Posted on 04/05/2003 1:18:38 AM PST by kattracks
Pfc. Jessica Lynch was beaten more severely than first reports indicated, doctors said yesterday.Besides two broken legs and a broken arm, the 19-year-old Army truck driver suffered fractures to her right foot, right ankle and a disk in her spine, and had a gash on her head.
Lynch underwent spinal surgery Thursday to repair the fractured disk that had been pressing painfully on a nerve, doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany reported yesterday.
"The prognosis for her recovery is excellent," said Col. David Rubenstein, the medical center commander.
Officials have refused to say why so many of Lynch's bones were broken, but it's likely she was tortured. An Iraqi man who told the Americans where to find her urged the troops to hurry, saying she was being tortured. He later described a scene where the helpless woman was being slapped by a black-clad member of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's thuggish Fedayeen.
Despite her ordeal, Lynch was in good spirits, asking for turkey, a pair of glasses and a newspaper from her hometown of Palestine, W.Va.
"Her emotional state is extremely good - she's jovial, she's talking with staff," Rubenstein said. He said she was particularly cheered by the pink casts she requested.
She will need "extensive rehabilitative services," he continued, but was expected to recover completely.
She's "a daughter any parent would be proud of," he added.
A friend from her unit is with her and has spoken by telephone with her family, Rubenstein said.
The military also accommodated a request from Lynch, who was being fed intravenously, for solid foods. From her list of favorites, cooks in the hospital kitchen delivered an order of turkey, apple sauce and steamed carrots.
The private has no television in her hospital room, on Rubenstein's orders. And Lynch's father back in the U.S. confirmed that doctors have asked him not to discuss her ordeal with her.
"We will answer her questions when she asks them," Rubenstein said.
Nine of 11 bodies discovered in the raid that freed Lynch are believed to be those of American soldiers. Those bodies were transported yesterday to Dover, Del.
With News Wire Services
EUREKA! - That statment absolutely personifies the very reason women should not be place in combat roles.
Absolutely, and the man that made it all possible and risked everything, the guy that told us where she was.
May I ask you a question? Has any British soldier been a KIA in this War? I know you lost some valient boys in a chopper crash, and that Tornado friendly fire thing. Have you lost any lads in the fighting?
I get the BBC on the dish, and I was insulted by one Brit officer who stated that those 10 civilians who died ( because they ran through the first barrier at the check point, ignored a verbal warning, ignored a warning shot in the air, and shrugged off a warning shot in their front grill before our boys blew them up) may have been a tragedy that a more sophisticated, less reactionary British type check point very well could have avoided.
Just take Basrah down, ok?
I can hear Samuel's voice echoing in my head:
..."with great vengeance and fuuuuurrrious anger..."
Actually, the denial of the gunshot wounds turned out to be false.
Freshly cut grass, at that.
Then we'll use a scanning electron microscope and tweezers and crush them all the same.
Idiot! I oppose women in combat (even 'tho my oldest daughter is in USMC boot camp right now - 1/2 way) - not because they won't fight in a pinch, but because they lack the upper body strength to adequately support their comrades. (BTW - my daughter agrees with this) Much of ground combat is just hard labor, and even the USAF & Navy encounter situations where you need to pull a wounded person out by yourself. Few women have the strength to do that.
I also don't like seeing mothers put needlessly in harm's way. I have 3 kids. I love them all - but my wife's relation with them, particularly when they were young, was special.
But you have no business suggesting she's a coward who wants to snivel in a corner. I like the idea of her having pink casts - shows she still considers herself a girl. I'm proud of how she has handled herself, even 'tho I wish she hadn't been put into that position.
I am casting a concern about the ability of your super professionals to ply their expertise absent an immediate and invasive cavity check by the "Chiraq rocks" fanzine contributers ... Twiggy and Alan Carr lookalikes ... who are embedded distorters for the BBC and the following outrage by the "Sexless and Pissed About It" warthogs in the Labour Party.
That's if you are successful! ;^)
Tony needs to give your urban pros an open ticket to clean out the garbage. Your guys are the best in the world at urban warfare, but you aren't plying your leverage.
How in the hell did you lose 9-3 to an Iraqi pickup team?
Doctors find bullet wounds on LynchSaturday, April 05, 2003
By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
PALESTINE, W.Va. -- Parents of Jessica "Jessi" Lynch will fly to Germany this afternoon, a day after learning their daughter had suffered gunshot wounds that went undetected for days.
Yes, she did. She is one brave soldier, and it's a miracle she survived. Her resiliency (if she is indeed "jovial", as some accounts have suggested) is inspiring - she must be as mentally tough as she is physically tough.
What I want to know is why the others are dead. It sickens me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a nation that allows their women on the front lines isn't worth defending!
I too am glad that PFC Lynch is alive and will recuperate; however, her place wasn't in a combat zone.
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