Jessica Lynch condemns Pentagon

BBC ^ | Friday, 7 November, 2003, 18:11 GMT | BBC

[KQQL]

US woman soldier who shot to fame after being taken prisoner during the Iraq war has accused the military of using her for propaganda purposes.

A video of US commandos carrying a badly injured Private Jessica Lynch from a Nasiriya hospital was released at the height of the conflict.

But the 20-year-old criticised the release of false information about her capture by Iraqi forces.

She also said there was no reason for her rescue to be filmed.

In her first interview about what happened to her, the former prisoner-of-war told ABC television that medical reports indicated that she had been raped.

They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. It's wrong.

She said she had no recollection of the attack. "Even just the thinking about that, that's too painful," she told interviewer Diane Sawyer.

Miss Lynch, who was serving as an Army supply clerk, suffered broken bones and other injuries when her convoy was ambushed after taking a wrong turn near the Iraqi town of Nasiriya on 23 March.

The Pentagon initially put out the story that Private Lynch - a slight woman who was just 19 at the time - had been wounded by Iraqi gunfire but had kept fighting until her ammunition ran out.

But she told Sawyer that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that her gun had jammed during the chaos.

"I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do," she said.

"I did not shoot - not a round, nothing. I went down praying to my knees - that's the last thing I remember."

Initial reports also suggested that Miss Lynch had been abused after she came round in the hospital. She says that again was untrue - there was no mistreatment, and one nurse used to sing to her.

She said she was grateful to the American special forces team which rescued her but, asked whether the Pentagon's subsequent portrayal of her rescue bothered her, she said: "Yes, it does. They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. It's wrong."

Injuries

Miss Lynch was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals while still in hospital in Washington DC.

Months later, she is receiving treatment for her extensive injuries.

Earlier this week, it emerged that medical evidence suggested that Miss Lynch had been raped during her capture.

The assault was revealed in extracts from Miss Lynch's authorised biography - I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story - to be released by publisher Alfred A Knopf on Tuesday.

[Sasha152]

I like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I wish she hadn't made those comments. Her story gave people someone individual to relate to, and point to with pride in our Troops. From time to time a single soldier comes to the attention of the public, and becomes sort of a rallying point. Scott O'Grady was like that when he was shot down over Bosnia. Thankfully, he eluded capture, but he accepted the accolades with humility and gratitude. Each situation is different, but she might have chosen her words more carefully.

[mass55th]

"What's wrong with giving people the benefit of the doubt until facts prove otherwise?"

If you're talking about the evidence that she was anally raped, you'll never get it. Her military and medical records are private and will never be released to the public...not legally anyway. And if they ever were released, you'd see a lawsuit against the government so quick your head would spin.

[MizSterious]

If you do a search on "Jessica Lynch" I think the Washington Post turns up being the first ones to publish that Rambo kind of story, and if I remember correctly, they used "unnamed sources."

[arete]

Her "story" isn't worth a book or a movie. She as a person is not worth the time of day. She is MOST forgetable.

She is a real hero for standing up to the military propaganda machine that tried to use her to hype the war. She told them to stuff it. Good for her.

Richard W.

[MizSterious]

Can't they be released if she gives permission? She might have, for this book.

[HarryCaul]

I would like to know the whole story of the attack on that convoy.

What really happened? None of the versions add up, and they never have.

Why was Lynch separated from the others? Why was she kept in an apparently unguarded hospital? Why was she not subjected to the ill treatment the other POWs were?

I don't mean to imply anything, just noting that it doesn't seem to add up. At least not from what we know. It's puzzling.

[submarinerswife]

Richard W.
While sipping cappacino with your pinky high in the air...there are REAL men who would disagree that the Pentagon is a propaganda machine although they are out cutting trees and smacking around the spotted owl right at this moment.

[Sasha152]

"..One has to wonder if part of her recruitment involved being made to understand that she could end up in a war zone asked to shoot people.."

How could anyone join the Armed Services,and not understand that the possibility exists that they may end up in a war situation ?

[Iwo Jima]

According to the half a dozen members of the 307th who were interviewed on Dateline on August 1 or 2, the vehicle which Jessica was driving somehow became non-operational (don't remember how) at which time she and her passenger got into the Humvee which Lori Piestowa (sp?) was driving. The vehicle in front of the Humvee (I believe it was a tow truck) took a hit and came to a dead stop. The Humvee didn't see this and rammed into the vehicle in front of them at a full speed. This is when Jessica sustained her injuries.

The members of the 307th described how they ran over to check on their comrades and saw that everyone was so horribly injured that they just had to be dead. They said that the only movement was one of Jessica's feet twitching, which they thought was a mere muscular reaction or death throes, and so they left them. Shoshana Johnson said that when they heard that Jessica was alive they were all shocked and of course overjoyed.

I don't know when the praying and the weapon jam which Jessica described is supposed to have occurred but it is apparently before she got into the Humvee.

I could have gotten a few of the details confused -- it has been 3 months since I saw the interview. But these facts are consistent with the official military report of the action and the comments of everyone who was there, including Jeesica, as I understand her remarks.

I do agree that Jessica's memory of what happened just before, during, and for several hours or maybe days after such a serious injury could be faulty. Anyone's recollection could be honestly mistaken, and she is no exception. We all make decisions about whether we think someone's memory is correct or fuzzy or even wrong all the time.

O.K.?

[jethropalerobber]

Not only is she a living *itch and won't thank who saved her life, the Iraqi lawyer but now she has the brass ones to hurl hatred at the govenment who orchestrated her rescue.

from the article: "She said she was grateful to the American special forces team which rescued her...". if an iraqi lawyer had anything to do with her recovery i imagine she would be grateful to that person as well.

also, where in this article (or any other) does she "hurl hatred" at the government? it seems like she's done nothing more than tell the truth and express disapproval of the government's lies.

why does that bother enough to call her rude names? i think you're making an ass of yourself.

[verity]

Only if you misapply it!

[jethropalerobber]

The decision to, and rationale for filming her rescue was way above her pay grade.

and what was that rationale, LouD?

[nosofar]

US woman soldier who shot to fame after being taken prisoner during the Iraq war has accused the military of using her for propaganda purposes.

Propaganda is part of war. I guess she's just not a very good soldier.

[arete]

also, where in this article (or any other) does she "hurl hatred" at the government? it seems like she's done nothing more than tell the truth and express disapproval of the government's lies.

No one on FR is permitted to speak ill of the government. It is all government all the time. Lynch made the mistake of speaking honestly. That cannot be tolerated. She must be trashed.

Richard W.

[saquin]

"Jessica had her full uniform on with her flak jacket buttoned up when she arrived at the hospital. No torn clothes, etc."

Yes, that's the story NOW from the hospital staff. How come the original story, months ago, went like this:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/20/sprj.irq.lynch.hospital/index.html

"Doctors and nurses at Nasiriya's main hospital say they defied senior Iraqi military leaders and Baath Party officials to care for a wounded American soldier who was held prisoner there for more than a week."

"Saad Abd Alrazaq, a hospital administrator, said Lynch was in shock when she arrived at the hospital. He said that she was given plasma and two transfusions, and that he gave her clothes from his wife's closet because she was covered by little more than a sheet."

"Muhsin said Lynch's guards beat her and tried to stop doctors from checking on her more than twice a day, but that he and others on the staff would give her biscuits, oranges, milk and medicine from their own limited supplies.

"She suffered from [the soldiers]," he said. "Largely she suffered from them."

[mass55th]

"Her "story" isn't worth a book or a movie."

I'm waiting to hear her say she doesn't understand why SeeBS had to film her story. And I'm also waiting to hear her condemn them for including false information about her in the movie too.

[submarinerswife]

She doesn't make those decisions, higher ranks do.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I am trying to take only what she has said, and common sense about what it would be like to wake up to find yourself in the middle of a media feeding frienzy.

But, Jessica insists on keeping herself in the middle of it. Do you have sympathy for that, too?

[sandlady]

She did not refuse to meet with him....just FYI.

[jethropalerobber]

And he hasn't bashed the military in order to get an interview either.

why does it bother you when a citizen calls the government on it's lies?