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.
whether "us officials" were spinning her as war heroine or a damsal in distress, the aim was the same and they were indeed "using" her, as she was not afriad to say.
But you see, you can't state a single item that justifies even likening her to Babs Streisand; or any other hateful thing you've said for that matter. Justify your stance!
and it's no coincidence.
No military lies shown.
i never claimed "military lies", i said "government lies."
i would be very surprised if any of these official leaks came from military people.
here's what she actually said in the sawyer interview:
"I don't know why they filmed it, or why they say the things they, you know, all I know was that I was in that hospital hurting. I needed help."
maybe someone else can post a complete transcript.
Oh I don't know,
MAYBE NOT TAKING 10 MINUTES OF HER PRECIOUS TIME TO MEET AND TAKE A PICTURE WITH THE IRAQI LAWYER WHO POINTED THE WAY TO THE AMERICAN FORCES WHO RESCUED HER, WHILE HE WAS VISITING HER HOMETOWN IN WV.
So, I've asked this before, might as well ask it again. If she tried to fire her gun and failed, then dropped down to her knees, just when and where did she receive the crippling, life-threatening injuries?
Yeah she needed help and she got it.
Earlier in this thread you were all for her saying bad things about the DOD, all of the sudden you have changed your tune.
Get a memo from above, Katie?
Yes that public snubbing has been excused multiple times, no surprise.
Jessica Lynch condemns Pentagon Posted by Dane to WackyKat
On News/Activism 11/08/2003 12:49 PM CST #324 of 413
And despite that, she learned to tell the truth, not go along with an official lie.
You're the one acting like Clinton, not Private Lynch
Please wacky, provide the link to the "official" lie. You must know the url of the official Penatgon take on the Jessica Lynch story.
You can't, but what the hey someday you may learn not to be pulled around by the nose by the media.
Do you know what she was doing?
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