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]

It's entirely possible to have been raped and a shill for the liberal media at the same time. I think the woman is wrong for what she's saying, and I doubt she realizes yet what the media will do to her when they're tired of using her for their little mascot. She will have no one to blame but herself, if/when that happens.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I thought the media was the one who made the story of her capture up, not the military. All the military said was people had been shot and fought back.

I like her, but she needs to shut her piehole.

[submarinerswife]

Fickle support for the troops? What color is the sky in your world? The troops will always have our support.

Did you support the kid who threw hand grenades in the tents of his officrs because of blanket support of our troops? Hope not. I draw the line at personal gain in the instance of Lynch.

[douglas1]

I cannot see any WM [WOMAN MARINE ] acting like like this twit ,I have meet some WM these women are tough LYNCH WOULD NOT MAKE IT IN THE MARINECORP, MARINES ARE NOT SOLDIERS THEY ARE MARINES, FROM THE VERY GET GO THIS IS DRILLED INTO THEIR MINDS ,THEY WOULD SAY OR DO NOTHING TO EMBARASS THEIR BELOVED CORP.

[Wondervixen]

She's probably coming reallllly close to saying exactly what the lefties in the media want to hear, so they're "doing her a favor" and "finishing off" her statements, because they "know what she meant" when she said it.

[TrueBeliever9]

One has to be a wife, mother, sister or brother of someone serving to understand the impact of what Lynch has done! The ones screaming "hate" because some of us do understand the impact on the troops are as clueless as Lynch!

[patriciamary]

Once classless,always classless

[MizSterious]

Why would this guy have risked all he did (including his own life) to save her if he didn't really think she needed saving? Your argument is pretty weak. The truth probably lies in the medical records. The kind of rape they claim will usually leave scars, and sometimes it's been known to kill. I'm pinging a nurse who might be able to explain better.

What's wrong with giving people the benefit of the doubt until facts prove otherwise?

[HairOfTheDog]

Before.... and she didn't slam the whole military in the quotes I have seen. I support even the troops that have a valid experience they want to tell. Though I support the war I won't make them change their words to help sell the war. She is a young girl inexperienced with media. I hope they don't eat her up.

Her heros are her rescuers. Regarding this quote she responded the way a humble person would upon coming home to find out you are a media icon the whole country has been talking about and taking apart. 'Why did they make such a big deal about me?'

In other words.... she said she wasn't really a hero and they made a bigger deal out of her than she thinks she deserves.... She is now saying exactly what FReepers have been saying all this time.

FReepers can't be pleased.

[Iwo Jima]

WHOA! I never said that Jessica was lying. Just the opposite, I said that some unscrupulous person has persuaded her that something terrible happened to her when there is no proof it happened and good proof that didn't happen.

Unless YOU have an agenda, why would you want to see her unnecessarily distressed in this way, especially given all that she has gone through and has yet to get through?

[HairOfTheDog]

Marines don't shout all the time either. You look hysterical.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Wow!

I havent been to a "Jessica Lynch" FR thread in about three months.

It is amazing to see the tone about her changed 100% from the first reports back in March. I guess a lot of us were taken in by Pentagon jingoist propaganda destined for flag waving, grand ol opry pick up truck America, I know the networks were running it 24/7 for sure at the time. Some of us with deeper, non-myth-based reasoning and perceptions, though (unfortunately, not including me) said, "something stinks here". I do remember that.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh bull. This isn't a minor detail lost in editorial oversight... Jessica is not going to be convinced she was raped by the ghost writer of her book.

I think she would have found out and been pretty sure on that before the book was finished.

[Wondervixen]

>> I wonder what parade of losers got to the little darling?

Do you even have to ask?

Her homeTOWN should have had a wall built around it & her townsfolk should have shot every "cityslicker" media type waving a contract on sight, because 99.9% of them ARE leftwing!

[Fitzcarraldo]

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

If you are reading this in English, thank a MARINE.

[submarinerswife]

"FReepers can't be pleased"
Nice DU tag line. But we deal with truth and we are logical in evaluating the BS factor. We don't "Feel" our way into conclusions.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh get a grip.

You are feeling your way every inch.... You are fitting this story into how you want to feel.

[GraniteStateConservative]

You bet. I said on a previous thread that I wouldn't be shocked to see her give a speech at the Boston Dem convention next summer-- how she was used by the evil Bush Administration for Josef Goebbels-like propaganda. I almost regret once giving a sh!t whether she was rescued or not.

[HairOfTheDog]

If you are reading this in English, thank a MARINE.

:~D

[Reeses]

Bronze Star?

Red Davis was awarded this medal and proudly used that in his political advertising. He was a heroic desk jockey. This medal has become a political tool.