Posted on 11/06/2003 7:29:27 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Army private Jessica Lynch, the badly injured U.S. prisoner of war who was rescued from a hospital during the Iraq war, said in her first interview that she is not the Rambo-style hero she has been portrayed as by American media and the military. Lynch, 20, told ABC network reporter Diane Sawyer in an interview to be aired on "Primetime" next Tuesday, the same day as her authorized biography is published, that she never fired a shot when ambushed. "My weapon did jam and I did not shoot, not a round, nothing. I don't look at myself as a hero. My heroes are Lori (Private Lori Piestewa, who died in the ambush of Lynch's convoy), the soldiers that are over there, the soldiers that were in the car beside me, the ones that came and rescued me," she said. Lynch is still recovering from injuries to her spine, and cannot walk without crutches. She has no feeling in her left foot and has other medical problems. Lynch, who became a symbol of U.S. heroism during the early stages of the war on Iraq, insisted, "I am just a survivor." In an advance, partial copy of the ABC interview, Lynch said she was hurt that other people had "made up stories" about her fiercely fighting her Iraqi captors. "I'm not about to take credit for something that I didn't do... It hurt in a way that people would make up stories that they had no truth about. Only I would have been able to know that because the other four people on my vehicle aren't here to tell that story." 'PRAYING ON MY KNEES' Lynch, a supply clerk who was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War medal, received an honorable military discharge from the Army in August due to her injuries, allowing her to sign the $1 million book deal. U.S. commandos filmed their rescue of Lynch from the Iraqi hospital on April 1, nine days after she was captured at the onset of the war. An early media report quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying she "fought to the death" before being captured and suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The Army later concluded she was hurt when her Humvee crashed into another vehicle in the convoy after being hit by a grenade. Sawyer asked Lynch if she went down "like, somebody said, Rambo?" "No, I went down praying on my knees," she replied. Lynch said she was thankful to the soldiers who rescued her but said she was troubled by the way the incident was portrayed by the military. "It does (bother me) that they used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff ... yeah, it's wrong ... I don't know why they filmed it, or why they say the things they, you know." The full details of her story have yet to come out since Lynch said she suffered a loss of memory after her capture. ABC said that in the interview she discussed for the first time a report she was sexually assaulted during her captivity, saying that she did not remember such an incident but adding, "even just the thinking about that, that's too painful." According to Sawyer, the book "I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," cites a medical record as indicating that Lynch was raped. The young private was captured by Iraqis on March 23 near Nassiriya. Eleven other U.S. soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the incident.
I also agree that Pvt. Lynch is a class act and she is very lucky to be alive, and I'm glad she is telling the truth, but I never heard a single military spokesman ever describe her capture as a wild firefight or a scene from a Rambo movie. The Press blew this out of proportion and they should take the blame, not Jessica Lynch nor the Military
Mea culpa.
I recommend bourbon for that particular affliction.
The liberal media has about as much good sense as a chicken running around after its head is cut off.
There are decent people actually mad at this girl because they attribute to HER the lying brouhaha the media created.
Better, very cool.
M16A2. Eugene Stoner's Mattel rifle needs constant maintenance and upkeep, particularly in sandy environments.
Poor kid, the bastards sodomised her while she was unconscious according to news reports I heard today.And what about the bastards who allowed this poor kid to be in a combat zone in the first place?
Since time immemorial, men have gone to war to fight for their women and children.
It is a sick culture when "men" send women to war to fight for them.
Unless our Commander in Chief takes a stand against this madness, I fear for the future of our free republic.
Basic maintenance--i.e., keeping the damn thing clean and properly lubricated--is done by the soldier carrying the weapon, not the armorer.
A question that's gotta be asked is: Where did the media get that 'lying brouhaha' information?
Me neither. And that's because no military spokesman ever did.
IIRC, it was the WaPo that published the first hyped-up piece on Lynch, and it was based on their "sources."
Must not have been any goats, camels or little boys around, so the ragheads attacked HER!
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