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.

[MizSterious]

Bless you for finding that! That's the story I remember, but I couldn't find it. I think that story, plus Jessica's own claim that she fell down to her knees in prayer indicate (strongly) that many, or maybe most, of her injuries occurred after she was taken into custody by the Iraqis.

[submarinerswife]

Sandlady,
Back that up. Show me the link where she met with him.

[jethropalerobber]

You are an ingrate! You are a disgrace! And your big smiling photo posted on AOL today with Dianne Sawyer made me sick!

as i asked another poster, why does it bother you when a citizen calls the government on its lies?

[HarryCaul]

From the April 2nd Wash. Post article.

"Several officials cautioned that the precise sequence of events is still being determined, and that further information will emerge as Lynch is debriefed. Reports thus far are based on battlefield intelligence, they said, which comes from monitored communications and from Iraqi sources in Nasiriyah whose reliability has yet to be assessed. Pentagon officials said they had heard "rumors" of Lynch's heroics but had no confirmation. "

Why it's almost as if the Pentagon didn't believe the stories of her firefight and were cautioning about them from the very beginning.

[verity]

If nothing else, you are philosophically consistent!

[M Kehoe]

I see this is from the BBC. I guess they don't know the true meaning of "G.I."

5.56mm

[submarinerswife]

What lies? Show proof or pack sand.

[HairOfTheDog]

My argument is that this girl is not an evil bitch but a soldier that deserves decent treatment here.

My argument is not about whether the Pentagon acted wrong... I don't think they did. We needed her good news story. Jessica Lynch and I can differ on this and yet I can still understand her words. I have actually argued in recent days (You've Heard of Jessica Lynch, Have You Heard of Patrick Miller? ) that it was the media and not the pentagon who pushed the story. I am sure in her book some of the lines of criticism about the size of the story and the exaggerations accuse the media... The media may not highlight those.

wku man.... pinging you because of all things, I am now being accused of falsely accusing the Pentagon of letting the Lynch story get so big.

[jethropalerobber]

Women are useless in combat and don't even understand the value of propaganda as a means to win a war.

finally, a poster honest enough to admit he condones the govenment lying to us.

how refreshing.

[HairOfTheDog]

You bet. If people were talking about me, I would want my voice heard too.

[jethropalerobber]

there is a larger concern called military honor and discretion.

is lynch a member of the military?

[Dane]

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

Will you ever call the media on their lies, Katie?

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't know what it is supposed to add up to....

I don't know what script it is supposed to follow. There isn't always one.

[jethropalerobber]

Now that she has.... they hate her for speaking. I respect her a great deal. It is unfortunate that she has come home to a country that has been picking over her bones... even on FR, where support for ALL our troops should be unwavering.

right on.

[sandlady]

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

Why does the BBC not QUOTE this statement? It's not like they forgot to use quotes for some of the other more mild things that she said.

Makes you go, "Hmmmmm...."

[Iwo Jima]

The administrator is not saying that Jessica arrived in nothing but a sheet. Whatever she arrived in would have been cut away to allow emergency treatment when seconds mattered. Thereafter, she had no clothes (not that her uniform would have been acceptable to use as a hospital gown). The administrator kindly got something from his wife for Jessica to use. I see no discrepancy here.

There is an apparent discrepancy between what Muhsin said about the Iraqi soldiers causing her to suffer and what Jessica and the other doctors have said. I can't resolve the discrepancy. Maybe someone else can. I do think that Jessica has to be believed when she says that she was not mistreated from the time she woke up in the hospital.

[FreeReign]

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.

Give me one example from a named pentagon spokeman. I'll wait right here....

[saquin]

My concern about this whole thing is that now she's allowing herself to be used by the anti-America crowd. The gist of this story on the BBC, Al Jazeera etc. is that Jessica Lynch is lashing out at the Pentagon for using her and misrepresenting her story.

#1 - Yes, she was "used" in a way. But, so what? The soldiers who went in to rescue her had no idea that the Fedayeen had just fled hours before. They were, in their minds, risking their lives for her. (And Nasiriya was still in a war zone, even if the Fedayeen had recently left the hospital. This was not a walk in the park.) The rescue was filmed. It made everyone feel good for a few days. So what?

#2 - I believe she was anally raped, as the medical records apparently show. Why would the author of her book lie about this?

#3 - The lead story about this on Al Jazeera, etc, should have been the brutality of her Iraqi captors, who would violate a severely injured girl in this way. Instead, it's not even mentioned. Only her anti-US Army screed is mentioned. She has handed the enemy a victory.

#4 - All she had to say was "I salute the soldiers who risked their lives to rescue me." End of story.

[jethropalerobber]

If Jessica truly did criticize the Pentagon for "using" her, she ain't seen NOTHING compared to the c*cksuckers in the leftwing media!

i don't know if she'd agree with that - at least this time round she is conscious.

[Dane]

right on

I guess you are giving her a thumbs up for this also,

Jessica Lynch snubs Iraqi who helped to free her