- Two years into the occupation of Iraq the menace of drug
abuse appears to be afflicting American troops.
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- 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.
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- Aside from random urine tests and barrack room searches,
commanders have asked their troops to inform on colleagues.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "Some of these young soldiers just can't handle
the stress," said Capt Christopher Krafchek, a military defence lawyer.
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- 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.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/0
7/23/wirq23.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/23/ixworld.html
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