Jessica Lynch condemns Pentagon

BBC ^ | Friday, 7 November, 2003, 18:11 GMT | BBC

[KQQL]

US woman soldier who shot to fame after being taken prisoner during the Iraq war has accused the military of using her for propaganda purposes.

A video of US commandos carrying a badly injured Private Jessica Lynch from a Nasiriya hospital was released at the height of the conflict.

But the 20-year-old criticised the release of false information about her capture by Iraqi forces.

She also said there was no reason for her rescue to be filmed.

In her first interview about what happened to her, the former prisoner-of-war told ABC television that medical reports indicated that she had been raped.

They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. It's wrong.

She said she had no recollection of the attack. "Even just the thinking about that, that's too painful," she told interviewer Diane Sawyer.

Miss Lynch, who was serving as an Army supply clerk, suffered broken bones and other injuries when her convoy was ambushed after taking a wrong turn near the Iraqi town of Nasiriya on 23 March.

The Pentagon initially put out the story that Private Lynch - a slight woman who was just 19 at the time - had been wounded by Iraqi gunfire but had kept fighting until her ammunition ran out.

But she told Sawyer that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that her gun had jammed during the chaos.

"I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do," she said.

"I did not shoot - not a round, nothing. I went down praying to my knees - that's the last thing I remember."

Initial reports also suggested that Miss Lynch had been abused after she came round in the hospital. She says that again was untrue - there was no mistreatment, and one nurse used to sing to her.

She said she was grateful to the American special forces team which rescued her but, asked whether the Pentagon's subsequent portrayal of her rescue bothered her, she said: "Yes, it does. They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. It's wrong."

Injuries

Miss Lynch was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals while still in hospital in Washington DC.

Months later, she is receiving treatment for her extensive injuries.

Earlier this week, it emerged that medical evidence suggested that Miss Lynch had been raped during her capture.

The assault was revealed in extracts from Miss Lynch's authorised biography - I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story - to be released by publisher Alfred A Knopf on Tuesday.

[KQQL]

LYNCH SLAMS RESCUE 'LIES'

US hero Private Jessica Lynch has slammed the American government for exaggerating the account of her 'rescue' from Iraqi captors.

The 20-year-old said "it hurt" for the Pentagon to make claims about the rescue operation that were not true.


And she said it was "wrong" for the US government to use her as a "symbol" for the war.

The outspoken criticism came during an interview on a US news network to promote her book I Am a Soldier Too.

"They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff," she told the ABC network.

She continued: "It hurt in a way that people would make up stories that they had no truth about."

The slight blonde also said it was wrong for the American military to film the rescue.

The Pentagon initially produced a dramatic account of how Lynch was rescued.

It claimed she had been beaten and stabbed by her Iraqi captors.


"I don't think it happened quite like that," Lynch told ABC.

Sceptics dismissed the original account as wartime propaganda and a BBC documentary alleged the 'rescue' had been staged.

She told ABC she was not involved in any shootout because her rifle had jammed.

Military officials later acknowledged that Lynch wasn't shot, but was hurt after her Humvee utility vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into another vehicle.

American media reported on Thursday that the book, which will be released in the US on Tuesday, would contain allegations that she was raped by Iraqis.

"Even just the thinking about that, that's too painful," she told ABC.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12920562,00.html

[KQQL]

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[submarinerswife]

I am pretty disapointed with this little hollywood darling. She needs to sell a book, get ratings for the interview and movie and what better way to do it then to be indignant towards the fact that the military taped her rescue?

[KQQL]

Jessica for Dean ?......in 2004

[Fitzcarraldo]

I Am a Soldier Too.

Well start acting like one.

[Cronos]

She's complaining that her story was distorted and she has the right to do so, it is HER story. Let's not judge things before we hear from both sides, eh?

[HairOfTheDog]

Condemn is strong..... jeeesh. Now we need to trust the BBC's version of this interview?

[submarinerswife]

The Iragi man who saved her life had requested a visit with her at her home in W.V. to get a ppicture for his up coming book and she refused to meet with him.

If that were my daughter who he saved, I would have kissed his feet.

[LouD]

She also said there was no reason for her rescue to be filmed.

She's was a damned PFC supply clerk. WTF does she know? The decision to, and rationale for filming her rescue was way above her pay grade.

I find it more than a little interesting that, after a long silence, she's heaping criticism on the war, right after she made her lucrative media deals. I think she was given her talking points by ABC as a condition of her deal: They're paying her, and she's saying what they want to hear...

[Fitzcarraldo]

She is a US Soldier, now and forever. There is a saying in the Marines Corps: "Once a Marine, Always a Marine."

She wore the uniform and still has the medals. It's not only about her service and pride but that of every soldier who risked their life in her rescue and cared for her in the hospital. She owes them her life and tribute.

[Fitzcarraldo]

There is something seriously wrong if she didn't meet with him. I'd advise her to fire her handlers and retire to a live of solitude before she makes an even bigger fool of herself.

[LouD]

She told ABC she was not involved in any shootout because her rifle had jammed.

On the first round? Not bloody likely, unless she ignored all her training and rode the bolt forward...

[Publius6961]

I am pretty disapointed with this little hollywood darling. She needs to sell a book, get ratings for the interview and movie and what better way to do it then to be indignant towards the fact that the military taped her rescue?

Just damn.

As for increasing ratings and book sales, I see this having the opposite effect.
I was mildly interested in her book, but now have o desire to read it whatsoever.

I wonder what parade of losers got to the little darling?
Or was she intellectually challenged the whole time?

This is the first and last time I have any desire to discuss this person.

Good luck to her.

[HairOfTheDog]

The strongest language here is not in quotes. Beware. This is a characterization of her words. The other observations and memories are her own. Other articles quoted her respect and admiration of her rescuers and those in her unit that were lost. This article wasn't interested in those.

Exerpts here... without context... without the weight of the whole story... this article is pushing an agenda that is the BBCs.

[meenie]

The original story in the BBC was pretty accurate according to what she is now saying. The Iraqi doctor is now saying that there was no sign of her being raped when she was brought to the hospital for treatment. The awarding of the bronze for her account of what she remembers insults the soldiers who earned it. The first casuality of war is the truth, I guess. Everybody has their own agenda either for covering their own mistakes or propaganda purposes.

[submarinerswife]

There was a soldier that during that ambush, took out a mortar nest and shot several Iraqis to save the lives of the "other POW's" that day. He received the SilverStar for his Audie Murphy type bravery. He is featured on 60 minutes tomorrow night. Now to me, this kid is a bonafide hero.
And he hasn't bashed the military in order to get an interview either.

[WVNan]

We also know how the alphabet networks distort interviews. Snip....snip snip....snip snip snip.

[HairOfTheDog]

She didn't want to have a public spectacle meeting because she was not ready for public display yet. She wanted a private meeting and very well may have had it. The Doctor himself understood.

[FITZ]

I think she should be given much less publicity and allowed to get on with her life. She may suffer from that Stockholm syndrome --- like Patty Hearst and identify with her keepers, she admits she's not a hero, she did nothing but get captured and injured, so we don't need to pretend she is some kind of hero.