I don't agree. A great deal of coverage was given to Scott O'Grady back when he was rescued. I suppose you'll say he got so much attention because he's telegenic.
Given the daring of the rescue mission, Joe Testosterone would have received just as much attention.
I also don't agree. If the Iraqi lawyer had secretly slipped a note to the US guys that Joe Testosterone was being held and tortured in the nassiria hospital, i think the outcome would have been exactly the same, even if the media effect less sensational.
i for one have reluctantly come to the conclusion that women in the military, and in combat, are a net plus for a number of reasons. if this raises the bar in improving the general safety of soldiers, in order to make it safer for women as a a side benefit, i am all for it.
the truth of the matter is that Jessica Lynch and her toughness has struck a blow into the fanatical mindset of the Arabs, and anyone who has the mistaken belief that America has grown soft -- and from that mistaken belief arise wars (the degenerate Clinton did much to create the belief of this softness and this in and of itself helped bring about 9/11)
Don't kid yourself, though, mombonn. We are especially joyful because a young American woman has been delivered from what we all know was a unfathomable fate.
We do not ever need to see that again. Women can be - all they can be - as a Carrier Flight Boss or a Falcon Flight Wing Crew Chief, or as a JSTAR Captain or a Four Star General sitting at General Franks right hand. She can be the President's most trusted adviser from the NSC, helping him work through the diplomatic/military morass. She can be my President and my trusted Commander in Chief.
I do not want ANY women, going forward, to be put in a position where they ... INDEED ALL OF US ... are at the mercy of rapists, sadists and insane and violent Third World sociopaths. That's who we are going to be hooking up with, going forward.
Having women engaged in the chaos of brutal violence in a battle zone is nothing but trouble. It's bad for her, it's bad for the guys who are fighting to protect their own lives in pursuit of the mission, and it's bad for AMERICAN interests.
That's my point. It's no slur on Pfc Lynch's competence or courage. There is no single battle slot a female is so fit to serve that will ever trump that slot being served by a less qualified man whose death, capture or severe injury would have a less deleterious effect on the mission at hand, the propaganda leverage of the enemy AND the vital "war" for a solid public support, emotional morale and fundamental confidence back home.
The fact of the matter is, mombonn, that female chopper pilot who was taken prisoner in Desert Storm withheld any disclosure of the abusive rape and sexual violation she suffered at the hands of her Iraqi captors. Why would she not share this, perhaps she was emotionally distraught? No, she held this information back because she KNEW that this disclosure would have scuttled any authorization of female access to the battle zone. She was an advocate for women in combat. How lovely. That's the political b.s. around this stuff, mombonn, that is Clinton era crap all the way.