NARCOTIC FERVOR:

Fallujah insurgents were addicted to more than mayhem
By TONY PERRY
Los Angeles Times

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Although the ferocity of insurgents is generally attributed to religious fervor and a hatred of America, Marines who participated in the November assault on Fallujah say many of their foes also had something else to bolster their tenacity: drugs.

The conduct of many of the insurgents during the fighting in Fallujah suggested that they had ingested drugs that allowed them to continue fighting even after being severely wounded, Marines and Navy medical corpsmen say.

"One guy described it as like watching the `Night of the Living Dead,' " corpsman Peter Melady said. "People who should have been dead were still alive."

1st Lt. Tim Strabbing said his platoon found five locations with stockpiles of needles and adrenaline. "My guys put five (machine gun) rounds into a guy who just stood there and took it and then took off running," he said.