[BBKing]

Another effect of cocaine is to make you think everyone likes you, which isn't a survival strategy in combat. Opiates make you drowsy, which also doesn't do your survival prospects much good when the firing starts. They're used by practically every army in the world to treat pain though, so finding evidence of their use around a combat zone is hardly shocking.

punky - which drugs are manufactured in Iraq? Come to that, which drugs were manufactured in Afghanistan before the US invasion?

Drugs and fighting are linked though, from Vietnam to the original Assassins, who fired themselves up with marijuana before going on murderous sprees. You could probably class the WWI trench cigarette in there, too. It's not surprising people want to get out of their minds in such desperate circumstances.