Tuesday, October 5, 2010

“Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use any other drug with special horror.”

(Originally this was going to be a short comment reply, but it took on a life of its own & led me in a completely different direction. I should state that I found no answers just more questions.)


During the past weekend, a young black temp was working with us. We started talking about the war in Afghanistan & Irag & he mentioned two of his friends who had recently returned from combat duty in the Middle East. They told him that "the terrorists shoot up pure adrenaline before every battle." This adrenaline fix turns them into super fighters who can, amongst other amazing talents, "leap over a two story building with ease."


At first, I thought the guy was either incredibly credulous & they were pulling his chain or his friends were the credulous ones & the US government was yanking their chain. Where could they possibly get all that adrenaline? Didn't seem even remotely feasible.

But a quick web search demonstrated that the story definitely had legs, albeit of the mutant variety.

First, I found this quote form Staff Sergeant David Bellavia's book about the Battle of Fallujah, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War.

In Muqdadiyah, my squad watched a drug-crazed Mahdi militiaman charge Cory Brown's Bradley. The gunner blasted him with coax machine-gun fire, shredding his legs. He tumbled off the Bradley and flopped face up onto the street. As we approached him, he started to laugh. The laughter grew into a hysteria-tinged cackle, then ended with a bone-chilling keen. That froze us cold. Watching us with wild eyes, he then pulled a bottle of pills out of a blood-soaked pocket and drained its contents into his mouth. Then he went for something under his jacket. Thinking he was about to detonate a bomb vest, three of us opened fire and riddled him with bullets. We shot and shot until he finally stopped moving.

Leaving my men behind, I went to investigate the corpse. His right arm was torn off. His legs were nothing but punctured meat. Most of his face was gone, and only a bloody lump remained of his nose. Both eyes had been shot out. I put a boot on his chest. The Mahdi militiaman didn't move. I kicked him. No movement. Given how many times he had been shot, I didn't expect anything else, but just to be sure, I shot him twice in the stomach. Then I marked him with a chem light so the body disposal teams could find him later that night.

A few minutes later, a Blackhawk landed and we started loading wounded insurgents into it. While we worked, two men carried the shattered husk of that Mahdi militiaman to the helicopter. To our astonishment, he was still alive. Blood bubbles burbled up through his mangled nose and mouth. Blind, in agony, he still managed to scream through broken teeth and punctured lungs. We loaded him on the helicopter and never saw him again.
We later discovered the Mahdi militia had gained access to American epinephrine -- pure adrenaline that will keep a heart pumping even after its owner has been exposed to nerve gas or chemical weapons. A dude with that in his system is almost superhuman. Short of being blown to pieces with our biggest guns, he'll keep fighting until his limbs are severed or he bleeds out.


Is it me, or does this sound like bullshit? We're expected to believe that a mouthful of epinephrine metabolizes fast enough to keep a shot up lump of ground meat alive long enough "to scream through broken teeth and punctured lungs?" Wow, it all seems so Hollywood, doesn't it?

And what about "American epinephrine? Is this a special brand.

I attempted to find the amount of "American epinephrine" America sold to Saddam Hussein back when we were pals, but I came up empty.
One interesting fact I discovered about epinephrine is that its efficacy is of a short duration. While your fire may burn intensely, its very intensity depletes your fuel quicker. In other words, ya run out of fucking gas. And, like all stimulants, constant usage causes more problems than it solves.

Anyway, it wouldn't be surprising that soldiers enhance their survival with stimulants. I would. I believe that dextro-amphetamine has been doled out to soldiers for a good 1/2 century or so.

The military is also looking at "the stimulant ephedrine, non-stimulant "wakefulness promoting agents" like modafinil (aka Provigil) and erythropoietin, used to improve endurance by boosting the production of red blood cells."

Why bother when a little adrenaline turns you into Superman?

There's also something about devout Muslims & rabid drug use that just doesn't add up. Y'know, like Mohammed Atta's cocaine habit?



From PATHWAY TO PARADISE: A Guidebook to Islam:

The Islamic injunction concerning intoxicants, that is the complete forbidding of drugs and alcohol, seems idealistic for American society. Yet it is the only solution. Allah commands Muslims in the Holy Qur'an:

"O ye who believe! wine and the game of chance... are only an abomination of Satan's handiwork. So shun each one of them that you may prosper. Satan seeks only to create enmity and hatred among you by means of wine and games of chance, and to keep you back from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer..." (5:91-92)

The Arabic word "al-khamr" is used in this verse which means anything that intoxicates or alters the mind. Thus, all forms of intoxicants are forbidden. The verse clearly explains the problems created by the use of intoxicants; first, they lead to hatred and enmity amongst people, causing murder, violence, immoral behavior etc.; and secondly they lead people away from Allah and His religion. Allah wants the believers to keep their minds pure and clean, so that they worship Him fully. A Muslim may not offer prayers (salaat) when he is not in full possession of his senses, even if that is caused by excessive emotion or a state of sleep. Certainly, a mind that is intoxicated is not able to focus on Allah.

Finally, it is important to note that drugs and alcohol are used as a means of escape from overwhelming difficulties and responsibilities. The attitude of one who has truly embraced the teachings of Islam cannot be compatible with this state of despair. A true Muslim places his reliance on Allah for the relief of hardship. When the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) proclaimed Allah's commandment concerning intoxicants, his followers broke their pots and jugs of wine until the streets flowed with it. This is the example for the new convert to Islam. Some hadith of the Holy Prophet about intoxicants are:

1. If a large amount of anything causes intoxication, (even) a small amount of it is forbidden.
2. An undutiful son, a gambler, one who casts up what he is given, and one who is addicted to wine will not enter paradise.
3. Tariq bin Suwaid asked the Holy Prophet about wine and he forbade him. When he told him that he used it only as medicine, the Holy Prophet replied, "It is not a medicine, but is a disease."


Interestingly enough, Mr. Balavia's book kept turning up as the only link between terrorists & their epinephrine monkey.
So, reaching the proverbial dead end, I looked at Staff Sergeant David Bellavia.
His book, House To House, is evidently quite popular at Amazon:

#24 in Books > History > Military > Iraq War
#26 in Books > History > Middle East > Iraq
#77 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military


receiving nothing but rave reviews.

Let's visit Dave's website.

Cool. Dave has some videos. Let's see, under the heading "A man I want to Choke," Dave offers up this video:



And under the heading, "The Sin isn't falling... it's not filming it," Dave offers this knee slapper:



Hmmmm...I'm going to go out on a limb & say that Dave falls to the right of the political divide.

Let's watch Dave talk.



"Fallujah is now being run by Iraqis?" Yeah, and the Vichy government was comprised of Frenchmen. So what?

The Vichy Regime maintained some legal authority in the northern zone of France, which was occupied by the German Wehrmacht. However, its laws only applied where they did not contradict German ones. This meant that where the regime was most powerful was the unoccupied southern "free zone", where its administrative centre of Vichy was located.

Pétain and the Vichy regime willfully collaborated with the German occupation to a high degree. The French police and the state Milice (militia) organised raids to capture Jews and others considered "undesirables" by the Germans in both the northern and southern zones.


Dave is conveniently forgetting that Iraq didn't attack us. Iraq also had no WMDs to attack us with. It was all a fantasy, packaged up like Oreos & then sold to credulous America.

Dave is also conveniently forgetting that we left other things lying around Fallujah.



Someone should point out to Dave that the "lifestyle" he so gallantly protected by invading Iraq is the same lifestyle that produces folk he either wants to laugh at or kill.

And do my ears deceive me or is Dave advocating the deployment of US Marines to Chicago.

Alrighty then. Time to move on.

Curious, I expanded my search to any report of hopped up terrorists and, wonder of wonders, the only other references I could find were at a couple of right wing websites. Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs, where we're given this picture of the Mumbai terrorists:



along with Geller's Declaration Of Independence From Muslims:

WE, THE PEOPLE, MUST FIGHT THIS WAR. Our elected officials are on the Saudi payroll, emasculated by petrodollars. Obama declared on page 261 of his book, should the political winds shift ......he would side with the Muslims.

The left will not fight this war. Historically, leftists have always slept with totalitarian regimes. We are witnessing it here in the US yet again. What is discouraging are those on the right that have turned tail on the war and moved left.

They have become part of the problem.

We must stop the State department from importing whole Muslim communities - they come and seek to impose sharia and Islamic supremacism. We must pass Tancredo's jihad legislation. We must get on a war footing.

The world has 1.2 billions Muslims. They must take sides. They must take to the streets shouting not in our name. They must take action to fight this pox on humanity.

These attacks on the West will not only continue, they will get worse. The enemy is empowered and they are winning. I have been documenting this holy war for years, what they are planning for the US is difficult to imagine. They were planning Mumbai for over a year.


Then, at the American Power Blog, we're given a link to this news story:

The Mumbai terrorists may have pumped themselves full of drugs to keep going during their murderous three-day rampage.

Indian police sources say tests on the bodies of dead Islamic fanatics revealed traces of stimulant drugs.

One said: “We found injections containing traces of cocaine and LSD left behind by the terrorists and later found drugs in their blood.

“There was also evidence of steroids, which isn’t uncommon in terrorists. These men were all toned, suggesting they had been doing some heavy training for the attacks.

“This explains why they managed to battle the commandos for over 50 hours with no food or sleep.”

The source said one gunman is thought to have injected himself with large doses of stimulant so he could keep on fighting after he was seriously wounded.


Okay. I can buy the coke & steroid angle, but LSD?
That didn't work too well for the British, did it?



So, is the drug angle just a ham-fisted attempt at scaring an already terrified Joe Blow America by saying, "Hell, they're not just terrorists, they're junkie terrorists?"

I don't really know. Like I said at the outset, more questions than answers.

But really, if the US needs to see some hop head commandos, I don't think they need to look anywhere but in their red, white & blue mirror.

The U.S. could face a wave of addiction and mental-health problems among returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars greater than that resulting from the Vietnam War, according to experts at the recent Wounds of War conference sponsored by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University (Join Together is a project of CASA).

Rather than the heroin addictions many Vietnam veterans brought back with them from Southeast Asia, however, today's returning soldiers are more likely to be addicted to prescription medications -- the very opiates prescribed to them by the military to ease stress or pain -- or stimulants used by soldiers to remain alert in combat situations.

"I think there's a lot more [soldiers addicted to] pharmacological opiates than the data show," said John A. Renner Jr., M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine and associate chief of psychiatry at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System. "A lot of them were using opiates before they went, and a lot are reporting that opiates are freely available in combat areas."

Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), noted that while many soldiers receive prescription opiates for traumatic injuries and pain, the drugs also are effective in relieving stress. "So, even if you don't take it for that, it will work," she said.

Prescription drug abuse may be a top concern among conference participants, but experts noted that excessive drinking remains a huge problem among soldiers, sailors and airmen despite being banned from combat zones in Muslim countries.

Historically, substance abuse has "not only been present but fostered by the military," said keynote speaker Jim McDonough, a retired U.S. Army officer and former strategy director at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "At Agincourt, the Somme and Waterloo, soldiers got liquored up before combat ... There's been almost no break in that [tradition] today."

17 comments:

Morocco Bama said...

Dave's nothing but a big cry baby wimp. His manic "dusted" Mahdi Madman can't hold a candle to the 9 week old golden retriever puppy in our midst as of last thursday. This ten pound ball of cuddly fur will literally have you second guessing your manhood....and here's the catch, you will be thankful to it because how could you have any animosity for something as neotenous and lovely as a nine week old golden? The ultimate machine, they are. A Mahdi Moron is diminutive in comparison.

Morocco Bama said...

Of course, this is what Dave and his friends do to puppies.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=621_1204615429&o=1

So brave, they are.

Support The Troops!!!!

just_another_dick said...

Of course I support the troops Shrub.
Can't you tell.

The Genius Of The Crowd
Charles Bukowski

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach love do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art

Bigfoot said...

These creatures make my skin crawl, what an absolute prat stiff sergeant david is.
Richard, the film 'Jacobs Ladder' comes to mind regarding the use of drugs in combat, as you probably know, in the film they used it to increase their kill ability. The drug 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate or 'BZ' was mentioned at the end of the film, but apparently has different effects than what was portrayed as "the ladder".
From wiki: "BZ produces effects not just in individuals, but also in groups. Sharing of illusions and hallucinations is exemplified by two BZ-intoxicated individuals who would take turns smoking an imaginary cigarette clearly visible to both of them but to no one else.[2] When one observed subject mumbled, "Gotta cigarette?" His delirious companion held out an invisible pack, he followed with, "S'okay, don't wanna take your last one." In another test it was reported two victims of BZ played tennis with imaginary rackets".
Yet they still weaponized it.
But who needs drugs to have a good time on the battlefield anyhow? Which reminds me, I hope mr puppy abuser gets his insy little balls severed off by a rather hot piece of shrapnel, fuckwit.

just_another_dick said...

BF, sorry I've been remiss in my reply but all I've been doing is working showering & sleeping.

Jacob's Ladder is on my list of favorite films.
I thought it did a decent job of capturing the slithery side of our government's forays into the medical field.

Literalness was, I thought, unimportant.

I think it probably goes without saying that, given my governments willingness to commit the exact same crimes that they hung Nazis for at Nuremberg, they would not have hesitated to field test a drug like JL's fictionalized version of BZ.

Shrub, I'm not sure what is most disturbing here. The number of folks torn to shreds by American machine guns, the callous way a manufactured war is rationalized away, the number of folk at Amazon who seem to find tales of mass slaughter vicariously appealing...

The list is long.

Morocco Bama said...

I'm getting a kick out of the "What It's Like To Teach Black Students" thread over at RI. So many well-intentioned white liberals.....so little time, and so little effect they have. If it requires them to leave their computer screen for a moment, then it's just not a workable solution.

just_another_dick said...

You're a better man than I am Shrub.
I was only able to read as far as the knee jerk outrage of Alice the Curious before I lost my breakfast.

The original bit they're vilifying is probably truer than these yahoos would care to admit.

I have a buddy who teaches & he describes it in much the same terms, only the student mix is white & black.

I have another buddy who coaches football at a predominately black high school. He is forever complaining that he finds it impossible to get black students to read books.

I suspect that the RI world changers don't get within a million miles of surly inner city teens, white brown or black.

Anyway, having read a few forums started by regulars who found themselves in some kind of real world confrontation that left them panic stricken & in need of a good RI forum hug, I doubt that confrontation is something these people handle very well.

I think an Internet forum is probably the safest place for them.

Morocco Bama said...

Here's an excellent documentary I stumbled across.


Psywar

ericswan said...

Safer than you know. The streets are crawling with machine gun toting toadies with one guy on the roof and a dozen in the truck box. These weapons are at least 50 calibre machine guns and everyone on board has one. They roll down the street, they set up their guard posts and Brink's pick up trucks with a "get ready Freddie" state of fear. Anyway, I'm back on solid ground. This NAU thingy is really gonna suck.

just_another_dick said...

Shrub, Psywar was most interesting. I imagine the folks at PR Watch have an even lower opinion of the IQ challenged masses than I do since they get to watch us re-swallow the same bait, over & over & over & over...

Morocco Bama said...

The question is, Richard, is Psywar, Psywar?

For example, at one point they showed some archival footage from what appeared to be circa early 20th century. A "working man" was seen walking down a shanty town street past a shanty with the sign 666 on it. Considering the subject matter of the documentary, I would assume quite a bit of scrutiny went into the imagery that accompanied their narrative, so I find it hard to swallow that the selection of that particular imagery was serendipitous.

Considering that, if that imagery was purposely selected, for what ends, and who is the targeted audience? We know the rapture ready group is enamored with 666, and its delusional implications. I think it's adequate metaphor for the diabolical system all of us, and I mean all of us, support every day to varying degrees, but its literal interpretation is ludicrous.

Now, contrast where I'm going with the the fact we know the various factions of the military are running their own psyops and cyberwar campaigns, and the airforce is, or is experiencing a christian coup, and you can quickly see how it is plausible that Psywar just may be guilty of the very tactics it criticizes.

Of course, this is only a hunch of mine. I see red flags every where these days....the horizon is painted crimson red as a result, one flag indistinguishable from another due to the sheer volume. My hunch doesn't preclude the excellent information and thesis of the documentary, of which I am in complete agreement. It's the motivation of the makers that concerns me. Everyone has an agenda, and most agendas these days are nefarious....maybe they always were....but today is no exception.

just_another_dick said...

I agree Shrub. Everything is propaganda in one form or another.

Along with Psywar, I watched a few episodes of Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory.

To put it mildly, it's crap.

I also saw Jon Stewart's interview with Condi Rice last night.

Quite the hoot, except not in the way we'd like it to be funny.

I'm trying to pull these strands together into something legible to post.

Rather than bend your eyeball with it now, I'll try to bee-log something life changing, earth shattering & sphincter tightening real soon, with pictures, videos &, hopefully, the taut breasts of nubile young women.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was Alice the KKKurious.

Morocco Bama said...

I hope Alice's husband, for the sake of his sanity, has an Egyptian mistress, or any mistress. Alice and I would have lasted all of several seconds before finalizing a divorce settlement. I couldn't imagine sharing my life with someone who has Zionist-colored glasses permanently affixed to their face. I'm no apologist for Zionism, or the atrocities of the State of Israel, but it's ridiculous to consistently, without fail, view the world through that looking glass without recognizing, and duly criticizing, the greater evil.

Anonymous said...

That's pretty much what I mean, MB/Shrub. She's the perfect mirror to the rabidly racist and eliminationist Zionist settlers.

My comment wasn't meant to indicate a particular leaning in a long-lasting struggle of which I understand little. It was simply meant to convey a gut reaction against one person's mindset, and comment on how that person fits so well at Reactionary Inquisitors.

Full disclosure: I've only ever been a lurker there, so I'm not a "personality" you'd be familiar with, banned or otherwise. I used to love Jeff's posts and the freewheeling comments section. Now...Jeff doesn't post and the "personalities" on the board are basically over-emotional children in perpetual whine mode.

Like your writing, Richard. Always have.

Morocco Bama said...

Thanks for clarifying, Anon 4:50. We pretty much share the same sentiments. I, like you, don't have a dog in that game, nor any game, and I'm also not backing any dog in any games. I believe if you stick to principle, the dogs are rather irrelevant, although they are an annoying nuisance at times. Witness Alice.

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