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.
It didn't have to be a "public spectacle meeting" and there is no indication she met with him in private either. I saw him interviewed and he was asked about it.
I was really disappointed.
Between this, and now her ripping the Pentagon, IMHO she is starting to come across a spoiled, graceless, inconsiderate ingrate.
Same here. In fact I'm no longer interested in reading her book. I would rather read the book written by the Iraqi who helped save her.
Well first of all the filming of her rescue will be used for training purposes for future rescues. That film of Jessica's rescue may help save someone in the future.
Second like it or not people had a vested interest and prayed for her rescue and basically saying that people should feel guilty for watching her on TV getting out of Iraq alive seems very self-centered and crass.
I think I can articulate why that above quote grates on me. If it wasn't for the way they symbolised Jessica(i.e propaganda) she wouldn't have a $1,000,000 book deal or who knows how much from ABC for talking to Diane Sawyer, etc. etc.
Her quote kinda of reminds me of a hollywood liberal who rails against say gas guzzling cars and then drives around in a big gas guzzling limo.
As I've said before, I have no problem with her setting the record straight. I just have a problem with the way she's gone about it. To me, there's an inconsistency in her thinking. She finds it offensive that her rescue was filmed by the military, but has no problem having her face & rape story splashed all over national TV. I guess I'm just too old to understand what the difference is, and why one should be okay, but not the other. My generation was taught that things were either black or white. I have a very hard time accepting that gray area that liberals always want to toss into the fray. It either is or it isn't. There's no in-between.
For months, the press has been clamoring for more information about her time in captivity. And PFC Lynch delivered, telling the world that she was more than likely anally raped by the Iraqis. Again, I guess I'm too old to understand why someone who was so offended by having her rescue filmed, was willing to put out that personal information to the press. Had it been released by anyone else, a lawsuit would have ensued, and her lawyer would have argued that her privacy had been invaded.
I was born in a generation where girls pregnant out of wedlock, were sent to homes to have their babies in secrecy. Because of my belief that some things are better left unsaid and unknown, I have a hard time understanding why a young girl would want to make that personal information public. The only reason I can think of is because her agent/lawyer has manipulated her to think it's the right thing to do. If that's true, then she's been used far worse than the military ever did. The Army didn't rape her, the Iraqis did, and now it seems that she is being raped and used by the media. Personally, had this all happened to me, I would have been too embarrassed to publicize the fact. And now, with the denials of rape by the Iraqi doctors that treated her, the story isn't going away. It will be sad if the most important thing that is remembered & debated in the public arena about her experience, is whether or not she was raped. I think she would have been better served by having that information kept private and away from the hounds of the press. But hey, what do I know, I'm just an old lady. The girl can do whatever she wants. I just hope that down the road, she's not sorry.
As I told my FRiend HairOfTheDog, someone, somewhere, either in the media or at the Pentagon, sure ruined what could have just been a good news story. If the truth had been told, that one of our captured soldiers had been rescued and nothing more, it would have been a story we all could have been happy about. But the feminazi CommieLib social engineers had to turn the story into something it wasn't in order to advance their twisted, misguided, and dangerous political agenda, and ruined it for everyone. Heads should roll.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Jason, you are a better man than I, 'cause I want heads to roll over this one!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Now that the book is out, the movie is set to air, and she's been given her discharge from the service, I hope everone just leaves her the hell alone. The focus now should be on finding the Liar(s), and drawing, quartering, flaying, and burning him/her/them to ashes. But that's just my calm, objective, well-reasoned opinion!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I would hate to see you ~lose your cool~ like me and really get mad. ~grin~
How does her making comments and commenting on them become "attacking her on a personal level".
Do you have a source with a link for this? I haven't seen it.
Thanks!
More information -- this from the Herald Dispatch in WV.
[Herald Displatch 4/6/03]:Renuart(Air Force Maj.)did not shed any new light on how Lynch sustained her wounds -- whether she was injured in captivity or when the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed March 23 when they made a wrong turn in Nasiriyah.
[Herald Displatch 4/6/03]:Lynchs family in West Virginia said doctors had determined shed been shot. They found two entry and exit wounds "consistent with low-velocity, small-caliber rounds," said her mother, Deadra Lynch.
So on 4/6/03, the Herald reported that the military Air Force Major Renuart said that he had no information on how Lynch was injured AND they also reported that Lynch's mom said that Lynch's doctor HAD determined that she'd been shot. Link
Do you have any information that contradicts this?
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Correction;
So on 4/6/03, the Herald reported that the military Air Force Major Renuart said that he had no information on how Lynch was injured AND they also reported that Lynch's mom said that Lynch's doctors HAD determined that she'd been shot.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I haven't found one and I bet you can't either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.