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.
THAT is the first post in this thread? That's ALL you can think of? You read an article about the HELL this young woman went through and THAT is what you're worried about? How about you go to the Baath Party House and get the Jessica Special and see how much you want to meet another Iraqi when you get back?
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.
This is bad. It confirms something I had heard from someone at Landstuhl, that Jessica had to have a partial colostomy because her rectum and intestines were severly burned, likely due to rape with a hot iron. I had been hoping that they were wrong, especially since that was the least terrible part of the story.
I guess there is no thread for the chinook shoot down. Maybe ForGod'sSake should post one, for god's sake.
Well, I'm off to find a thread about apples so I can post comments about oranges in it.
What is that suppose to mean?
Most of what this article says about the ambiguity in how she sustained her injuries is BS. The official report unequivocally states she received these injuries, other then those from the rape, from the crash she in which she was involved. She was also knocked unconscious in this crash. It's sad to hear what happened to her afterwards, but it's clear to me from the article they're putting in this ambiguity to play up her "heroism" angle.
It sound as though prior to possible combat operations you should be required to load up all your magazines and fire your weapon as though you were in a fire fight to see how your weapon is going to function. This might solve the problem, along with consistant weapons maintenence.
This occurs in combat arms units, but rarely in combat support units.
Prior to my retirement the basic combat load for a support soldier was 100 rounds. Any test firing would come from that supply, as resupply was based on expected expenditure – and support troops are not expected to expend any ammo.
When my company in Viet Nam – an Army boat company – experienced heavy combat during Tet ’68 in the far North of I Corp we had to scrounge ammo from the Navy.
This is another part of this story that's bothered me because it again illustrates why she shouldn't have been there in the first place. Many people think women can be placed in these positions in the military because anybody can drive a truck, right? But these support troops are not just driving trucks: they're supporting units. It take tremendous amount of physical strength and stamina to replenish and supply these units while still maintaining your vehicles. Jessie failed to take care of her vehicle during this mission.
We've all seen the news footage from war torn third world countries with little boys carrying rifles bigger than they are. I guess that will be the next step for us.
I feel for Jessie for what she suffered after she was captured, but this does not mean I'm going to give her a pass based on her performance on the battlefield. I'm concerned about doing what's right to put the best unit on the field to accomplish the mission, not feeding the adventurous fantasies of women. I don't blame Jessie for being put in the situation, but we need to take note of what happened here and make the necessary changes henceforth.
Very true.
you don't answer that question, but you do bring up some other interesting questions.
Some snips from http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/7/18/162538.shtml:
At least one journalist sought access to enlisted women like those who were ambushed in the ill-fated support unit in Iraq. Public affairs officials denied that request, and allowed the reporter to interview only female pilots on camera. Most enlisted women, who outnumber female officers by more than five to one, are known to oppose mandatory assignments in combat units on the same basis as men.
What is the purpose of what appears to be unusually restrictive management of news regarding enlisted women in combat?
The family of Spec. Shoshana Johnson said that she had joined the Army to learn cooking skills in a support unit, adding that she had never expected to wind up in a unit exposed to combat violence and capture in the early days of a full-scale war.
The situation probably would not have happened were it not for Defense Department rules ordered by the Clinton Administration in 1994, which now require women to serve in support units involving a "substantial risk of capture." Are recruiters informing young female prospects that they could be assigned in or near previously all-male units that involve a substantial and unequal risk of combat violence and capture in a future war?
If Defense Department officials cannot bring themselves to tell young women that the rules and their "conditions of employment" have changed, perhaps they should reconsider and revise current policies on women in combat.
Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness. The Center's web site it at http://www.cmrlink.org.
That's terrible for them to do to any POW. Saddam's thugs were there for a reason, that's for sure.
They complain about the attention she gets and yet they're the ones that give the most attention in the first place due to their petty agendas.
Well, I'm off to find a thread about apples so I can post comments about oranges in it.
Have to change the subject don't they?
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