Some of the most violent crimes committed by U.S. troops in Iraq were fueled in part by alcohol, the New York Times reported March 13.

The 2005 rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by 101st Airborne Division troops in Mahmudiya involved soldiers who drank locally distilled whiskey before the attack; a 2004 murder of one 3rd Infantry Division soldier by another also followed a drinking binge.

U.S. soldiers are barred from drinking alcohol while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, but alcohol and other drugs were involved in 240 of 665 Army criminal prosecutions that resulted in convictions in the two war zones. Crimes involving alcohol and other drugs included murder, rape, armed robbery, and assault.

Iraqi moonshine is reportedly cheap and easy to find despite Islamic and military prohibitions on consumption. Some soldiers also ask relatives in the U.S. to mail them gin or rum colored with food coloring in mouthwash bottles. Iraqi Army soldiers also sell U.S. troops prescription drugs sold on the local market.

Drinking rates appear to be rising in the Army and Marine Corps, the branches of the service most directly involved in combat operations. Research indicates than binge drinking in the Army rose 30 percent between 2002 to 2005, for example, and one in four soldiers say they drink heavily -- the highest rate since 1985.

Illicit drug use also is on the increase. The trends may reflect lower recruiting standards, which allow more individuals with past alcohol or other drug problems to join the service.

"It's clear that we got a lot of significant alcohol problems that are pervasive across the military," said Thomas Kosten, a psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston.

"I think the real story here is in the suicide and stress, and the drinking is just a symptom of it," said Charles O'Brien, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "There's been a lot of suicide in the active-duty servicemen."

Meanwhile, the military has cut spending on alcohol prevention, from $12.6 million in 2005 to $7.74 this year.