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.
Speaking of which, this article wasn't sourced from one of the majors either. Wondering if they have picked up the story?
FGS
What is that suppose to mean?
Come to think about it .. there are a few other sentences that do not make sense
Exactly.
Har! Could have been some of the ones I qualified on in the late 60's. I never had a problem with a jam, but only qualified annually(best I recall). Don't remember anybody else having a problem either, but one doesn't pay that much attention to the rest of the guys when your on the line.
FGS
Yeah, I went bact to the top to took a look and noticed that. Looks like he got a jump on the big boys. Will be interesting to see what the majors do with it.
FGS
Good call, you are the only one. Reality sucks, doesn't it?
If it's not interesting, why are you posting on this thread? The fact that you are posting on this thread is proof that her story is interesting enough to report on. The market rules what's reported.
I'll buy ya a ticket to Bag Dead and when ya come back ya can tell us all how much easier bein' raped was than havin' a baby.
You Wrote...
"No, the lesson that needs to be learned from this is to use nukes to clear out Islamic cities. Until Islam is obliterated, there can be no peace or safety."
And I Agree with You 100%!
WE...The US should have Nuked these Islama-Nazi Bastards.
That would have sent a Really Big Message: "DON'T MESS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" to the rest of the Islamic Demonic...UNcivilized, Barbaric PAGANS once and for All.
PRAYERS of Healing and Comfort for Jessica Lynch, she is so Blessed to be alive.
Jessica Lynch is an American, a Soldier and a HERO!
May GOD BLESS and PROTECT ALL of our TROOPS working hard and giving their ALL to keep US SAFE and FREE!
In other words, she had that nightmare, being stranded in Iraq, before the war started. You have to reread it to see what the writer is getting at. The article does a poor job of excerpting.
Flashback to July 13, 2003: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/945392/posts
"U.S. military intelligence officers believe Lynch's injuries were inflicted after she and other survivors surrendered. "This poor girl," said one Special Forces captain involved in her rescue. He's among three military intelligence sources who say she was standing when she surrendered, and had minor injuries at most. That was confirmed by Mehdi Kafaji, the Iraqi orthopedic surgeon who was in charge of her treatment at the hospital in An Nasiriya."
Iraqis abuse POWs and use the Geneva Conventions for toilet paper. Not news to anyone who pays attention. They did the same to POWs, male and female in Gulf War 1.
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