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Iraqis with Guns Smoking Dope on Iranian Border
Diyala Province, Iraq
A couple of weeks back, a combat patrol from FOB Gabe came into a tea café in Baquba. The Iraqis were surprised, and several American soldiers reported seeing the Iraqis “swallowing their weed.”
“What do you mean they were swallowing their weed?” asked a soldier over breakfast.
“You know, they were just swallowing their weed.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, ’swallowing their weed,’ what are you talking about?” Where’s this guy come from, I thought.
Next morning, on a different base, over breakfast, a couple of the soldiers who had been at the tea shop revisited the story. They swore they smelled marijuana and saw people swallowing joints in a café in Baquba.
“I had no idea they smoke dope here,” someone said.
“They were smoking it,” answered one of the soldiers.
“I’ve seen them drunk as a fish,” I said, “and they smoke a lot of hash.”
“Muslims don’t drink,” said another soldier.
“People in Baquba do,” I said, “all the time. I saw 1st ID guys pull drunks over many times. We found two well-dressed men parked in a car. It was about midnight. One of the men said he wanted to get drunk before going home to his wife.”
The soldier didn’t believe me, so he asked a translator who was sitting with us, “Do they drink here?”
“Are you kidding man!” (He actually said “man.”) “Dey drink so much!”
