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.

[JasonC]

And I. I agree with everything you said. All that should happen now is that anyone who suggested heroic actions by this woman should say "so sorry, got it wrong, jumped the gun", and then everybody else can leave her the heck alone, and on we all go.

[Jorge]

She didn't want to have a public spectacle meeting because she was not ready for public display yet. She wanted a private meeting and very well may have had it.

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.

[Jorge]

..this has me pissed off, especially her snubbing the Iraqi who helped save her and her getting all so upset over her rescue being filmed.

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.

[Dane]

As far as the filming aspect, I can see her point. I, myself, always wondered about the American flag she had on her chest on the stretcher. That was obvious propaganda. Perhaps she just didn't like being used like that? I'm not sure I blame her for that..

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.

[Dane]

"Yes, it does. They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. It's wrong."

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.

[mass55th]

Thanks for the clarification. My computer's dictionary doesn't offer it. I thought it might be a typo.

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.

[wku man]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't read the Compost's original article, as I never read it as a matter of principle. So that would seemingly clear them in my first point, but what about the second? Why was the Pentagon so quick to "correct" Lynch's doctor in Germany, after he stated that her injuries were consistent with a car wreck, and that she'd suffered no bullet or stab wounds? Why were the brass willing to go along with The Lie at that point?

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!

[wku man]

Yeah, I wish I could be that forgiving, but I want heads to roll. If we just let it pass without putting whoever was responsible for The Lie in the proverbial guillotine, we will have done nothing to ensure another Lie isn't fed to us the next time a woman finds herself with rounds flying overhead. They tried this crap in Panama, with the MP captain who supposedly led her company in a firefight against a PDF unit, when in reality, her company was sent to "secure" a dog kennel complex, which had already been secured. The truth came out then, but no one was puniushed for lying to us. If no one is punished this time, it will happen again and again and again, until eventually, incrementally, enough damage will be done to common sense that the military will relent and allow women into combat arms units. If that happens we will be, as R.Lee Ermey put it in Siege of Firebase Gloria, "in a deep-sh** situation".

Jason, you are a better man than I, 'cause I want heads to roll over this one!

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't want to roll any heads, all those heads are on our side.... but I appreciate you being a stickler for who the right bad guy should be.

I am gettin' het up on yet another of these dang threads this morning.... I wish I could let one just go. But I can't stand the way FReepers are buying the media spin on her words completely.

[wku man]

Well, I gotta admit, I now see where you're coming from when you say many FReepers are attacking her on a personal level. I, for one, am quite glad to hear her set the record straight. But with some of these folks here, she's damned either way, and just can't win no matter what she does. I want her to set the record straight...the more she does, the more likely Joe and Jane Sixpack are to finally hear the truth. Of course, the Sixpacks are more likely to watch a BS made for TV movie than read a book (or anything for that matter), so the truth will still have that obstacle to overcome. But at this point, anything that supports and advances the truth is a good thing.

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!

[HairOfTheDog]

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!

I would hate to see you ~lose your cool~ like me and really get mad. ~grin~

[Dane]

Well, I gotta admit, I now see where you're coming from when you say many FReepers are attacking her on a personal level

How does her making comments and commenting on them become "attacking her on a personal level".

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh come on... you are calling her selfish and Babs Streisand - whatever that means.

You know when it is personal. You arent railing against the media for exploiting her, you are railing agains her. I happen to think as a soldier who has done nothing dishonorable, she should be defended by us - not called names.

[FreeReign]

Why was the Pentagon so quick to "correct" Lynch's doctor in Germany, after he stated that her injuries were consistent with a car wreck, and that she'd suffered no bullet or stab wounds? Why were the brass willing to go along with The Lie at that point?

Do you have a source with a link for this? I haven't seen it.

Thanks!

[FreeReign]

Why was the Pentagon so quick to "correct" Lynch's doctor in Germany, after he stated that her injuries were consistent with a car wreck, and that she'd suffered no bullet or stab wounds?

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]:Lynch’s family in West Virginia said doctors had determined she’d 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?

[FreeReign]

[Chicago Tribune 4/6/03]: A military doctor said Friday that Lynch had not been stabbed or shot. But The Associated Press reported Saturday that Lynch's mother, Deadra, said that doctors had found entry and exit wounds "consistent with low-velocity, small caliber rounds" of bullets.

Link

[wku man]

Ok, so who told her mother there were bullet wounds, some reporter, or the PAO officer detailed by the Pentagon to play liaison? What's important here isn't how the AP found about it, but how did her mother hear the "correction".

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[FreeReign]

[Herald Displatch 4/6/03]:Lynch’s family in West Virginia said doctors had determined she’d been shot. They found two entry and exit wounds "consistent with low-velocity, small-caliber rounds," said her mother, Deadra Lynch.

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.

[wku man]

No, since you evidently weren't watching FNC while this was developing, I guess I'll have to go find one.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[FreeReign]

No, since you evidently weren't watching FNC while this was developing, I guess I'll have to go find one.

I haven't found one and I bet you can't either.