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.
Well of course you don't go with the ones that have bad traits. I went out of my way to point that out.
What an join the NEA and be a liberal?
I understand that fact quite clearly. Well, perhaps the 20-year-old private will go back to school and learn not to use a double negative when she speaks on national TV. I can already foresee Hillary Rotten blaming George W. Bush for the state of Virginia schooling system,and you know that's coming.
I'm an opportunist. I had a chance to work for money and I took it. I'm such an evil captitalist.
Sheesh, isn't there anything you guys aren't going to bash her over?
You've already accused her of everything else, what's next, she's going to reveal herself as the antiChrist?
Are you talking about Hillary? If you are, there's nothing going on in the world today, that I can't link to her behavior as Co-President w/ her own West Wing office (1st time ever done) for 8 long years. But, if you're referring to Ms. Lynch, actually I've never commented on any thread regarding her before, and if you think that was bashing her,(which I find laughable, no offense mind you) you'd know that was nothing compared to what I've written about Ms. Rotten. (Hilarious LOL) Effective speech is important when you're on TV, wouldn't you agree? Ponder the millions of kids who are going to hear that interview, and hear her say "I didn't kill nobody". I'll bet you weren't taught to speak like that.
Lynch.
If you are, there's nothing going on in the world today, that I can't link to her behavior as Co-President w/ her own West Wing office (1st time ever done) for 8 long years. But, if you're referring to Ms. Lynch, actually I've never commented on any thread regarding her before, and if you think that was bashing her,(which I find laughable, no offense mind you) you'd know that was nothing compared to what I've written about Ms. Rotten. (Hilarious LOL) Effective speech is important when you're on TV, wouldn't you agree? Ponder the millions of kids who are going to hear that interview, and hear her say "I didn't kill nobody". I'll bet you weren't taught to speak like that.
Born and raised in southern Illinois, I speak true American. Lots of "Ain't got no", and stuff like that, and proud of it, because it proves our practical and efficient nature.
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