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.

[#3Fan]

This is sad. I hate to disrespect someone who has served our country, but I just don't get where Jessica is coming from. She said by filming her rescue the military was "using her", but the book deal and movie is not??? You can't have it both ways just because money is involved. I just don't get it.

It's liberal propaganda. The title is a quote out of context. It's a lie.

[spunkets]

"I just don't get it."

She doesn't either. Maybe someday she will.

[Hillary's Folly]

"Where've you been?" This is the first Jessica Lynch thread I've ever been on. I haven't followed her story since the day she came home until I read the story last week about not meeting with the Iraqi guy who helped (or didn't help) her. I'm not emotionally involved in it.

[B4Ranch]

Just as expected.

[Donaeus]

Sawyer and the other America-hating lefties are perhaps twisting Jessica's words against her, selectively editing what she says and taking statements out of context.

Knowing the media is famous for perverting information to serve their own purposes, how accurate do you really think this story is? Couldn't they be tilting it the way they are because they know it will fuel those who are anti-war (already on their side) and sow discord among us who are pro-war, pro-Bush and pro-America (the ones they want to win over)? The greatest weapon the Left can use against us is doubt and it's seed is so easily planted. Don't let that seed take root and bring dissent within our ranks--now is the time we must be stronger than ever. Our troops are counting on us. Our President is counting on us. Our nation is counting on us.

I don't mean to let Jessica completely off the hook by saying what I said. I do think she needs to be very careful what she says to keep from giving the media any more fuel than than they already have. That being said, she has suffered tremendous physical, mental and emotional trauma that will take years for her to recover from and deserves to be cut some slack. She may have never intended to fight but when she found out she was being deployed to Iraq she didn't try to get out of it, she went and the job the best she knew how. I have a friend whose sister enlisted and when she found out they were sending her to Iraq immediately called her mother whining, "They're making me go to Iraq!" Her mother matter-of-factly replied, "You're the one who signed up. You knew the risks when you joined."

[#3Fan]

I find it important to defend good people against slander. There's been nothing but slander against her from the nutty part of the right since day 1.

[#3Fan]

Exactly. I think many here know it's bull but are willingly supporting it because of the insecurities Lynch draws out of them.

[mass55th]

"Read the article. She said she was used for morale."

I don't see where she said that in the article. She says the video was used as a way "to symbolize all this stuff." Symbolize what stuff? The war? The rescue? It's not clear in the article, but the Daily News is spreading the word that she's angry at the Pentagon for using her for propaganda purposes. Whether the filming of her rescue was for morale, propaganda, or training purposes (probably all three), I still think she is wrong to criticize the military for doing so.

[walford]

[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.]

http://www.aim.org/publications/briefings/2003/may01.html

"...Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly says the American people have not been getting the “full truth” about this issue, adding that female soldiers do not have an “equal opportunity to survive” as combatants. Syndicated columnist Mona Charen has referred to a woman’s “inherent delicacy” in being subject to sexual abuse if captured.

In answer, the media have latched on to former Desert Storm POW Army Maj. [now Colonel] Rhonda Cornum. Soon after her 1992 release, she told Newsweek that given that such victimization does not prevent escape, threaten life and limb and is not “excruciating… then it isn’t important.” In her numerous recent interviews, Col. Cornum has repeatedly stressed that sexual assault is ‘just another thing they can do to you’ in captivity and that men are at similar risk.

What is glossed over is the fact that what is the exception with respect to men is the rule for women. No male Coalition POWs captured by Saddam’s troops were subject to sexual abuse. In contrast, Col. Cornum and the other female Desert Storm POW, Army Spec. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy were indeed singled out for such treatment. That’s a zero percent vs. a one hundred percent ratio. A similar proportion exists for the risk of pregnancy consequent to rape. A woman who finds herself carrying a rapist’s child faces an agonizing decision, especially if abortion is a deep moral issue.

Initial accounts relate that Jessica Lynch kept shooting until she was out of ammo. She reportedly didn’t want to be taken alive. Why? Perhaps if male soldiers were at the same risk of the treatment Lynch was probably contemplating, they would be more likely to do the same..."

To that I would echo earlier posts on this thread saying that Jessica Lynch wouldn't have known her weapon had jammed unless she attempted to fire it.

Saddam's armed forces actually had men whose job title was something to the effect of 'taker of women's virtue.' That is, there were designated rapists on the payroll.

Thus:

"...Preparing women for combat can be appropriate, but only for Homeland Defense. In this Age of Terrorism, police officers of both sexes should receive robust training and be properly equipped for major urban warfare. The State National Guard units should also be similarly prepared. It is most appropriate that the Coast Guard has females amongst their crews. If a large-scale conflict erupts, the men deployed abroad could take comfort in knowing that the women left behind are capable of defending hearth and home rather than sitting there helpless.

Despite the way the debate is being framed in the Media, most of us who object to women serving in combat do not do so because of any doubts of their resilience, competence and/or bravery. As the details become known of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch’s gallantry [remember, this was written in May] in the face of the enemy, many will have their confidence in women’s courage and capabilities only reinforced.

It is unfortunate to have to articulate this, but women are inherently different than men. They are part of what soldiers should be fighting to protect. Males are biologically expendable in comparison to females. Land can be recovered if lost, buildings can be reconstructed if destroyed – mothers (and future mothers) cannot.

Army Spec. Shoshana Johnson’s kids will get their mom back, Pfc. Lori Piestewa’s toddlers will not. For those at home, the loss of a mother is exponentially more significant (especially to a child) than that of a father. This fact is universally and viscerally understood by all but the most stubborn of Utopians..."

[LibWhacker]

Eyespy . . . Check your mailbox! Tx.

[#3Fan]

I don't see where she said that in the article. She says the video was used as a way "to symbolize all this stuff."

Good gosh, everything has to be laid out in fine detail for you. What do you think I meant by "morale"?

Symbolize what stuff? The war? The rescue? It's not clear in the article,...

Oh boy. She was speaking of morale.

...but the Daily News is spreading the word that she's angry at the Pentagon for using her for propaganda purposes. Whether the filming of her rescue was for morale, propaganda, or training purposes (probably all three), I still think she is wrong to criticize the military for doing so.

This same body of the article was posted 4 times last night, and there was no anger by you guys. It gets posted today with a different headline and you guys go ballistic. That tells me that the title is bull and made to show some kind of "anger" by Lynch toward the military. She is not angry at the military. She is hurt that half the nation (composed of you people) dislike her because of what was said by the Washington Post. And if it was me, I'd take out an ad ala Johnny Cash to those criticizing her, but I know she won't do that.

[bluejean]

Sounds like Lynch is discovering there's a lot more money to be made by conforming to politically correct views of the war, the military, etc., to me. Heck, Oprah will want her, Bahbra Wahwah, liberal scumwads everywhere.

I've never thought she was a 'hero', but I certainly feel badly for her suffering what she did.

[PsyOp]

They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff...

I wonder what part of her oath she didn't understand?

With all due respect and sympathy for what she went through, my respect for her is sinking rapidly.

It began when she was "too busy" to meet the Iraqi who risked his life to let us know where she was, now she's bitching because the Army made her look more heroic than she really was--the same Army that pulled out all the stops to affect her rescue. The same Army that respected her privacy when everyone was demanding details of her injuries and treatment.

What's next? An on-air hug from Michael Moore?

I've decided not to watch her show or buy her book.

[mass55th]

"Oh boy. She was speaking of morale."

Does it say that in the article? I don't see the word morale used at all. She is quoted in the article as saying that she didn't know why they filmed it. If she doesn't know why they filmed it, how can she accuse the Army of using her for...MORALE...as you claim she is. I did a search for the word morale in the whole article and my word processing program found no matches.

"That tells me that the title is bull and made to show some kind of "anger" by Lynch toward the military. She is not angry at the military."

Excuse me, but the opening paragraph of this article states "Jessica Lynch has angrily accused the Pentagon of using her for propaganda." So she's not angry?

What is it with you and Johnny Cash?

[shhrubbery!]

Jessica is in a position now to where she may as well make a buck off of the ordeal. She's going to be paying physically for the trip to hell for the rest of her life.

I agree. An article posted on Drudge mentioned that her book reports that not only was she raped, but she has lost bowel and bladder control due to the spinal injury. (I suspected as much when the first vague reports about her extensive rehabilitation came out -- now it is confirmed by Jessica herself.)

This is a very difficult disability to live with. I hope the money she gets will help her pay for whatever experimental treatments she may want to try, that insurance won't pay for.

[PsyOp]

violated by tv cameras being hooked up to Rangers so her rescue.

Those weren't TV cameras hooked up for the sole purpose of getting her rescue filmed. All spec ops use those video feed systems for command and control purposes so the folks running the show can see what the shooters do. No different than gun camera footage in fighters and bombers. It's used as an intelligence tool.

That the Army decided to release the footage, without commentary, so that the good news about her rescue can be seen by all, was not some Machiavelian propaganda move.

All of the stuff about what did or did not happen during the firefight was based on eyewitness accounts (inaccurate as they turned out to be), by those members of the convoy that escaped capture.

"In war nothing is ever as bad, or as good, as it is reported to Higher Headquarters. Any reports which emanate from a unit after dark — that is, where the knowledge has been obtained after dark — should be viewed with skepticism by the next higher unit. Reports by wounded men are always exaggerated and favor the enemy." - General George S. Patton, War As I Knew It. 1947.

"The report of no incident that happens after dark should be treated too seriously. They are always overstated." - General George S. Patton, War As I Knew It. 1947.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Thank you.

[#3Fan]

Does it say that in the article? I don't see the word morale used at all.

Good gosh. Again, everything has to be laid in black and white for you.

She is quoted in the article as saying that she didn't know why they filmed it. If she doesn't know why they filmed it, how can she accuse...

Accuse? She just said they used her for morale. I wouldn't call that an accusation.

...the Army of using her for...MORALE...as you claim she is. I did a search for the word morale in the whole article and my word processing program found no matches.

It's self-evident.

Excuse me, but the opening paragraph of this article states "Jessica Lynch has angrily accused the Pentagon of using her for propaganda." So she's not angry?

Whew boy. Let's start from the beginning. There is a liberal media. They loathe the military. They hate the war in Iraq. Therefore they hate the rescue of Lynch because it made the Army look good. Therefore they would love to put down the rescue. Therefore they put words into people's mouths or quote out of context to put a bad light on the military. Therefore just because a liberal reporter editorializes something that's subjective into an article, like the word "angrily", doesn't mean you should automatically believe it.

What is it with you and Johnny Cash?

Cash took out a full page ad flipping off those who were criticizing him. I think Lynch should do the same to your side.

[CyberCowboy777]

Do you think she is a hero?

[#3Fan]

I think those that put themselves in harm's way for others have a degree of heroism in that action, as I've said a million times. My post addressed what she said, that she wants the hero label to go those who rescued her.