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.
No. Of course not. Could this be a Jayson Blair incident? Since we know the truth now, I think the Washington Post writers need to seriously explain themselves. They ran the Rambo story. They better write a follow up now, or turn in their resignations.
From what I've been told, Muhammad gave his blessing to the rape of captives in his Haddith's. Anyone know for certain?
ABC says Jessica discussed "a report" that she was "sexually assaulted". Jessica says she has no memory of this. Who is the report from? This is too ambiguous, and it seems to be more of the same kind of innuendo that got the rumors going about Miss Lynch firing off rounds.
I admire her honesty. She could have let everybody think she was Rambo, and lived in the glory of that, but she told the truth which in some eyes might lessen her, but in my mind enhances her a great deal.
It is apparently in the book she signed a $1 million contract on.
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.
I agree... I never heard any military spokesman describe her capture as a wild shootout, like something out of Rambo. It sure seems to me that the MEDIA was responsible for these fabrications of her rescue. Yet look what Drudge is highlighting across the top of his page right now as I type this...
Jessica Lynch criticized military for exaggerating accounts of her rescue and recasting her ordeal as patriotic fable.... MORE.. Asked by ABCNEWS anchor Diane Sawyer if military's portrayal of rescue bothered her, Lynch said: 'Yeah, it does. It does that they used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. Yeah, it's wrong' ... Asked how she felt about reports of her heroism: '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 the story. So I would have been the only one able to say, Yeah, I went down shooting. But I didn't' ... Asked about claims the military exaggerated danger of the rescue mission: 'Yeah, I don't think it happened quite like that'...
Lynch said no one among the staff at the Iraqi hospital was abusive to her, "no one beat me, no one slapped me, no one, nothing … I mean, I actually had one nurse, that she would sing to me."
Either the Washington Post or the military was lying here, (Or she is lying now).
I think this merits at the minimum, an in house investigation at the Washington Compost of the two reporters. Either the reporters are Jayson Blair clones, or administration officials were lying in a most blatant manner.
There WAS a young blond soldier who fought to the death. It was a male soldier, I cannot recall his name, but there were several stories about hinm. His actions were inadvertantly attributed to Jessica Lynch, but later corrected and his heroism recognized (although never reaching the "glory" stages that Private Lynch had heaped upon her while she struggled to recover).
You are correct; she is a very classy person, indeed.
The heroism mistakenly credited to Jessica Lynch belonged, instead, to a young, blond male soldier who did die fighting as described. I cannot recall his name, but there were articles about him. In the frenzy of information gathering, someone obviously got their wires crossed and believed Lynch was the young blond soldier who fought so valiently.
The record was later corrected.
Perhaps some kind FReeper can dig up the articles for me, but there was a young, blond male soldier who died heroically, fighting to his last, from that unit and in that battle. Apparently, his actions were mistakenly credited to Jessica; however, the record was later corrected. Articles were written about him, with interviews from his parents. If I recall correctly, his first name was Steven.
There doesn't appear to have been any forethought of malice, just spotty intelligence during a frenzied period, which was later reported because it came from a bonafide source. From there, the media had a feeding frenzy.
Blair did the same damned thing, so I am not immediately blaming the administration for putting out these bad facts to be charitable. These reporters need to be accountable for the error filled report they filed.
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