So who really did save Private Jessica?

Times Online ^ | April 16, 2003 | Richard Lloyd Parry

[Destro]

Yea--when I get shot I am sure I will demand that they will not cut off my clothes looking for entry wounds. The Iraqis must use those Star Trek medical scanners Bones McCoy uses.

[milemark]

Quote from article: "She was terrified. She had been brought in naked except for her military T-shirt."

Link to article: http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/16/wjess16.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/16/ixworld.html

I guess they only cut off your pants and underwear to check for bullet holes in Iraq, gunshot wounds to the upper body not being considered serious injuries.

[Destro]

Her legs were broken, no?

[SkyPilot]

From your link:

"She kept saying to me 'Don't touch me, please don't hurt me.' "

And she was brought in practically naked to the hospital. But Time Online wants us to believe it was the Americans who were "rampaging" and "being brutal."

What a joke. Shame on whoever wrote this garbage.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

After fake white flags and car suicide bombings the SpecOps were doing their jobs. This spin reminds me of one of Saddam's henchmen saying 'ambulance was fired upon and injured party was killed'-crap.

Sad, how --our media --produced propaganda from a dead regime, and all for what, their leftist politics as they can't STAND for this administration to do any good?

[EaglesUpForever]

"I rescued her myself. First, I single-handedly
cured all her ailments, then I handed her over to
the retarded American mercenary infdels, when
they came to the hospital to surrender."

[Iwo Jima]

I am beginning to think that we may never know Pfc Lynch's version of how she sustained her injuries for the simple reason that she does not know. Her broken bones may have been sustained in the initial assault (there were reports from the other freed POWs of overturned humvees}. Plus, according to this article and as one might assume, she was unconcious for some time. Many people who undergo such massive trauma never remember what happened to them, which is actually a blessing.

As to the gunshot/no gunshot controversy, I've pretty much disgarded that issue as irrelevent. Given what we now know happened from the other freed POWs about that ferocious and one-sided firefight, it would hardly be a surprise if she were shot, but that the wound was hard to detect among her other injuries including broken skin due to broken bones, and in any event was not a big deal in comparison to her other wounds.

Maybe Pfc Lynch will speak out, but if she does not, if may not be that she is being coy, saving her story for a movie deal, or any such thing. More likely, she just does not remember, and that's probably for the best. Although at this point I don't see any evidence of torture, as opposed to rough handling, if she was tortured, I hope that she was unconcious and had no memory of that part most especially.

[Iwo Jima]

I don't put much stock in this article, but from my review of the film of the rescue, it seemed clear that there was no opposition. Plus we never heard any report of having found or killed any fedayen (darn). So my conclusion was that they had left, maybe because of the way that the war going, maybe because they heard that our guys were coming for them (wouldn't you vamoose, too)?

None of this detracts from the skill and bravery of our men and our joy at the safe recovery of Lynch, and our sad gratitude for the recovery of the bodies of our dead soldiers.

[milemark]

Her legs were broken, yes. And her arm. And a disk in her back. Her clothing being removed just for treating injuries seems inconsistent to me.

[EaglesUpForever]

I still hate the tone of this. I think it's one story about what happened, manipulated (by one of Pravda's favorite "journalists") to make the US look as bad as possible.

[Iwo Jima]

I think that the doctor was probably misquoted and that his words were taken out of context to further a particular agenda. But I also think that the doctor simply does not understand how a raid like this goes down. Of course, he was treated as suspicious until proven innocent. He seems to have taken offense that he was treated as he was, but hey, there was no other choice. Nor was there time to give detailed information or an apology. So he got his feelings hurt. Too bad. Next time, we'll present our calling card and ask if the family are receiving visitors today (NOT).

[SuziQ]

“They were doctors, with stethoscopes round their necks,” Dr Harith said.
“Even in war, a doctor should not be treated like that.”

It is sad that the American soldiers had to be so suspicious. But given what they'd eincountered the previous couple of weeks; soldiers in civilian clothing firing at Coalition forces, Fedayeen in AMBULANCES firing on the soldiers. I don't blame them for being wary of someone claiming to be a doctor.

A desparate try to make Americans look bad in the aftermath of liberation.

[EaglesUpForever]

Fedayeen in AMBULANCES firing on the soldiers

Good point. Saddam's tactics in this, and the tactics of visitors from Syria and elsewhere, were designed to maximize civilian casualties. It is amazing that our troops showed as much restraint as they did. If it had been an Iraqi raid on one of our hospitals, there would have been nobody living to tell about it.