Posted on 09/02/2003 7:42:46 AM PDT by kattracks
NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Lynch, the former prisoner of war whose capture and rescue from an Iraqi hospital made her a national hero, has agreed to a $1 million book deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf."Many folks have written, expressing their support for me and for the thousands of other soldiers who serve their country," Lynch said in a statement issued Tuesday by Knopf.
"I feel I owe them all this story, which will be about more than a girl going off to war and fighting alongside her fellow soldiers. It will be a story about growing up in America."
"I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, is scheduled to come out in mid-November with a first printing of around 500,000 copies, Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source close to the negotiations said Lynch and Bragg will divide a $1 million advance. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.
"I feel a kinship with Jessica and her family, and am thrilled at the prospect of bringing this story to the wider world," Bragg said in the statement issued by Knopf. He has been granted exclusive access to Lynch and her family.
Lynch received a medical discharge last week from the Army, making her eligible to pursue book or movie deals.
Lynch, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23.
Her rescue on April 1 made her a celebrity. She joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.
She returned home to Palestine, W.Va., in July to a hero's welcome after a long stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
"I am feeling better every day, and all the good wishes of the many who have written have certainly kept my spirits up," Lynch said. "I am walking with crutches, but my doctors tell me that as I gain strength I will be able to walk on my own again soon. I am looking forward to those first steps."
Bragg has written several books, including the memoir "All Over but the Shoutin'," and won the feature-writing Pulitzer in 1996, two years after he began working for The New York Times. He resigned from the Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.
You sure have a talent for creating sweeping generalizations, don't you? Apples and oranges. Franks does interviews and press confrences all the time.
There's is no way on earth she would get railroaded. She would be treated with kid gloves, so to speak. It's an extremely sensitive topic and one false move would destroy the reporter's career. Connie Chung was rediculed for years when she railroaded Newt's mom.
An interview lasts a few minutes, a book will takes hours.
I'm not sure about that. There have been extremely long interviews that have aired on prime time TV. TV people would bend over backwards to make her feel comfortable, because they wouldn't want to be known as the big bad wolf that made America's little blond darling cry.
As I said before, she could dictate the terms, she has all the leverage.
Yeah, I don't kow many hospitals that bury their dead outside.
I said that I hadn't read that there were reports that she was tortured but if there were, if you could provide a link
Exactly. Why didn't you ask for proof that all injuries occured in the firefight?
I also asked you if the soldiers that were found in those graves were the the soldiers that were killed at the scene of the ambuse or not ,p>No, you said you heard that they were killed in the fiirefight. Apparently you accepted that without proof.
If I recall correctly .. you never could answer my question or provide my with a link to the report that said was tortured
It's common sense.
If I recall correctly .. you assumed she was because it was common sense .. For which I said that I liked to not assume things and would like to base my opinions on actual facts.
No, we use common sense every day. The fact that you fought so vigorously every time I said the soldiers were tortured saying you heard something else proves you were giving the enemy undue credit. Plus you based the excellent care on the ability of the Iraqi doctors. You couldn't accept my answer of "common sense". You didn't want me to say that the soldiers were tortured unless I could prove it. You didn't hold the others to this standard. When Chad and Daughter said the Iraqis were giving excellent care, you didn't tell them to shut up unless they could prove it, and you even went into an explanation of how the Iraqis could give excellent care. When that last guy said that Lynch wasn't really a POW, you didn't tell him to shut up unless he could prove it. Any time I said anything about the Iraqis, you told me not to assume things and to prove what I was saying. This is giving the enemy undue credit. They were tortured and executed, you'll see.
LOL So that's it? The only military people that can sell books are the ones in interviews? You're making this up as you go to have an issue to complain about.
Grow up
I didn't fight anything .. I asked you a simple question that you would not answer
I've had enough of this .. Good night
Bull, the media has been against this rescue from the beginning. It doesn't matter anyway. She wrote a book because that's what people who have a story do, write books. Her story is better for a book, not an interview.
I'm not sure about that. There have been extremely long interviews that have aired on prime time TV. TV people would bend over backwards to make her feel comfortable, because they wouldn't want to be known as the big bad wolf that made America's little blond darling cry.
You're showing what you're really angry about, that she's female. In any case her story is best for a book.
Her story is best for a book. People like books.
It happens! Remember little Bailey, the tiny battered dead baby that a fireman held lovingly in his arms, pulled from the wreckage of the Murrow Building in Oklahoma? That picture hit the wires and was reprinted hundreds of times over. Did you know that an artist made a over a thousand statues of that picture and sold them, without permission from Bailey's parents? When her parents approached the artist to angrily insist that he stop mechanidising their daughter's horrible death, do you know what he did? HE OFFERED THEM AN F'N STATUE! There was nothing they could do to stop him!
Remember, too, she said she's anxious to take her first steps again. This girl was mangled, through no fault of her own. She will probably need more expensive therapy and who knows what else in the future. Further, NO ONE but Jessica knows how she will be able to function in the future, how this event has impacted her ability to provide for any future family. It's pretty practical of her to seize this opportunity, because she's got a hard road to travel for the rest of her days.
I wish all our returning heroes could have books written about them, have their sacrifices remembered, and have some money to spare for their courage. But since that isn't happening, don't jump on Jessica because she was unfortunate enough to unwillingly capture the limelight.
If she's half as decent as her family, friends, and neighbors (those who KNOW her, versus us in Freeperville who DON'T) say she is, I'm sure she would gladly trade the $$$ for the lives of those slain around her or the use of her legs again.
I don't know to what extent the story line was apocryphal, but the sentiment made sense to me. Did you ever see the movie Seargent York?
Suggesting, as you have, that someone distribute their money among their comrades is marxist ideology. When did this become the Union of Soviet Socialist Free Republics?
Every freeper but about ten, or about ten freepers spewing posts like a lawn sprinkler? There seem to be just a few bitter, resentful persons with a lot of time on their hands making a lot of noise. I haven't the opportunity to stay online all day and make dozens of posts. I log on about 22 hours after my previous visit and the posts have gone from 90 to over 500. There seem to be only a handful of these noisy malcontents who want to tell Lynch how do use her money, imply that she can't wait for an offer from Playboy and make other tasteless comments. I'd be surprised if they represent the majority of freepers.
What are you talking about?
Did you ever see the movie Seargent York?
No.
I think that there are only ten of us left that aren't angry at her for a pet agenda.
There seem to be just a few bitter, resentful persons with a lot of time on their hands making a lot of noise. I haven't the opportunity to stay online all day and make dozens of posts. I log on about 22 hours after my previous visit and the posts have gone from 90 to over 500. There seem to be only a handful of these noisy malcontents who want to tell Lynch how do use her money, imply that she can't wait for an offer from Playboy and make other tasteless comments. I'd be surprised if they represent the majority of freepers.
I'd hope that's the case. We're being inundated by the big tent. If Dems were more moderate, they siphon off some of these complainers and it'd make it more pleasant for the rest of us. Course you can't win elections that way, so it's a necessary evil I guess. Draw just enough to win but not so much that the basics are gone.
(sorry for the ramble, but it's been on my mind lately...:^)...)
I had some time this morning and so I read the report again and I was exactly right. Miller got out of his wrecked vehicle and ran to the wrecked Lynch Humvee driven by Piestewa. They think it was Miller that killed 9 Iraqis. Lynch and Piestewa were the only survivors in the Humvee. The Washington Post confused the radio chatter and so there was no conspiracy. An understandable mistake.
Now you keep calling me a liar. Tell me where I lied or admit you were wrong or remain a false accusor.
The suggestion was it be distributed to the children and wives or husbands of the fallen soldiers, such as Lori Piestwa's family in Tuba City, who are just struggling to get by.
That is not Marxist. That is love of your fellow man's bereaved family and the abhorrence of greed.
Don't talk to me about Marxism. Read my profile page about Marxism. You cloud the issue as I said.
Not all of her comrades are "six feet under" several escaped from the ambush scene and 5 others taken captive were recovered.
Nope, I honestly don't care. A person can make a bad choice no matter what the gender. The big bad wolf comment is a play on people's perceptions.
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