Posted on 11/05/2003 9:51:58 PM PST by saquin
BY PAUL D. COLFORD AND CORKY SIEMASZKO New York Daily News
NEW YORK - (KRT) - Jessica Lynch was brutally raped by her Iraqi captors.
That is the shocking revelation in "I Am a Soldier, Too," the much-anticipated authorized biography of the former POW. A copy of the book was obtained by The New York Daily News on Wednesday.
Best selling author Rick Bragg tells Lynch's story for her, often using her own words. Thankfully, she has no memory of the rape.
"Jessi lost three hours," Bragg wrote. "She lost them in the snapping bones, in the crash of the Humvee, in the torment her enemies inflicted on her after she was pulled from it."
The scars on Lynch's battered body and the medical records indicate she was anally raped, and "fill in the blanks of what Jessi lived through on the morning of March 23, 2003," Bragg wrote.
"The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead."
The 207-page saga published by Knopf hits bookstores Tuesday, which is Veterans Day.
In it, America's most famous G.I. - for the first time since her dramatic rescue on April 1 - dispels some of the mystery surrounding the blistering battle that resulted in her capture, her treatment by the Iraqis in a hellish hospital, and the searing pain that is her constant companion.
A 20-year-old from the hollers of West Virginia, Lynch knew what could happen to her if she fell into Iraqi hands. A female pilot captured in the Persian Gulf War had been raped.
"Everyone knew what Saddam's soldiers did to women captives," Bragg wrote. "In (Lynch's) worst nightmares, she stood alone in that desert as the trucks of her own army pulled away."
The nightmare became real in the dusty and dangerous city of Nassiriyah, when Lynch's unit got separated from its convoy and was ambushed by Iraqi fighters.
Bragg, a former New York Times reporter who quit after admitting he had a legman do some of his reporting, gives a cinematic account of the desperate firefight that mortally wounded Lynch's Army buddy, Lori Piestewa, and 10 others in the convoy.
But while early Pentagon reports suggested the young Army private heroically resisted capture, Lynch told Bragg she never fired a shot, because her M-16 jammed. "I didn't kill nobody," she said.
Lynch also denied in the book claims by Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief, who said he saw one of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein's black-clad Fedayeen slap her as she lay in her hospital bed.
"Unless they hit me while I was asleep - and why do that?" she said.
Lynch described to Bragg how Iraqi doctors were branded "traitors" by Saddam's henchmen for helping her and how they tried to treat her wounds in a shattered hospital where painkillers were scarce. She said one nurse tried to ease her agony by singing to her.
"It was a pretty song," she said. "And I would sleep."
Lynch also confirmed reports in the book that Iraqi doctors tried to sneak her to safety in an ambulance but turned back when wary U.S. soldiers opened fire on them.
But eight days after she was captured, Lynch found herself face to face with a savior.
"Jessica Lynch," he said, "we're United States soldiers and we're here to protect you and take you home."
"I'm an American soldier, too," Lynch replied.
Lynch's painful recovery from an ordeal that left her barely able to walk, unable to use her right hand or control her bowels is vividly described. So, too, is Lynch's discomfort with the spotlight - and with being called a hero.
"I'm just a survivor," she said in the book. "When I think about it, it keeps me awake at night."
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© 2003, New York Daily News.
I guess you don't agree that the press is liberal.
What is your goal, your purpose? To elicit praise for Jessica? I think Jessica has a tremendous spirit, but if we just praise her spirit and bravery while carrying on and changing nothing, more troops will suffer like she did. If you know about the weapons failures, et. al. fine. I have no beef with you.
Of course most of the bashers wanted her court-martialled since her weapon jammed.
But please remember, bashing Lynch's superiors is not bashing Lynch. Bashing her circumstances, is not bashing lynch.
Yeah, I went back over your posts and you're not really a basher. I had assumed you were since Chief Joe was trying to blame her for her vehicle breaking down and he said that because of Lynch, several people died (that was definitely bashing and if you agree with him on this I'll go back to considering you a basher), and you criticized me for my views on power steering in that argument. Then you immediately said they kept their weapons class 4 or something. It seemed you were focussing on the negative. I would've thought that if you were really interested in truth that you would've found fault with Chief Joe blaming her for many deaths on no evidence but instead you found fault with me on some obscure post on power-steering. I judge people by their priorities.
In most cases it does, actually. A person that believes in God, self-responsibility, truth, fairness, and other conservative values is usually a good person.
I hope you're not being sarcastic.
You're condescending toward me, that I can't judge character, etc. Back at ya.
Jessica Lynch's humvee got hit by an RPG, and crashed into another vehicle. Everybody else in her vehicle died. She suffered massive injuries to her legs and back. She tried to fire her m16, but was unable to do so. She prayed, and in excruciating pain, she blacked out. She woke up in the hospital, and was treated adequately while she was conscious. She was rescued.
That is the only facts we have. She does not recall being raped, but the medical report says she was. She does not recall meeting the Iraqi lawyer. He says he witnessed her being abused. Everything else is FUD.
She very well could have been tortured and raped while passed out, put on opiates for the pain. This Iraqi lawyer got a book deal, and a movie deal out of his connection to her, but she didn't remember ever seeing him. She could have been suffering PTSD and blacked it out, or he could be lying. I doubt we will ever know the truth of what happened.
He must've seen her if he went to the Army and told them where she was.
Why do you think the world hinges on my opinion about how the army funtions? I stated to you plainly: I've never served, since I've never served, I leave the generaling to the generals and I listen to them if they otherwise show good traits. What else am I supposed to do? I can't take a tour of the barracks and see what's wrong or right, I can't do studies to see if support units should spend their time doing other things other than doing their primary function. I have an my opinions about these things but I don't wish to discuss them because I've never served. The only reason I got into these discussions is because Terrell insists on taking an argument we got into about it on another thread, after I told him I didn't want to opine on it, he kept insisting we talk about it, to this thread. Now I have you telling me that what is up is down and what is down is up and I shouldn't trust my discernment anymore on anything. lol Sorry, but I'm going to keep going the way I have been and believe it or not, if I'm wrong about a couple things in my life, the world will go on. I'm usually not wrong though.
How do you figure? Becuase I disagree that all conservatives are wonderful people?
I said most are, not all are. Why is my opinion about army structure so important?
I think Lynch feeds into their insecurities so much that they couldn't sympathize with her no matter what happened to her.
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