[joesbucks]

Is it their job to read every newspaper account and then have a press conference to correct all the wrong stories? I don't think so. I *think* they have more important things to do.

No it's not their job to read every news story. However, this was not some remote obscure story. It is a well known story, shown on television through night scope. You would have to be hiding under a rock not to know it.

It made for good PR and the military let it stand.

[honeygrl]

"It made for good PR and the military let it stand. "

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

[AmishDude]

The military is not going to say "The Washington Post is wrong." without conducting their own investigation to determine exactly what happened.

They are also not going to do a line-by-line refutation of every news story in America: "This was wrong." "This was right." "We don't know about this." "This is partially true, but we can't reveal any more until we can declassify the intel." . . .

[mattdono]

The military provided a clear admonision that they hadn't verified exactly what happened.

It was the mass media that ran with this angle.

Look at the situation again:

Initial Report: The military said they believed she attempted to resist capture. The media follows up with various questions about the details of her capture. The Army spokesman said they don't know the details, but that all Army personnel are trained to fight the enemy (duh!).

Five minutes after that, the media splash screen is "SAVING PRIVATE LYNCH" and equally-overdramatic graphics.

Two days later, the Army briefs the press that her injuries may have been sustained during the vehicle accident.

Go back and review the military briefings. You will find that the Army tried to provide accurate information throughout. The hype that came from the story became a life of its own, period.

Further, I am not really sure what you want? Did you want the army to come out and say, "Our soldiers are cowards; Pvt. Lynch couldn't even get a shot off because the weapons we use jammed?"

Is Jessica Lynch a coward? I don't think so.
Did she get a shot off? Apparently not.
Did her weapon jam? According to her, but we didn't find out about that until 9 months later.

So, I am not really sure how you wanted this to go down, but that's the way it went down.

So when you say that "let it stand" just because it was "good PR" is really not intellectually honest.

It was/is good PR that she was rescued. She was rescued by brave men of the Special Forces and Marines. She tried to fight, but her weapon jammed.

All of that's true. All of that's good PR. All of which the Army should let stand.

Was she Rambo? No, but the Army never portrayed her as such. The only people that let the "Rambo" image stand was the mass media, because that image was getting veiwership.

[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.