Iraq TV Shot Tape of POWs Lynch, Piestewa

Associated Press ^ | 12/30/03

[saquin]

NEW YORK - Graphic video footage of a badly injured Jessica Lynch and Lori Piestewa, who may have died shortly afterward, was taken by Iraqi state television following the ambush of the soldiers' Army convoy, NBC reported Tuesday night.

The video, aired on "NBC Nightly News," shows the two Army privates at the hospital where they were taken following the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Co.

The tape was never aired in Iraq, NBC reported.

Piestewa, her face swollen and bruised and her head loosely bandaged, is shown as someone positions her feet, and then her head, for the camera shot. Her lip is shown curling back in an apparent grimace.

Lynch, 20, of Palestine, W.Va., is also shown bandaged, her lip cut.

Neither appears awake or alert.

"I haven't watched it," Piestewa's mother, Percy Piestewa, said when contacted by The Associated Press. "I don't want to talk to any reporters right now."

Telephone messages left with two spokespeople for Lynch's family were not immediately returned.

Iraqi doctors have previously said the women were brought to a private clinic following the ambush, and that Piestewa, a 23-year-old mother of two from Tuba City, Ariz., died half an hour later of severe head injuries.

Lynch and four other soldiers were rescued by U.S. special forces April 1, but 11 of their colleagues died during and after the ambush in Nasiriyeh.

Piestewa was the first U.S. female service member to die in the war.

The identities of Lynch and Piestewa were verified for NBC by Spec. Shoshana Johnson, one of the rescued soldiers.

"It was a little shocking to see Lori, but it also gave me a little peace to know that they tried, they did their best for her," Johnson, 30, of El Paso, Texas, told the network. "I mean, it was obvious they tried to bandage her up and give her medical care."

NBC told the Army it had obtained the tape before airing it so the families of the soldiers could be told first, according to MSNBC.com.

Defense Department spokesman Jim Turner said Tuesday night officials were aware of the Iraqi video, but had not seen it and did not have details about what it contained.

The United States repeatedly bombed Iraqi TV studios after they aired interviews with American prisoners of war. But this tape survived because an employee at the state network kept it at home, NBC reported.

[VOA]

"It was a little shocking to see Lori, but it also gave me a little peace to know
that they tried, they did their best for her," Johnson, 30, of El Paso,
Texas, told the network. "I mean, it was obvious they tried to bandage her up
and give her medical care."
....
But this tape survived because an employee at the state network kept it at home, NBC reported.

Sounds like the Iraqi soldiers at least behaved decently. It would be interesting
to know if the Iraqi TV employee kept the tape safe wanting to be sure
it survived for the families of the captured Americans...
or maybe didn't want his station to air it?

[IncPen]

Nice of NBC to air this. I'm sure it will be copied and distributed with the 'hate America' kits all over the mideast next Ramadan.

[Ex-Dem]

I saw the footage. They were in bad shape and the Iraqi doc or official was trying to force them into position so they could film them for propaganda video. Pretty disgraceful stuff and it contradicts the Iraqis who said the POW weren't harmed. They apparently didn't air the tape like they did with the other POW tape because it didn't show the captors in a good light (not to mention the fact that it would have infuriated our troops).

[oceanview]

have you seen it? the clip of Piestawa was hideous. She died a slow, cruel death from what I saw. I was looking for an earlier thread on this when I saw the tape this afternoon.

[I got the rope]

I saw it. It really pissed me off. The media and the liberals will never "get it". They dishonored a soldier by doing this...she paid the price for us... and now for the sake of ratings and Bush-bashing they will dig up old news.

They had to do this, because the war is not going as they had planned. WHAT'S WRONG NBC...NOT OF ENOUGH DEATH AND DESTRUCTION FOR YOU.

[mvpel]

Not to mention it was a planned violation of the Geneva Conventions. I'm so glad that regime is at the top of history's dustbin.

[jolie560]

Maybe soon, we will be blessed to see beheadings and limb amputations.

The gifts of Islam and Allah are coming to your neighborhood soon.

Be sure to vote for the Muslim--or else.

(brought to you by the the descendants of the Mafia--no relation, of course).

[Ex-Dem]

The Iraqi was grabbing her bandaged head and forcing her to lie in a certain position. They were both obviously in pain from the expressions on their face. There's no reason why NBC had to show that tape and put the families through that kind of pain again.

[hedgetrimmer]

If Piestawa had a broken neck, moving her head around like that could have greatly aggravated her injuries or been the cause of her demise. And something tells me those women didn't get any CAT scans for internal and spinal injuries.

[VOA]

"If Piestawa had a broken neck, moving her head around like that could have greatly
aggravated her injuries or been the cause of her demise. And something tells me
those women didn't get any CAT scans for internal and spinal injuries."

Yes, good points.
But, at least what was on the tape showed they weren't torturing the ladies
(at that point, of course...)
I suspect the level of medical knowledge for the average Iraqi grunt was probably
not quite what our guys in the field have.

[I got the rope]

I agree. We can't let this one go.

This is one for the ping list Cannoneer.