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.

[spunkets]

"Of it could've jammed before firing which you refuse to mention."

Work on your memory. I told you that was impossible.

[#3Fan]

Work on your memory. I told you that was impossible.

You're wrong. Better men than you have said so.

[NYCVirago]

Actually she has been on TV more than Lynch and does have a book deal I think.

I don't think so.

[philetus]

It's for the money!

[185JHP]

We don't know what this "venting" is about. It may not be the filming that caused her apparent ire, but something else that has happened. Could be something the Army did or didn't do. Could be something her family provoked.

[#3Fan]

I don't think so.

Yep.

[NYCVirago]

Evidence, please? There's nothing on the web about this woman having a book deal. As for her getting more tv coverage than Jessica Lynch, most people don't even know the woman's name, while Jessica Lynch is famous.

[honeygrl]

What is it with you and calling everyone angry? It must be depressing to think everyone you converse with is constantly angry.

[NYCVirago]

I don't know who suffered more but I do think all the POWs should've been welcomed back as equals and not with one being in the spotlight over all the others.

Good point.

[#3Fan]

Evidence, please? There's nothing on the web about this woman having a book deal. As for her getting more tv coverage than Jessica Lynch, most people don't even know the woman's name, while Jessica Lynch is famous.

I think she has a book deal and I didn't say she had more coverage, I said that she's been on TV more.

[#3Fan]

What is it with you and calling everyone angry? It must be depressing to think everyone you converse with is constantly angry.

People that nitpick and call names are angry people.

[NYCVirago]

I think she has a book deal and I didn't say she had more coverage, I said that she's been on TV more.

But you have no evidence on either, of course.

[not-an-ostrich]

I think Corky may have a few facts wrong. Wasn't this fiance her physical therapist? Recently met? So Corky says she was laying in the bed in Iraq think of Rueben, her boyfriend? I never saw or heard of him when the family were all on television.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

You believe them? You don't reckon they have anything to hide do you?

If Jessica says that she was raped, I believe her. She may not have a memory of it, but her body certainly does. I don't think you can be raped in that way (I won't be graphic), without your body being aware of it. She probably experienced pain, discomfort, etc.

Perhaps the Iraqi surgeon didn't see any signs. There was an hour between the attack and when she was brought to the first hospital; then she was taken to his hospital. An hour was more than enough time to make it look as if nothing had happened.

[#3Fan]

But you have no evidence on either, of course.

There were efforts a few months ago for a book and movie, I don't know where that went. And you can't show that Lynch has been on TV more than Shoshana. I think Shoshana has because she's already done interviews while Lynch hasn't.

[Fledermaus]

Snot nosed brat. Get your 15 minutes and your money you selfish twit and go away.

[Fledermaus]

Correct, she is confusing the press with the Pentagon. But what do you expect from young, indoctrinated morons from the public educational system?

[#3Fan]

I was in a car wreck where I thought I had a broken back. My back hurt so much that I couldn't sit up, stand up, or anything. I had a broken foot and didn't even know it until the next day because my back drowned out everything else. Turned out my back was just deeply bruised. If a bruised back hurt that much, I'd hate to know how much a back broken in several places would feel and can understand if she couldn't tell the difference between what she felt as back pain and what was torture.

[#3Fan]

Snot nosed brat. Get your 15 minutes and your money you selfish twit and go away.

You've been fooled by the liberal media, the headline is a lie.

[Milligan]

This whole thing is so sad. Why can't people leave her alone. Everybody is using her. The Pentagon should stay away from the promotion business and the Press should stop being social workers. It was unwise for her to except the million dollar deals so soon. She wasn't given enough time to recuperate mentally from her ordeal. The public demanded an explanation before she was ready. She will be a emotional mess for rest of her life.