Posted on 08/01/2005 2:54:19 PM PDT by jmc1969
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,"
Private security contractors told AP that steroid use also is a problem among their employees because the drugs are readily available in Iraq - as easy as buying a soda from the local stores, according to one contractor.
Inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces on the sprawling Tikrit base, a mirror-walled gym rivaling many in the West is routinely packed with heaving soldiers pumping iron on bench presses, arm curls and other equipment.
Some soldiers have questioned how some of their more rippling fellow soldiers could have built up such bulk while in a war zone, suggesting that steroid use may have been taking place.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Pretty soon they'll all be doing herion and listening to Jimmy Hendrix....
Oh wait...that was AP reporting during the Vietnam War....
NeverGore :6)
Boston Globe today: "According to La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper, Hussain said the group had a ''political conviction that it is necessary to give a signal to do something" about Iraq."
performance enhancing drugs vs the drugs used during Vietnam, hmmmm I'll go with steriods ever time.
The main concern is dehydration from them. They would have to add to the water intake of any soldier that might want to go that route.
Obviously written by a pencil necked geek who couldn't tell his @ss from a gym with both hands and a flashlight...
You have it exactly right. This is the exact reason stories like this are run. The MSM systematically tries to keep bad news (any possible, or make it up, or rehash old events) on Iraq coming out every day.
Hear me know and believe me later.
Actually it's an awesome gym! They took one of his old palaces and made it into an MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) setup. The room has huge vaulted ceilings, ornate wood trim and carvings and more. It was a brilliant use of that former government building.
I worked out there whenever I wound up in Tikrit and my only complaint was that the gym was too crowded all the time. Sure there were a few guys on the juice, but that's no different than anywhere else in the world.
To put things in perspective, GI's are just regular folks and they get in trouble just like anybody else. I've been around this mans Army for some time and can say without hesitation that in Iraq the troops are very well behaved.
If the AP was trying to imply that steroid abuse is condoned or encouraged by the military he is totally off base. The military takes a very very dim view on ANY kind of illegal drug use. We get the whiz quiz all the time just to make sure.
OTOH, building strength and endurance to levels not otherwise attainable might not be a bad idea. Were I in that situation I think I would not be averse to taking a little andro, if not full blown steroids.
I hear you. My experience in military gyms was similar - there were a few guys who might have been using 'roids, but it was very much the exception.
My point, however, was that the author clearly didn't know what he was talking about: "bench presses" and "arm curls" are exercises, not pieces of equipment. I'm guessing that author Victor Simpson wouldn't know a weight stack if it jumped up and bit him in the ass...
"So if our soldiers are found to have used performance enhancing drugs does that mean we have to forfeit"
BWAHAHAHA - too funny!
Ahhh, I gotcha.
this guy Simpson covered the Vatican for many many years...he might have seen some protein drinks or creatine and jumped to the (duh) conclusion...."yeah, they're doping..."
Bet we see it on the next episode of that stupid new show on FX, "Over There"....
would be interested in hearing what you have to say about it.
BTW, WELCOME to FR and thank you for being there for us.
Heroes among us, folks....
Last WESTPAC that I did we had several guys get caught using steroids. They are OTC in a lot of Arab countries.
Get a gig supporting SF and you will always have a great, but less crowded, gym to work out in :D
I wonder if juicing while on Lariam would increase the side effects?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.