On Not Admitting Our Mistakes

The Washington Post Page A25 ^ | Friday, May 23, 2003 | Richard Cohen

[Criminal Number 18F]

Pfc. Jessica Lynch's capture and rescue was certainly a dramatic affair -- particularly in The Post. This newspaper told its readers that she had been shot and stabbed, that she had fought off her Iraqi attackers -- her gun blazing -- until she went down and was taken prisoner, hospitalized and then rescued eight days later. Trouble is, much of that may be false.

Lynch apparently was not shot. Lynch was not stabbed. Lynch may not have put up much of a fight, maybe none at all. The lights may have gone out for her the moment her unit was attacked and her vehicle went off the road. It was then, probably, that she suffered several broken bones. This information, too, was in The Post -- sort of.

The original story about Lynch was played on the front page. Later, when it turned out that some of the gripping details in the story were questionable, the "corrections" -- although they were never labeled that -- were played inside the paper. You are forgiven, therefore, if you do not have the facts on Jessica Lynch. They were extremely hard to get.

[RJayneJ]

I know that most or all of the cable stations were all over the place in their early coverage and it took several days before the got it right, but that's the nature of live coverage. I don't think there was an effort to misrepresent the facts.

Quote of the Day by twas

[Jeff Chandler]

>>Good thing they didn't hurry up and name a landmark after her.<<

>>She was a POW and will earn a Purple Heart. Sounds like a hero to me.<<

You misunderstand me. I was refering not to Lynch personally, but to the hurried naming of a landmark in Phoenix after her buddy. The normal rule of waiting five years after a hero's death was to prevent hasty decisions based upon questionable early reports from being made. The confusion over the details of Lynch's capture serve to highlight the wisdom of those rules, which were discarded by our rat governess, apparently to win political points.

[gcruse]

She was a POW and will earn a Purple Heart. Sounds like a hero to me.

I think by not reserving heroism for activities above and beyond
the call of duty, we lose sight of the real heroes among us in the
haze of self-esteem-for-everybody.  Getting injured and captured aren't heroic.
The Purple Heart  is plenty.

[secret garden]

Remember, they were having vociferous arguments in the press about continuing to call it Squaw Mountain prior to naming it after Lori.

[Jeff Chandler]

Didn't a couple guys in the Kosovo conflict get big medals for getting captured and held prisoner for a few days?

[The Duke]

So, it all begs the question, how might the outcome have changed for Lynch's unit had her seat been occupied by some big, testosterone-dripping he-man?

[RJayneJ]

I read once that you loose memory several minutes before a trauma. I know where I read it. There was a murder case of the woman that killed her babies. She claimed that she remembered going to answer the door when she was knocked out by a blow to the head. That is when the police knew she was lying because you will loose memory on both sides of the trauma and she would not remember going to answer the door.

[Jeff Chandler]

Remember, they were having vociferous arguments in the press about continuing to call it Squaw Mountain prior to naming it after Lori.

A tempest in a teapot. Most Arizonans, Native Americans included, don't give a prairie dog's butt about the word squaw. Every so often a guy from an activist group would fly into the state and claim to be the spokeman for all of the Native Americans, and the Republic newspaper would go on a propaganda jag.

[gcruse]

I don't know. Did they? Do you think they were heroes?

[Jeff Chandler]

I believe they were shot down, and Jesse Jackson got them out. Some people commented that the prestige of the medals they received seemed a bit out of proportion with the deeds they performed. Your comments reminded me of the controversy.

I wish I could remember more details, but I was hit over the head.

[El Gato]

Good thing they didn't hurry up and name a landmark after her

Perhaps, but the facts are not in the public domain just yet, one way or the other. Let the the Army's investigation go forward and see what comes out of it.

And even if the "lights went out" for her when the RPB hit the truck she was in, she still suffered alot, and in our name. Locals may decide a landmark or other honor are still appropriate. Their call.

[jlogajan]

I read once that you loose memory several minutes before a trauma. I know where I read it. There was a murder case of the woman that killed her babies. She claimed that she remembered going to answer the door when she was knocked out by a blow to the head. That is when the police knew she was lying because you will loose memory on both sides of the trauma and she would not remember going to answer the door.

Well, I can tell you that you are wrong. I was checking on my new house being built. They'd just put the floor on the second floor and it had snowed and the steps up were narrow and icy. It was dark so we went up with flash lights. Coming back down the stairs I remember starting to fall. I remember the batteries bouncing out of the flash light after I landed. Other details of the fall are gone. I sort of remember starting to walk home (next door.) Thirty minutes later I remember waking up in front of my wife asking how I got there. She said I'd been talking to her for the last 30 minutes, and every few minutes, asking her how I got there.

So I did NOT lose any memories before within a second or two of slipping in the first place. The 30 minutes AFTER are gone from my memory.

[gcruse]

LOL

[Jeff Chandler]

See #22.

[El Gato]

she may have been involved in a vehicle accident,

I don't think I'd call an RPG slamming into your vehicle an accident, and I think that much is established. She may have sustained most of her injuries in the resulting crash, but a crash and an accident are not the same thing.

[Jeff Chandler]

>>but a crash and an accident are not the same thing.<<

Okay. Every place I wrote "accident", think "crash".

[gcruse]

Reminds me of a joke from the old, old, OLD, radio program, the Judy Canova Show.

What's the difference between a collision and an explosion?
In a collision, there you are. In an explosion, where are you?

I know. But things were funnier back then. ;)

[jlogajan]

I think by not reserving heroism for activities above and beyond the call of duty, we lose sight of the real heroes among us in the haze of self-esteem-for-everybody. Getting injured and captured aren't heroic. The Purple Heart is plenty.

Going into a battle zone is heroic. The price some pay is disproportionate. Lynch paid a high physcial and psychological price.

There needn't be just one degree of heroism.

[bethelgrad]

Olive Oil can beat Popeye in arm wrestling, and Minnie Mouse is the real strength behind Mickey. yawn


Let's not get carried away here people!

[El Gato]

RPB <== RPG