. According to US army figures, out of the 4,000 men of the 256th Brigade Combat
Team, 53 faced alcohol-related charges and 48 were charged with drug offences. Since the overthrow of Saddam's regime the borders that have been so porous
for insurgents have been equally open for heroin and hash smugglers from Afghanistan
and Iran providing a cheap market for troops. With colleagues being killed or
wounded on a daily basis, some US soldiers have turned to drugs to escape the
horrors of fighting insurgents. In one case, according to Stars and Stripes, the in-house US forces newspaper,
Sgt Michael Boudreaux was found with drugs, four bottles of whiskey and 22 videos
of Iraqi pornography. He received a seven month confinement, was demoted to
private and given a bad conduct discharge. In another case, Pte Emily Hamilton told a court martial that she used a hashish
pipe belonging to a colleague because "it helped me go right to sleep".
She was given a year's confinement and a bad conduct discharge. "Some of these young soldiers just can't handle the stress," said
Capt Christopher Krafchek, a military defence lawyer. The majority of drug-users are in their teens or early 20s, and sometimes get
their drugs from local Iraqis while on patrol in Baghdad. Troops caught in possession of illegal substances are either jailed, demoted
or discharged from the forces. |