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POW Jessica was tortured
New York Daily News ^ | 4/03/02 | MAKI BECKER

Posted on 04/03/2003 1:34:43 AM PST by kattracks

Tip from Iraqi led to hospital room

Jessica was being tortured.

That was the urgent word from an Iraqi man who alerted U.S. troops where to find Pfc. Jessica Lynch - and her injuries seem to bear out the allegation.

Lynch, who was flown to a military hospital in Germany yesterday, had her legs broken, one arm broken and at least one bullet wound, officials said.

The 19-year-old West Virginia private was able to call her parents yesterday for the first time since her rescue Tuesday. She was in good spirits but very hungry, her parents told CNN.

The rescue of Lynch, who was driving a water truck when she went missing after a March 23 ambush in Nassiriya, had added urgency when one of two tips to Americans said she was in danger.

One tip came when an English-speaking Iraqi man approached NBC reporter Kerry Sanders to tell him about the soldier being held captive.

"Please make sure the people in charge know that she's being tortured," he told Sanders.

Belying her country-girl smile and petite 5-foot-5 frame, Lynch put up a Rambo-worthy fight when her unit, the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Co., came under attack, according to a new report.

Lynch opened fire on the Iraqi assailants, picking them off one by one until she ran out of ammunition, according to today's Washington Post.

She continued shooting - even after she was shot and stabbed and her unit members were killed all around her.

"She was fighting to the death," a U.S. official told The Post. "She did not want to be taken alive."

Yesterday, when Lynch was plucked from Saddam Hospital, Special Forces troops found a soldier in pain.

Her broken bones are a sure sign of torture, said Amy Waters Yarsinske, an ex-Navy intelligence officer and an expert on POW treatment.

"It's awfully hard to break both legs and an arm in a truck accident," Yarsinske said.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's thugs are known to use steel bars to bash their prisoners' limbs, she said.

"In the first gulf action, they tried breaking their [captured U.S. airmen's] legs with steel bars," Yarsinske said.

Another clue that Lynch and other POWs were being tortured came Friday, when Marines raided a hospital near Nassiriya where other members of Lynch's unit were videotaped and later shown on Iraqi TV. Marines found at least one shredded woman's uniform spattered with blood and the name patch torn off. In addition to Lynch, two other female soldiers went missing after the ambush.

In one hospital room, Marines discovered a car battery next to a bed - a possible electrical shock torture chamber.

During the last Persian Gulf War, Iraqis attached wires to one American POW's jaw and shocked him, Yarsinske said.

An Iraqi pharmacist who works at Saddam Hospital told Britain's Sky TV he treated Lynch's leg injuries. He added: "Every day I saw her crying about wanting to go home."

The pharmacist, who gave his name only as Imad, said Lynch knew U.S. troops were on the other side of the Euphrates River, and "kept wondering if the American Army were coming to save her."

Lynch's hometown of Palestine, W.Va., continued its celebration of her recovery yesterday.

Her brother, Gregory Jr., who is also in the Army, told CNN his sister sounded "disoriented" when she phoned home. "Her voice was crackly and low. She sounded like she was sick."

West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise stopped by the Lynch's home yesterday and told her parents that their daughter, who had joined the Army to pay for college so she could become a kindergarten teacher, would not have to worry about tuition.

"There will be a full scholarship for her whenever she wants to go for college," he promised.

With News Wire Services



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraqifreedom; jessicalynch; nbc; torture; warcrimes
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To: Wonder Warthog
Reba's a bit, ahem, mature to play 19.
41 posted on 04/03/2003 4:26:02 AM PST by katana
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To: kattracks
Jessica was being tortured.

Will THIS bring it home to the left that their espousal of moral equivalence between the Iraqis and us is wrong?

42 posted on 04/03/2003 4:26:57 AM PST by wayoverontheright
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To: libbylu
WHY would it even cross your mind that the coalition is torturing iraqis?

It hasn't crossed my mind for for our involvement in Iraq because it has been very short; I'm not sure there would have been time for the question of torture to even arise yet. But in longer conflicts (such as in the Pacific during WWII) where the bitterness gained a momentum of its own, I'm sure there have been cases where Americans used torture on the battlefield.

I believe there may be many opportunities for our troops and our intelligence organizations to face these tough questions in the future, so it's worth discussing now.

This is war, and it's going to leave many who fight in it with issues that weigh on their consciences. I'm just a realist. People who have to face those issues in defense of our freedoms have my gratitude. Think about our forces being asked to take fire from civilians now. They have to identify a positive target before returning fire. That's tough! If a troop fails to live up to that ideal, I'm on his side.

43 posted on 04/03/2003 4:28:05 AM PST by risk
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To: Right_in_Virginia

Hey, Kofi...don't you have something to say about this?
 

Nah. That would require guts and integrity.

44 posted on 04/03/2003 4:29:50 AM PST by Fintan (Barnum was wrong...it's more like every fifteen seconds.)
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To: InvisibleChurch
Kind of makes you wonder if a career in the military was a good choice for this guy. Last I checked, it was still a volunteer force. If he didn't want to fight, why did he join?
45 posted on 04/03/2003 4:33:10 AM PST by exile (Exile)
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To: kattracks
All I will say is the girl has "balls" and stayed true to her Country Commander-In-Chief and the folks of WV. Every American should be proud of this tough little 19 year old country girl from a town that most of would soon forget!
46 posted on 04/03/2003 4:34:39 AM PST by Trueblackman
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To: No Dems 2004
Women in Combat: A political wedge issue under the Clinton administration to give credence to groups such as NOW and other women's organizations. THAT is why we have women on the front lines. If it had been Bush or a Republican, these people would now be out in droves criticizing it. But where are they
47 posted on 04/03/2003 4:36:39 AM PST by grumple
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To: Trueblackman
Every American should be proud of this tough little 19 year old country girl from a town that most of would soon forget!

Indeed. When I heard about the ambush of her convoy, I was trying to imagine how it would feel to be there. I was thinking to myself that I wouldn't want to be captured, and that I would probably want to do everything I could to avoid it.

When I found out that was exactly what she did, I felt even more proud of her.

48 posted on 04/03/2003 4:38:31 AM PST by risk
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To: katana
Its extremely pre-mature to talk about this stuff, but if a movie is to be made, why do we think she can't play herself, ala' Audie Murphy?
49 posted on 04/03/2003 4:39:39 AM PST by Lockbar
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To: this_ol_patriot
If she was violated, how do we who believe in the sanctity of all life deal with a pregnancy which may result?

C'mon, give the girl some space here.

50 posted on 04/03/2003 4:40:08 AM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
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To: this_ol_patriot
In reference to your abortion question.

My response to that question is always

"If you want to kill sombody, kill the criminal rapist not the innocent child"

51 posted on 04/03/2003 4:42:53 AM PST by pray boy
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To: Lockbar
Its extremely pre-mature to talk about this stuff, but if a movie is to be made, why do we think she can't play herself, ala' Audie Murphy?

I doubt she'd want to relive that, even on film.

52 posted on 04/03/2003 4:43:51 AM PST by RogueIsland
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To: katana; Alouette
"Reba's a bit, ahem, mature to play 19."

Hey, with enough makeup and film artistry, ANYONE can look 19 (or 99--though I'll admit that looking 99 is probably easier than 19).

53 posted on 04/03/2003 4:45:00 AM PST by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel)
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To: risk
I think one has to weigh the situation and consider each case existentially. Let's say you capture someone and you know she has knowledge of where a suitcase nuke is located in a large American city, and you know she knows when it is set to detonate. I believe in that case, the end justifies the means. Our morality should never be used against us!

And the woman you're torturing will tell you what you want to hear, or she'll be a hardcase and use the pain to supply a mental focus, and actually use your own torture techniques to resist interrogation, or you'll screw up and kill her, and you won't EVER get the info.

54 posted on 04/03/2003 4:47:54 AM PST by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
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Comment #55 Removed by Moderator

To: exile
the theory was that he wanted to live in california for six months, gain residency, then be able to attend berkley for free
56 posted on 04/03/2003 4:58:41 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
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To: dennisw
"We should not use torture except in extraordinary circumstances. And contrary to your holier_than_thou, there are some"

I appreciate your ad hominem argument. Why use argumentation when you can just smear someone? Is it "holier-than-thou" to be in favor of this war because it is the right thing to do, i.e. to think that our values are better than Saddam's?
57 posted on 04/03/2003 5:00:22 AM PST by bucephalus (Typing is Easy. Thinking is Difficult.)
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To: dennisw
We should not use torture except in extraordinary circumstances. And contrary to your holier_than_thou, there are some

Torture is not operationally effective, contrary to what you see in the movies.

58 posted on 04/03/2003 5:02:47 AM PST by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
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To: Poohbah
Torture is not operationally effective, contrary to what you see in the movies.

I could believe that.

59 posted on 04/03/2003 5:10:05 AM PST by risk
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To: AppyPappy
As I said in my post if this is not the appropiate thread to discuss this point regarding all women in the service direct me to one where this issue is being discussed.

60 posted on 04/03/2003 5:10:31 AM PST by this_ol_patriot
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