Jessica: Army used me

NY Daily News ^ | November 7, 2003 | CORKY SIEMASZKO

[presidio9]

Jessica Lynch has angrily accused the Pentagon of using her for propaganda. The 20-year-old private, portrayed as a female Rambo after she was captured by Iraqis during a blazing gun battle, then freed by American troops, told ABC there was no reason for her rescue from an Iraqi hospital to be filmed.

"They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff," Lynch said in an interview with Diane Sawyer that airs Tuesday, Veterans Day.

"Yeah, it's wrong," Lynch said. "I don't know why they filmed it, or why they say the things" they said.

That footage of U.S. commandos wheeling a grimacing Lynch to a waiting chopper was among the most dramatic of the war - and helped cement her image as a female warrior.

But Lynch said the true heroes were the soldiers who saved her.

"They're the ones that came in to rescue me," she said. "I'm so thankful that they did what they did; they risked their lives. ... They are my heroes."

She also disputed the Pentagon's early version of her capture by Iraqis, which suggested she had heroically defended herself - going down only after firing all her ammo.

Lynch says her M-16 jammed and she never got off a shot.

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

There was no immediate response from the Pentagon, which awarded Lynch a Purple Heart for her injuries.

ABC released excerpts of Lynch's first television interview yesterday after the Daily News obtained a copy of Lynch's authorized biography and revealed its most shocking secret - that she was raped by her Iraqi captors.

She has no memory of the rape. The book says there was a three-hour gap after her capture, a blank in her mind, during which she was assaulted.

"Even just the thinking about that, that's too painful," she told Sawyer.

Lynch said she was awakened from her stupor by searing pain.

"I seriously thought I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life," she told ABC.

The young soldier said at first she did not trust her Iraqi doctors - and tried to stifle her screams.

Trapped in her bed, Lynch said, she tried to tame her terror by thinking about her family, her fiancé, Sgt. Ruben Contreras, and her G.I. buddy Lori Piestewa.

After she was rescued, she learned Piestewa was dead.

In her book, "I Am a Soldier, Too," author Rick Bragg says the scars on Lynch's body and medical records indicate she was anally raped, and tells the reader to "fill in the blanks of what Jessi lived through on the morning of March 23, 2003."

Lynch says her unit was sent into battle armed only with M-16s - no grenades or anti-tank weapons - and in lumbering trucks that could not keep up with the convoy barreling toward Baghdad.

When the trucks in her unit tried to catch up, radio contact with the main convoy was lost - and so were they.

She was filled with foreboding.

"Jessi's fear of being left behind was beginning to come true," Bragg wrote.

[RiflemanSharpe]

What I am about to write will not set well with some, so I am sorry. But, like it or not soldiers are assets, expendable asets. I knew this when I enlisted when I was 17. The military will use you for whatever purpose it sees fit. You have to know that when you take the oath.

[mrsmith]

Well, I think everyone's relying too heavily on this second hand report of an interview by Diane Sawyer.

Don't you think the "used" quote was especially and determinedly elicited by Diane?

At worst she is a babe in the woods in the media IMO. (I'd rather hear Medal of Honor type stories about real heroics- but people with other views buy books too.)

[Cicero]

Keep in mind that the NY Daily News is one of the media's prime liars. They are spinning Jessica Lynch's comments and taking them out of context to make her and Bush look bad. They want to discredit the military and the Iraqi war. They are in Hillary's pocket.

[spunkets]

"Lynch says her unit was sent into battle armed only with M-16s - no grenades or anti-tank weapons - and in lumbering trucks that could not keep up with the convoy barreling toward Baghdad."

If she did say this she's dense. Her mission was logistics, or maintenance, not combat.

[mass55th]

""Yeah, it's wrong," Lynch said. "I don't know why they filmed it, or why they say the things" they said."

This girl needs to watch a news channel other than CNN. When the news came about her being rescued and the Fox correspondent was interviewing her brother or father, they said they had been watching the coverage on CNN.

[independentmind]

Thank you, Jessica Lynch for your service and for being so honest and humble. I am sorry that people on all sides of this story want to use for their personal gain, or to trash you for not being what they want you to be, and for not saying what they want you to say. You are indeed brave, and you are in my prayers.

My sentiments exactly.

The Pentagon and the Press most definitely DID use her.

Why do young girls from poor towns in West Virginia have to join the Army to provide for themselves?

[spunkets]

"She also disputed the Pentagon's early version of her capture by Iraqis, which suggested she had heroically defended herself - going down only after firing all her ammo."

The folks in the Pentagon hope, that since their soldiers are trained and encouraged to do so, they will fight. Their assumption wasn't any good in this case.

[#3Fan]

It amazes me that all her bashers have been screaming for her to deny the story and say she isn't a hero since April, and when she finally does that, they accuse her of speaking against the military! You're right, their only purpose is to bash her. I think because they feel threatened by what she has sacrificed for her country.

[Issaquahking]

Funny how when a normal person makes normal observations on a thread that we have all kinds of armchair quarterbacks come out to attack. I consider where the girl was from, and what has happened to the woman since she enlisted. No matter what she does or says, somebody is going to be there to attack her story - good, bad, or indifferent.

Bet she 'll be happy to have all this behind her in a year or two. The news will find something else to run into the ground waiting for the next story.

[WackyKat]

With all due respect and gratitude for your service, PFC Lynch, shut the h*$% up

If you can't stand to hear the truth- that the military wildly exaggerated this incident for propaganda purposes- then I suggest you cover your ears and say- nananananananana- that should block it out.

Some people are happy to be told comfortable lies, I'm not

Jessica Lynch should be given credit for her honestly and humility.

[Coop]

I thought you left.

Don't you see that by telling the truth she has knowingly lost out on fame and a huge fortune?

You keep harping on "truth." She publicly insulted the Army by saying the Army used her, and that it was wrong. She needs to shut her mouth.

[Terry Mross]

The Pentagon had no idea what had happened when she was captured. So, they couldn't come out and say, "We don't know that she went down fighting so we ask the media to stop saying this until we find out for sure." Now that would have gone over like a turd in a punch bowl.

I'm starting to like this girl. At least she's setting the record straight. I do doubt the gun jamming story. But I wasn't there. In her shoes I might have tried to climb under the damn dash board and hide rather than shoot and I doubt if I'd ever admit that. If you're outnumbered and there's no way to win maybe it would be smart to surrender and live to fight another day. Remember, nobody ever won a war by dieing for their country.

[lelio]

Such an ungrateful idiot. I have lost respect for her.

And you believe everything you see on TV? How do you know this wasn't twisted around and cutup so that it looks that way? Have you read her book? You're making assumptions about a person that you only know from a brief TV appearance.

[Stewart_B]

You nailed it crusader. She has done extremely well under the circumstances. Her parents have a lot to be proud of in that young girl.

[J.E.Ray]

Weren't people here touting her for the Congressional Medal of Honor in April? I did a searc and found several posts to that end.

[#3Fan]

You keep harping on "truth." She publicly insulted the Army by saying the Army used her, and that it was wrong. She needs to shut her mouth.

Oh please. She was led into that by a liberal reporter, Diane Sawyer, on the most liberal network there is, ABC. There's no doubt they're doing everything they can to put down Lynch and the Army. They're covering for the Washington Post.

[lelio]

So what were they supposed to do? Demand the media shut up about it? I don't think they have that power.

You're right, they don't. But did they make one bit of effort to say "Er, it didn't really happen that way." So I can understand why people on FR are basher her for telling the truth as they want to believe the good stories the media tells them.

[wku man]

"I see that on FR, there really is no way for this girl to be right. FR can bash her no matter what she does."

Why do you still insist I'm "bashing" her? I'm bashing The Lie, as are most FReepers who you don't agree with. I say now, as I've always said, that if she didn't tell the truth, that if she continued to maintain her silence on the events of that night, that if she quietly went along with The Lie, then she would have no sense of decency. But that's evidently not the case, is it?

Therefore, do you still think I'm "bashing" Lynch because I call the Lynch Lie what it is...a crock of horse**it that is potentially hazardous to our national security? Am I "bashing" her because I have seen through The Lie from the beginning, and refuse to swallow it whole? Is it "bashing" her, the other women in the military, and the military as a whole to not accept whatever the Pentagon spews forth, in a knee-jerk fashion? No, it's not...in fact, to do so is to do all servicemembers a grave disservice, and to turn your back on the truth. In short, to do so is to be a stool pigeon.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Barnacle]

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

Remember - Pointy part toward muzzle.

[pepsionice]

The real story here is that your enemies will basically rape your female GIs...and there is nothing you can do to stop it. I don't want to stand in the way of females achieving their status as soldiers...but everyone of them ought to be brought into a conference room....told that rape happens in the battlefield...and then give them a chance to get out if they chose to do so.