War and Liquor a Perilous Mix for U.S. Troops

[cal04]

In May 2004, Specialist Justin J. Lillis got drunk on what he called “hajji juice,” a clear Iraqi moonshine smuggled onto an Army base in Balad, Iraq, by civilian contractors, and began taking potshots with his M-16 service rifle.

“He shot up some contractor’s rental car,” said Phil Cave, a lawyer for Specialist Lillis, 24. “He hopped in a Humvee, drove around and shot up some more things. He shot into a housing area” and at soldiers guarding the base entrance.

Six months later, at an Army base near Baghdad, after a night of drinking an illegal stash of whiskey and gin, Specialist Chris Rolan of the Third Brigade, Third Infantry Division, pulled his 9mm service pistol on another soldier and shot him dead.

And in March 2006, in perhaps the most gruesome crime committed by American troops in Iraq, a group of 101st Airborne Division soldiers stationed in Mahmudiya raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family after drinking several cans of locally made whiskey supplied by Iraqi Army soldiers, military prosecutors said.

Alcohol, strictly forbidden by the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan, is involved in a growing number of crimes committed by troops deployed to those countries. Alcohol- and drug-related charges were involved in more than a third of all Army criminal prosecutions of soldiers in the two war zones — 240 of the 665 cases resulting in convictions, according to records obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/world/middleeast/13alcohol.html?hp

[w8liftinglady]

1. I've got news for you-it's causing problems here,too...

my son developed a bad drinking problem during his three deployments,as did ALL his buddies.terrible binge drinking,dui's,and all were arrested for stupid things-stealing stop signs,etc.What are we doing to our soldiers over there?

[stillcool]

2. Self-Medicating...

whatever gets you through the night. They obviously don't get help anywhere else.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I thought the murder of the 14 year old Iraqi girl was done in cold blood and planned

This article suggests the soldiers were drinking beforehand, which might be true. However, I believe that they had planned the rape and murder of the girl and her entire family for days before carrying it out. In fact, they had stalked her previously. Maybe the alcohol helped them get the nerve to do a crime they were determined to carry out. But I think that if they had been completely drunk, they might not have received 90 years and 100 years in federal prison as some of them got.

I don't think they can blame the violence of our troops on alcohol. I think these troops are getting completely stressed out and desperate about being stranded for years in a hell hole and are turning to alcohol as well as violence. I think alcohol is a symptom, not a cause here.