Rescue in Iraq and a 'Big Stir' in West Virginia (PFC Jessica Lynch)

The New York Times ^ | April 3, 2003 | Douglas Jehl and Jayson Blair

[Timesink]

April 3, 2003

Rescue in Iraq and a 'Big Stir' in West Virginia

By DOUGLAS JEHL and JAYSON BLAIR

ALESTINE, W.Va., April 2 - Even today, Linda Davies was still clutching the note that Pfc. Jessica Lynch, her former kindergarten student, sent six weeks ago from the desert of Kuwait, set out on pastel paper in a schoolgirl's round handwriting and marveling at how far she had come from her home in rural West Virginia.

"I can say I've been to places that half of Wirt County will never see," Private Lynch, 19, wrote with the wonder and awe of a country girl who had not visited Charleston, the state capital, until she graduated from high school but had now embarked on what she plainly saw as a great adventure.

In just a few months, the private wrote on Feb. 21, she had visited Mexico, Germany and Kuwait and now, as a young Army supply clerk, was poised to set out toward Iraq as soon as President Bush gave the order.

"I will still be a teacher," Mrs. Davies said in summing up Private Lynch's plans for the future. "But I want to travel first."

Private Lynch's friends and relatives never imagined that her travels would include days of captivity in Iraq, a daring rescue by American commandos, and a flight on a military transport plane that rushed her today to a hospital in Germany.

Her family said military officials told them that she has broken legs and gunshot wounds.

This morning, hours after Private Lynch was rescued from an Iraqi hospital, Ms. Davies and others here said they were sure she had been saved by the power of prayer and by the resilience fostered by her modest West Virginia roots.

"I know there were people all over the world who were praying for Jessi," said Ms. Davies, who taught Jessica Lynch in kindergarten 14 years ago and had remained close to her. "We know a miracle has occurred."

Outside the Lynch family's tin-roofed, white wood-frame home at the end of a single-lane gravel road, Private Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr., 43, a self-employed truck driver in heavy boots and blue jeans, put it a different way.

"What she has learned growing up in the country and woods, and by what her brother put her through, that kind of prepared her for a lot," Mr. Lynch said.

Asked what he might tell his daughter, Mr. Lynch grinned through his exhaustion.

"The little brat's caused a big stir in this county," he said, adding: "As soon as she's capable, we're planning one heck of a big shindig." He got his chance to talk to her this afternoon.

Dozens of people, some traveling from more than 100 miles away gathered today outside the home, surrounded by woods and farmland in the heart of Appalachia, to congratulate the family. They listened to a radio on the hill tuned into a popular country music station in Charleston, WQBE-FM, that was playing dedications to Private Lynch all day.

Private Lynch, the second of three children, joined the Army in 2001, not as a career but as a way station, her friends and family said today, a path to the college education that her family could not otherwise afford and, ultimately, to a job as a kindergarten teacher.

It is a route that is not unusual in Wirt County, about 70 miles north of Charleston, with a population of about 5,000 and an unemployment rate of about 15 percent. Private Lynch's older brother, Gregory Jr., 21, enlisted in the Army on the same day as his sister; her younger sister, Brandi, 18, now a high school senior, has also enlisted and is due to begin her military service in August.

But the speed, then the horror, and now the relief of Private Lynch's personal journey has left people in this community overwhelmed, first with shock and now with jubilation for a young woman who had seen little of West Virginia, much less the world, when she left for the Army.

"She kept saying that this is what New York City must be like," said Glenda Nelson, a family friend who took Private Lynch on her first visit to Charleston for a shopping trip, just before she left for her Army post at Fort Bliss, Tex.

The two spent several hours shopping for clothes and other items Private Lynch needed, and Ms. Nelson said the young woman was much impressed by the lights and buildings in the state capital, a city of about 200,000.

"She is nothing but a wholesome West Virginia country girl," Ms. Nelson said. "I told her that she needed to get out and see some of the world. I didn't mean Iraq."

Ms. Nelson and her husband, Donald, sat in their kitchen today, staring at their own letter from Private Lynch, which arrived on Monday. In the time it took the letter, dated March 18, to make its way from Kuwait, Private Lynch's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was attacked during some of the first fighting in Nasiriya, she was declared missing in action for five days and yellow ribbons began to pop up all over town.

"We just bawled like babies when we got the letter," Mr. Nelson said today. "It just tore us apart to think of how scared she was or what might have happened to her."

But on Tuesday, a day after the letter arrived, the Nelsons and just about everyone else in this community quickly learned that the Lynches had received a telephone call saying their daughter had been rescued.

The news sent Wirt County into a frenzy, with friends, relatives, teachers, politicians, state troopers, firefighters and other residents descending upon the Lynch house at the end of Mulberry Lane.

This afternoon, Mr. Nelson said the ordeal just re-emphasized the power of community, prayer and what a special woman Private Lynch is. "She was smart and gentle, a good country girl," he said. "I think the reason she survived through this is that she is a true angel and God knows that he wants her with us for some more time."

"I hope to God that the whole country does not forget about what a special hero we have in Jessi Lynch," Mr. Nelson added, making clear that he had in mind some antiwar protesters who he believes have been too hard on the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

At Wirt County High School this morning, in Elizabeth, the county seat, the 300 students gathered in a packed auditorium to sing songs like "God Bless America" in honor not just of Private Lynch but also of other soldiers, some of them the brothers and cousins of students.

"When students here get out of school," said Rodney Watson, the high school softball coach, "it seems like there are two things they can do, which is either hang on the corner or go off to college or the military, and college takes money."

He remembers Private Lynch as the feisty right fielder who played for four years on his team. "Being scrappy probably helped her get through this thing," Mr. Watson said.

Gregory Jr., an Army private home on emergency leave from his base at Fort Bragg, N.C., acknowledged he had not been enthusiastic about his sister's decision to join the Army, partly out of brotherly concern and partly because he wondered whether a woman of her small stature could succeed as a soldier.

But he said of his sister: "She's strong-headed, and now that I've seen Jessi do it, I realize that it's possible."

This morning both West Virginia University and Marshall University, also in West Virginia, offered Private Lynch financial assistance to attend college and pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.

"We've read about her reason for joining the military," said David C. Hardesty Jr., the president of West Virginia University, "and along with her love for her country and her concern for the plight of the Iraqis, she wanted to better her life through a college education."

Aides to West Virginia's governor, Bob Wise, a Democrat whose office sent an official to assist the Lynch family the day she disappeared in Iraq, said he was considering issuing a proclamation declaring a "Jessica Lynch Day." The aides said dozens of calls of congratulations from other states have come in for the Lynch family and for West Virginians.

"I really do consider this a miracle in the mountains," Governor Wise said.

Ms. Lynch, who will turn 20 on April 26, had been assigned at Fort Bliss with the 507th Maintenance Company. She had recently re-enlisted for another four-year stint and was scheduled to be reassigned to duty in Hawaii starting in November.

From Kuwait, where she arrived with her unit in February, she found time to write to friends like Mrs. Davies and the Nelsons about the decisions that had taken her so far from home. "I've been traveling so much, but it's cool, because I want to," she wrote to Mrs. Davies on Feb. 21, adding: "Keep me and all soldiers in your prayers and thoughts, and we will do our best to protect you all."

Apart from brief glimpses of her strapped on a stretcher in video footage on television this morning, Private Lynch's relatives had learned little more about her condition today beyond what they first heard on Tuesday in a 6:15 p.m. telephone call from an Army colonel whom they would not name: that she had been rescued.

Pamela Nicolais, a cousin of Private Lynch, said that a military official told the family that she had "limped to a hospital in Iraq" after her unit was ambushed, and had been turned over to Iraqi forces.

Senior military officials provided only a few details about the intelligence that led to Private Lynch's rescue, but family members said they were told that she was located because an Iraqi doctor handed a note to a Marine indicating that she was at a hospital, listed the room number and added that she was being tortured.

Family members said they were told that she had a gunshot wound in the leg that military officials believe occurred during the ambush of her unit. But the family members also said they were heartened by the images they saw on television that showed her looking clear-eyed.

The military did not publicly disclosed Private Lynch's injuries, but one military official confirmed that she did have multiple gunshot wounds and broken bones. No further details about how the injuries occurred were provided.

Through the nine days when Private Lynch was missing, the family held nightly prayer gatherings at their home, relatives said, and her parents in particular had never abandoned their belief that she was alive.

Inside her cramped living room, where she sat on an overstuffed green loveseat, Private Lynch's mother, Deadra, 40, said a motherly intuition she felt earlier on Tuesday had given her confidence her daughter would be found.

"I was up and down, but I just knew yesterday was going to be the day," Mrs. Lynch said. "A mama knows."

[Timesink]

As someone who's pretty much split his life between West Virginia and Manhattan, I have to say this article, to me, just REEKS of two patrician snots from New York City taking the redeye out to "Yahoo Land" to soak up the "local color." Am I reading too much into this?

[boomop1]

I will read nothing with a NY Times source.

[fourdeuce82d]

Am I reading too much into this?

I didn't get that sense...but I was struck by how different our small towns are from the coastal areas... I have cousins just like here up in Alva OK.

Salt of the earth, backbone of the country.

[egarvue]

I tend to slightly agree, but even then the true color of the Real America shines through. Maybe, just maybe, this trip opened up the reporter's eyes to the fact that there's a larger world beyond Times Square and the liberal snottery of the east coast.

[Uncle George]

This article proves the Times News is trying to repent after the violent public reaction to their traitorous columns of late. The trouble is ARCHIVES never go away.

[sticker]

It's the new york times way of saying "see how backwards the people that fight for this country are". They are not at all like the trendy anti-war people.

[onehipdad]

As someone who's pretty much split his life between West Virginia and Manhattan, I have to say this article, to me, just REEKS of two patrician snots from New York City taking the redeye out to "Yahoo Land" to soak up the "local color."

Be that as it may, it's a wonderful telling of the kind of story we just can't get enough of, now or anytime.

I believe this young woman's upbringing that saw her through this trial will see her through all the trials that will spring from this experience, and keep her that little brat from Wirt County, in the core.

[lindsay]

l watched the family on t.v. and l would be proud to have them as neighbours and friends.l don't care where they are from.They seemed like a wonderful caring family.

[twigs]

traitorous columns of late.

Former Sec. of State Lawrence Eagleburger said on FNC last night that he was approached by the NYT several weeks ago to write an op ed piece that was critical to the Bush administration. He declined.

[nicko]

every WV soldier who ever worked for me (maybe five or six) during my 22 year stint was solid- very strong people, dependable, earnest; all had that same unique, quiet sense of humor...good people-

[onehipdad]

Well said...

[Timesink]

WARNING: One of the co-authors of this article has just been fired by The New York Times for plagiarism.

[Timesink]

The New York Times official report on the lies and plagiarism committed by reporter Jayson Blair in the creation of the above article:

Rescue in Iraq and a 'Big Stir' in West Virginia

APRIL 3, 2003

WHEREABOUTS: Hotels in the vicinity of Palestine, W.Va., had no record of Mr. Blair. His co-writer, as well as a photographer who was stationed at the Lynch home for The Times, said they did not see Mr. Blair. Mr. Blair gave his editors and his co-writer a number where he could be reached on April 2, the day the article was written. The number belonged to Glenda and Donald Nelson, friends of the Lynch family; the Nelsons said that they never met or spoke to Mr. Blair. The Nelsons live in Marmet, W.Va., about a two-hour drive from Palestine.

PLAGIARISM: Mr. Blair described the Nelsons' talking about Private Lynch and a letter they had received from her: "Ms. Nelson and her husband, Donald, sat in their kitchen today, staring at their own letter from Private Lynch, which arrived on Monday. In the time it took the letter, dated March 18, to make its way from Kuwait, Private Lynch's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was attacked during some of the first fighting in Nasiriya, she was declared missing in action for five days and yellow ribbons began to pop up all over town.

" `We just bawled like babies when we got the letter,' Mr. Nelson said today. `It just tore us apart to think of how scared she was or what might have happened to her.' "

In an Associated Press article that ran on April 2, Ms. Barker wrote: "Before the war started, Private Lynch wrote a letter to family friends Glenda and Don Nelson. The letter, dated March 18, arrived on Monday. `She said she was ready to go to war and was just waiting on President Bush's word, but I could tell she was scared,' said Don Nelson. `We bawled like babies when we read it. It tore us up.' "

Mr. Blair also used details and quotations about a shopping trip to Charleston that was recounted in an Associated Press article from March 25.

In addition, Mr. Nelson's quotation about Private Lynch being "a wholesome West Virginia country girl" appears to have been adapted from a comment in the April 2 Associated Press article made by Lorene Cumbridge, a cousin of Private Lynch. "She's just a West Virginia country girl. Warm-hearted. Outgoing," Ms Cumbridge said.

[Timesink]

Below is an "Editor's Note" published May 11, 2003 regarding Mr. Blair:

May 11, 2003

Editors' Note

en days ago, Jayson Blair resigned as a reporter for The New York Times after the discovery that he had plagiarized parts of an article on April 26 about the Texas family of a soldier missing in Iraq. An article on Page 1 today recounts a chain of falsifications and plagiarism that unraveled when The Times began an inquiry into that Texas article. At least 36 more articles written by Mr. Blair since October reflected plagiarism, misstatements, misrepresentation of the reporter's whereabouts or a combination of those. An accounting of the flaws will be found on the right side of this page, as the first headline under "Related."

Today's article and the accounting result from a weeklong investigation by five Times reporters and a team of researchers. The newspaper organized it in the belief that the appropriate corrective for flawed journalism is better journalism - accurate journalism.

The reporters have telephoned news sources cited by Mr. Blair and have interviewed other journalists who worked with him. Executives have read them summaries of telephone records and expense documents. To examine the newsroom processes that went awry, they have had unrestricted access to other Times staff members, including top editors, involved with Mr. Blair's copy and the management of his career. Within the limits of laws and ethical codes governing health and employment records, Times managers have described documents for the reporting team.

The reporters' examination has centered on the last seven months, a period in which Mr. Blair increasingly received assignments distant from the newsroom, which allowed him wider independence. His earlier work, done under closer supervision, will be spot-checked. If another major examination appears warranted, it will be carried out. Readers and news sources who know of defects in additional articles should send e-mail to The Times: retrace@nytimes.com.

In online databases that include copy from The Times, cautionary notices will be attached to the faulty articles in coming days.

The Times regrets that it did not detect the journalistic deceptions sooner. A separate internal inquiry, by the management, will examine the newsroom's processes for training, assignment and accountability.

For all of the falsifications and plagiarism, The Times apologizes to its readers in the first instance, and to those who have figured in improper coverage. It apologizes, too, to those whose work was purloined and to all conscientious journalists whose professional trust has been betrayed by this episode.

[Dane]

Am I reading too much into this?

Nope, just very perceptive of Jayson Blair's and the New York Time's editors tactics.

[Timesink]

Not only did Jayson Blair make up this story, he admits he finds it utterly hilarious that he was able to get away with making Pfc. Lynch's family look like a bunch of ignorant hillbillies and not a single "journalist" in the world called him on it:

Ex-Reporter Blair 'Couldn't Stop Laughing' At One Deception

NYT REPORTER: I WAS GOING TO KILL MYSELF; SHAMED BLAIR PREPARES 5-PAGE BOOK PROPOSAL

Go ahead, asshole, kill yourself.

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

This is the New York Times Schadenfreude Ping List. Freepmail me to be added or dropped.

[martin_fierro]

As someone who's pretty much split his life between West Virginia and Manhattan, I have to say this article, to me, just REEKS of two patrician snots from New York City taking the redeye out to "Yahoo Land" to soak up the "local color." Am I reading too much into this?

Turns out your nailed it, m'man. <|:)~