Posted on 11/07/2003 7:31:52 AM PST by 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.
Maybe that she complains about being used by going on a primetime tv special and hawking her book. It would ring a little more true if she were not using the situation to sell books.
...yeah, what? Read the article. She me where Lynch said "The Army used me."...period. They quoted her out of context. And you sucked it in unquestionably.
...yeah, what? Read the article. Show me where Lynch said "The Army used me."...period. They quoted her out of context. And you sucked it in unquestionably.
She writes about what she does know. She has a valid point of view on this, the most important one. And ~what happended~ is still happening to her. Are you telling me you would not want to talk if this were you and you had all this crap flying around about you?
Too many posters on this thread are not making a distinction between the brave soldiers who serve our country, and the military bureacrats who most likely pushed this story. I don't see her comments as disloyal at all.
What do you expect from a future Democrat politician? She is just getting started.
Because they have Robert Byrd as their Senator.
So you keep telling me. So perhaps you could share with me your knowledge that the quote attributed to her is false?
Can't believe no one has picked up on this yet. You all know who Rick Bragg is. NY Times...suspended reporter....bylines...etc.
We still have to live through her wedding next June. I wonder if she'll ask why the media had to film it.
The right has been trashing her nonstop since April, so why would she want to be a Republican?
[Lynch] 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.
And you called me angry. :-D You need a nap, or at least a snack.
She has no support among Democrats. She admires soldiers.
Some probably were; so what? Why don't you try a search on evolution/creationism and see if you can find several posts.
I'm not bashing Jessica, we owe her a debt of thanks and gratitude for her service; same as all the other service people who serve so well. Unfortunately, some are captured and killed and we can never compensate them or their families adequately for that experience but we can try. At the same time, hero recognition should be proportional to the events. Broadly defined, they are all heros; but should someone that is captured, with no heroic battle action, and then successfully rescued, receive the same accolades as someone who risked their life to save commrades or to rescue captives?
As I said, I thank her for her service, I'm sorry that she was captured and glad that she was rescued and wish her a long, happy life. But, I have heard enough about whose fault it was and whether or not she should have been in a postion to be captured in the first place.
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