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.
What myth? You're creating a problem where none exists. We all know that the Washington Post was mistaken and we have for months.
You make it sound as if hers was the only weapon that malfunctioned and have this whole thread.
Just like they do all liberal myths.
Your post #16: "Hers was the only one that failed". That is not true.
This story is only months old. We've known for months the Washington Post was mistaken.
But the liberal media will continue to promote this myth, Washington - also mostly liberal - will accept, promote and eventually convince themselves it's true, and use it.
Oh bull. Who is still saying that Lynch killed nine Iraqis? Yes, there are many media conspiracies, but this isn't one of them, it's too easy to be proven wrong. The media is more subtle than that.
Again, I'm not picking on her. All I've said is what PVT Lynch herself said: she never got a shot off, whether because of a faulty weapon (as you said, individual weapons maintenance is the individual soldier's responsibility), or because of lousy luck. That's also not the armorer's fault, and not a fault of his training.
It's been going on for 40 years, why've you never complained before?
You been in a cave? That's been the main story for several months, that several weapons jammed.
You knew that though, because you've read all my responses on this entire thread. Again, I'm not picking on her. All I've said is what PVT Lynch herself said: she never got a shot off, whether because of a faulty weapon (as you said, individual weapons maintenance is the individual soldier's responsibility),...
I never said that, others may have.
or because of lousy luck. That's also not the armorer's fault, and not a fault of his training.
Again this is a support unit. They don't have time to sit around all day and take their weapons apart and put them back together. Maybe they need to make time, I don't know, depends on what the Army finds more important.
I stand by my prediction. The brave actions of PFC Lynch will be used as justification for keeping women in units that could be be expected to be in harm's way (CS), and possibly even expanding their roles. You can bury your head in the sand if you like, and ignore all liberal precendence; just remember this conversation.
Pfc. Lynch didn't create the policy. She simply took advantage of an opportunity to both serve her country and at the same time get, by so doing, to make some benifits available to herself so she could continue her education after mustering out, as I recall reading. While it may have been wrong for the media to "play her service and situation up" it, in my eyes has been wrong for so many to seemingly attack her as the symbol for the policy they disagree with. She, the person, deserves much better.
That's all.
I pray she will recover quickly from her injuries and she will be able to put her nightmares behind her.
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