'I'm No Hero' -Former Iraq Captive Jessica Lynch

MaconAreaOnLine ^ | 11/6/03

[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.

[Killborn]

Brave, patriotic, and modest.

God bless you PFC Jessica Lynch. Welcome home.

[lelio]

"My weapon did jam and I did not shoot, not a round, nothing.

What kind of gun? Did sand gum it up?

[MJY1288]

What bothers me about this is that it was the media that blew this all out of shape. I never remember any military spokesman detailing anything about her capture or what led up to it. I do remember them saying that it appeared dhe had been shot, but none of this stuff about RAMBO scenes or fight to the death small arms exchanges

[Last Dakotan]

What kind of gun?

One where the safety never comes off.

[Maximum Leader]

Oh man, I'll have to dig the thread out of the archives. It was a Washington Post story quoting unnamed Pentagon sources just after Lnch was rescued.

It was exactly as this article stated, she was a Rambo who fought until she ran out of ammo. When some of us on here expressed skepticism about the story, we were flamed away. Some very angry Freepers were furious that we'd call this American hero a liar. Of course, as Lynch makes clear here, she wasn't the one talking to the Washington Post.

She comes across as a very decent, classy person. I look forward to watching this interview.

[mrustow]

Apparently it was sand, but those maintenance battalions were not instructed properly on the maintenance of their weapons.

[joesnuffy]

DACOWITCH's

[ChefKeith]

Standard issuse M-16.

The tolerances are too close to work when in a sandy enviroment, even worse with the wrong lube because that just attracts MORE sand.

Other threads have discussed this in detail down to the correct type of lube (which from what I read was not supplied like it should have been)

An AK-47 will work in those conditions because of loose tolerances.

[mrustow]

I applaud her honesty. So why the Bronze Star?

[Cacophonous]

Every company has an armorer that is responsible for maintaining weapons. Maintenance company armorers are not trained any better or worse than any other.

[mrustow]

Then I don't understand why her company's weapons should have failed, while other companies' weapons functioned.

[Sloth]

I think all the POWs got Bronzes this time out. Note that hers did not have the V device for valor.

[Maximum Leader]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/883536/posts

The link to the Jessica Lynch/Rambo thread. The Washington Post article begins:

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition, U.S. officials said yesterday.

[Humal]

Does anyone know why she had special protection (Secret Service?? FBI??) on her return to the States?

[Cacophonous]

From what I understand, hers was the only one that failed (at least I haven't heard that any of the others' failed). Those things happen, and eventually odds catch up. But it's not necessarily an indication of lousy weapons maintenance.

More likely, to me, is, as someone else suggested, she never flipped the safety off.

[RatSlayer]

ChefKeith said:

"The tolerances are too close to work when in a sandy enviroment, even worse with the wrong lube because that just attracts MORE sand."

This agrees with what I have heard, that improper lubrication has been the primary cause of jamming.

I should also note that I have seen several AR15s that will fail to feed when held by the magazine. Since inexperienced shooters will often grab the magazine in a panic situation (that big magazine is an awfully tempting hand hold), this might have been another factor.

[jwalsh07]

There M16's jammed because they were full of sand. it is not the armorers job to accompany convoys and clean weapons. The armorere repairs weapons, he doesn't do routine cleaning.

The problem was training.

[jwalsh07]

Poor kid, the bastards sodomised her while she was unconscious according to news reports I heard today.

God bless her.

[Terry Mross]

When the fear takes over, and from what I've been told, it WILL take over, anyone can forget to take the safety off. A friend told me the first fire fight he was in every round he fired from his first clip hit about five feet in front of him. Adrenalin flowing!