Steroids Headed for Troops in Iraq Seized

[Barrett808]

Steroids Headed for Troops in Iraq Seized
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME (AP) - Italian police seized 215,000 doses of prohibited substances as they smashed a ring that supplied steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to customers around the world, including American soldiers in Iraq, a police official said Monday.

The U.S. military in Iraq had no immediate comment, but the popularity of steroid abuse has long been discussed as American troops and contractors in Iraq work out in gyms set up in bases and even in the mirrored halls of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Joe Donahue, program director for the Vietnam Vets of America Foundation, who spent 16 months in Iraq - often lifting weights in the Green Zone gyms - said steroids were on offer for those who wanted them.

"I had them offered to me by an Iraqi guy who sure as hell looked like he was using them," Donahue said. "There were guys I'm pretty sure were juicing, but not a lot of them."

He said a pair of Iraqi bodybuilders known casually as "the large brothers" sold steroids and other supplements in the Green Zone building where he worked. "I can say with no equivocation, I was offered steroids," Donahue told The Associated Press.

(more)

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2005/aug/01/080101764.html

[Supersedeas]

1. Rummi is going to "pump you up"

[Chicago Democrat]

2. If killing and torturing and raping of young boys is ok,

then anything is ok? Makes sense to me.

[MisterP]

3. don't they know that this and legal crank is the only way to get the

SuperSoldiers we need for global conquest? (Why do you think * is so reticent to clean up MTBE and hydrazine in our drinking water?)

[AlCzervik]

4. Nice to know the Greenzone is secure enough for dealing.

Nothing like a little extra testosterone to put you in the mood for some killin!

I give up.

[WhiteTara]

5. got to keep that anger...er, morale, up you knoww

It is so horrible. I think I'll go back to bed.

[rodeodance]

8. part of Rummy's NEW lean, clean fighting machine (the US soldier)

[Barrett808]

6. I like that this story mentions marijuana for GIs in Vietnam

But doesn't mention heroin.

[rodeodance]

7. Lets see if Congress will hold hearings as they did with baseball.

[sintax]

9. Supersoldiers- Nominated need a few more to give this story legs

This is just another indicator of the Pentagon dehumanizes everything. If you have ever been around someone on steroids you could see how easy violence and brutality becomes.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. This is SAD -- another long-term health risk for these soldiers. nt

[meganmonkey]

11. Yep

:(

[progressivebydesign]

12. Anger and overheating.. bad combo in a desert war.

Steroids are the last thing they need to be taking...

[sintax]

13. kick

[SeanQuinn]

14. GROWL! nt

[LisaM]

15. Do Bush and Rummy have stock in steroid companies?

The long range implications of having soldiers on steroids are worrisome. They have support groups for spouses of steroid users, for God's sake. It changes people. I wonder if the Iraq soldiers who have come back and committed violent crimes are using them.