Posted on 11/08/2003 6:48:09 AM PST by 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.
Uh the part where Jessica says that her rescue should have not been filmed by the Pentagon.
I guess you never heard of filming actual combat situations to be studied later for future defenders of the country to learn from.
BTW, can you show me where Jessica ate a booger or showed some skin in the video that was released by the Pentagon.
I'm so glad to know that no Marine would do anything to embarass the Corps, too bad about Lee Harvey Oswald (or Ron Dellums for that matter).
Believe whatever ridiculous thing you like and say whatver you wish about Lynch-I'm no fan, but I am so tired of hearing about how Marines are innately superior to their Army brethren. In case you hadn't noticed, 3rd ID played a pretty big role in winning the war, and most of those still fighting in Iraq are from the Army.
No, but what would common sense tell you. My common sense tells me she got some money from ABC. Can't prove it, but why would anybody be mad that someone's rescue was filmed and released to the public.
My common sense says that she was "coached" for the money, for the expressed reason to embarass the DOD, IMO.
Thanks for reading my post and replying to it. Your comment excepted, it seems this thread has largely become a fight over tidbits of television gossip rather than thoughtful discourse on substantive political issues.
Perhaps this thread, and others like it, should be pulled from News/Activism and placed in a new section -- perhaps called "The Cat Corral"?
You call this a lie???
Then the military released a dramatic, green-tinted, night-vision video of the mission.
"Dramatic, green-tinted night-vision" -- that's your hyperbole not the militaries. What better thing to do when trying to represent the truth then to acutally release a video of the incident. If they didn't have a video, you would probably be complaining that they should have made one else they are hiding something.
Soon news organizations were repeating reports, attributed to anonymous American officials, that Ms. Lynch had heroically resisted her capture, emptying her weapon at her attackers."
So it comes down to anonymous sources again like it many times seems to.
Reports in the statist press based on anonymous American officials are not sourced statements from military officials. More often then not they are BS. I wouldn't trust the liberal press to ferret out an accurate anonymous source especially when that anonymous source makes the US military several months later look bad.
No military lies shown.
I heard no complaints about the movie CBS made about her. Granted it was unauthorized. Yet she is put out over the Pentagon filming her rescue. Many recuses and situations are filmed during war. Hers is one of many. Her rescue didn't "hype" anything about this war. Those that didn't agree with the war still disagreed.
The pentagon tried to use the hyped and fabricated Lynch capture and rescue story as a propaganda tool. It didn't work and they got caught in a lie of their own making.
You've not answered the question...again for the third time.
Me: Do you have a link for this?
You: No, but what would common sense tell you. My common sense tells me she got some money from ABC. Can't prove it, but why would anybody be mad that someone's rescue was filmed and released to the public. My common sense says that she was "coached" for the money, for the expressed reason to embarass the DOD, IMO.
This is what I found:
"The family's spokesman also weighed in, claiming the Lynch's wanted to see that the story was told in proper fashion and that any financial opportunities didn't compromise Jessica's story. "
This is from this article: Jessica Lynch Nixes NBC Deal
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,12292,00.html
I couldn't find anything about an ABC deal though. I don't think there is one.
Yes I have. I said you were either clueless or playing dumb to how the system works. Since you keeping repeating the same nonsense over and over, I now believe it is the former.
Richard W.
Welcome to the rhetoric of the "damned if they do, damned if they don't" crowd on FR.
Usually they are true members of an obscure politcal party which goes by the intials LP, but sometimes their cousins whose ultimate leader, who goes by the initials HRC, hides behind the LP, IMO.
The whole rescue story was a Hollywood type production and fabrication from day one. Now the pentagon is exposed -- by a lowly PFC. Just too good.
Richard W.
I'll have to read the transcripts to believe that she actually made such a moronic statement.
But one still has to wonder if he's actually seen what is written in those records. Another question, was this conclusion of anal rape actually confirmed by the government's doctor? Is it possible that this guy drew his own conclusions about what happened to her? I'm not saying it didn't happen, but isn't there a possibility that she could have suffered injury to that part of her body by being tossed all over in the accident?...a tear, a rip of the colon lining? and this guy is drawing his own conclusion about what it means? I'd like one of the military physicians who treated her to confirm it, but it will be a cold day in hell before that happens.
So a "paid" spokesperson is talking for Jessica now. Oh BTW, the word "claiming" has a much different meaning than a more proper word the Lynch family could have used if they wanted to get the "true" story out, IMO. That word is "demanding".
"Sigh"
JMO, the damage the Clintons have done will take years to repair.
I was wondering about that myself. It is possible to have a malfunction or misfire on the first round. But I wonder exactly what it was. How was she riding? With a round in the chamber and weapon on safe? With a magazine loaded but no round in the chamber? What exactly? It could be that she never even charged her weapon or in the confusion never took it off safe. If her weapon "jammed" maybe she had her magazine loaded with thirty rounds instead of 28 and had never stretched her magazine spring? Could be that first round hung up in the magazine, never getting fed into the chamber or something.
Still, she should've performed immediate action to correct that malfunction. There were other stories of weapons on that convoy failing. SAWs, .50 Cals, M16s. It sounds more like no proper maintenance and poor training with the weapons to me.
You've not produced one quoted fabrication to back up your statements that the military lied about this.
The logic of Dick arete is simply -- it's how the system is man, because it is man.
You Dick, are dumb and the looooooooong record of your responses on this thread are not going away and are available for all to read.
Really Richard? Huh I guess no combat situations should be filmed according to you.
BTW, if Babs Streisand ever decides to dump Brolin, you should be at the head of the line.
Your liberal sweet talk would melt her heart like a hot knife through butter, IMO.
The Friends of Mohammed was formed by a group of West Virginians led by James Thibeault of Malden to honor the spirit of compassion displayed by the Iraqi lawyer in helping bring about Lynch’s rescue.
On Friday, al-Rehaief spoke at the University of Charleston, visited Malden Elementary School and took part in prayer services and a reception at the Islamic Center.
On Monday, he is scheduled to visit Wirt County, where Lynch was born and raised and is now recuperating from her wounds, but there are no immediate plans to meet with the former supply clerk.
According to Lynch family spokesman Stephen Goodwin, the ex-POW “is deeply thankful to Mohammed and other Iraqis who helped her in her hour of need. She looks forward to a private meeting with him in the near future.”
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2003102434
This is what I was remembering.:
"Jessica Lynch is deeply thankful to Mohammed," Stephen Goodwin said. "She looks forward to a private meeting with him in the near future."
Members of a West Virginia group called Friends of Mohammed took al-Rehaief, his wife and 6-year-old daughter on a drive along a mountain ridge. The family also planned to visit Wirt County high school, Lynch's alma mater.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1009596/posts
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