AFP: Ex-POW Jessica Lynch says US used her as Iraq war symbol

[RSchewe]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch, whose capture and rescue in the early days of the
Iraq war turned her into a US icon, said in an interview that the US government had used her as an upbeat symbol in the conflict.

"I think I provided a way to boost everybody's confidence about the war," Lynch told Time magazine.

"I was used as a symbol. They could show the war was going great because 'we rescued this person.' It doesn't bother me anymore. It used to," she said.

Lynch, who has previously criticized the official US government portrayal of her rescue, said her book "I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," written by Rick Bragg, allowed her to "set the record straight" about her March 23, 2003 capture and rescue nine days later.

Lynch, 22, who still uses a cane as she recovers from the injuries sustained during her capture, will attend West Virginia University. The tuition is being paid by her homestate of West Virginia.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050807/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarylynch_050807213823

[mom cat]

1. I wish her well in her long recovery from all of the assaults on her,

including those from her own government!

[Erika]

2. W's SOP is lying to our citizens

They'll use anyone to further their corporatist agenda.

[Botany]

3. Even Jessica is now onto *.

She did not fight until her gun jammed and got freed because an
Iraqi wanted reward money. Her rescuers did not have to fight
their way in to the hospital either. One more lie in a pack of lies
that is Iraq.

[bluestateguy]

4. I'm glad she's able to go to college now

A shame she had to go off to a phony war to get that opportunity.

[WCGreen]

12. Yea but WVA is paying for it... Not the US Government

[Journeyman]

5. Well, at least the war worked out well for someone. . .

n/t

[billbuckhead]

6. This war hasn't been a good thing for Jessica Lynch

:wtf:

[Journeyman]

40. A soldier was injured -- most likely in a car wreck . . .

Taken prisoner, the unconscious soldier ended up in a hospital where some very compassionate doctors and nurses tended to the soldier as best they could, tried to return the soldier to ranks, were rebuffed, and took the soldier back to hospital.

A military detachment then needlessly shot up the hospital in a staged "rescue" attempt.

Put forward by the government as a "genuine hero," the soldier eventually rebelled against the falseness of the situation and began to speak out and continues to speak out against the lies generated by the government about the soldier's captivity.

The soldier was eventually discharged honorably from the military, continues to receive medical attention for the injuries suffered in the accident, and was hailed as a hero by the hometown crowd. Again, the soldier decried the publicity and wanted only to return to the anonymity of civilian life.

A television network wanted to do a movie about the soldier. The soldier refused to cooperate or give permission. The network got the doctor who had treated the soldier, who had been amptly rewarded for his compassion by being allowed to emigrate to the invading nation, and the doctor made good money for his story, which the networks billed as the soldier's.

Someone at the state level made some arrangements and, evidently, got the soldier a fully-paid scholarship to a state university.

Honorably discharged early, still plagued by the car wreck injuries but on the whole in good shape (much better than a lot of returning soldiers), the soldier retains their dignity and morally rises above those who sought to use and manipulate the soldier's misfortune. And the soldier gets an education out of it.

Compared to so many, many others, this soldier seems to have weathered the war well and emerged the better for it. I wish this soldier well.

[Eloriel]

10. You DESPERATELY need a sarcasm smilie in that post

REALLY badly needed.

[Journeyman]

41. Should I submit all my posts to you for editorial control? . . .

What hours are you available, so I can work my schedule around yours.

[geek tragedy]

19. Would you be willing to get raped for tuition money?

Never mind . . .

[marbuc]

37. I've heard she wasn't actually raped

that this was fabricated by those trying to demonize Iraqi aoldiers.

[H5N1]

39. She never claimed to have been raped. Right wing propaganda.

[Journeyman]

42. There was no medical evidence collected by the Iraqis that showed rape...

Such allegations were, in fact, fabrications concocted by the ghostwriter who worked with her on her first book. Ms. Lynch has no memory of such abuse, and has stated her doubts that it happened.

But never mind . . . you'll believe whatever Bushbot propaganda fits within your own perceptions.

[geek tragedy]

54. I'll believe her autobiography. And the rape allegation is a few years

old.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3251731.stm

<snip>
In her first interview about what happened to her, the former prisoner-of-war told ABC television that medical reports indicated that she had been raped.

<snip>

[Media_Lies_Daily]

43. You always show up to present the NeoCon side of the story....

...why is that, exactly?

[Zhade]

66. Per Wikipedia...

...(which I've seen you use as a source before, so I know it to be approved by you):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lynch#Lynch.27s_injuries

In the book "I Am A Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story" by Rick Bragg, the author alleges that Lynch was raped and sodomized during her captivity, based on medical records and her pattern of injuries. Iraqi doctors who treated her have disputed the claim as Lynch's clothes were on, showed no sign of being removed at any point, and the degree of her injuries did not indicate rape - although they were not looking for signs of rape at the time. Lynch has no memory of being raped nor of being slapped or mistreated during her captivity.

Per MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/990040.asp

In that time, according to medical records cited in the biography, Lynch was raped and suffered broken bones, torn flesh and two spinal fractures. Iraqi doctors who treated her have told reporters she was not raped.

Per The Guardian UK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1081207,00.html

Misgivings characterising Lynch's story are coming to a head: last week she accused the administration of manipulating her story for propaganda, saying she was not a heroine at all; accusations that she'd been raped were disputed by appalled Iraqi doctors who first treated her, and the army was accused of insensitivity and racism for awarding Lynch a full disability pension while others from her ambushed maintenance company, including Shoshana Johnson, the black cook wounded and captured by Iraqis, will receive barely a third of Lynch's discharge package.

Per Reuters:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10290042.htm

Iraqi doctors who treated U.S. soldier Jessica Lynch dismissed on Monday allegations made in her biography that she was raped during her capture in Iraq, saying she had the best possible care.

<SNIP>

Dr Jamal Kadhim Shwail was the first doctor to examine Lynch when she was brought to Nassiriya's military hospital by Iraqi special police. Shwail said Lynch was lying in hospital reception, unconscious and in shock from blood loss.

She was wearing her uniform including a flak jacket, military trousers and boots, none of her clothes had been unbuttoned or removed, as the book claims, he said.

<SNIP>

"She was a woman, young and alone in a strange country," he said. "It was our duty to look after her and we did. Now people are saying she was raped ... it pains us." Shwail said he saw no signs of rape but neither was he looking for them.

"The thought did not cross my mind. Her injuries were consistent with severe trauma, a car crash, nothing else. Her clothes were not torn, her boots had not been removed. There is no way (she could have been raped)."

<SNIP>

There, Dr Mahdi Khafazji operated on her fractured right femur. He cleaned her body before surgery and found no signs of sexual assault. "I examined her very carefully," he said at his clinic in Nassiriya's center. "I cleaned her body including her genitalia. She had no sign of raping or sodomizing."

"ASSAULT WOULD HAVE KILLED HER"

Lynch's wounds were so bad a sexual assault would have killed her, he said. "If she had been raped there is no way she could have survived it."

(I find the most biting commentary on the entire fraud and charade of the entire Lynch Myth - not her bravery, that's real, but the USG's lies about what happened - to be this simple quote found in the comments section of one site: "I heard Iraqi Soldiers pulled Jessica Lynch out of a Baby Incubator!")

[geek tragedy]

67. As you noted, the doctors said they weren't looking for signs of rape.

Anyhoo, disparaging the service and sacrifice of someone who was serving on the frontlines is very Limbaugh-esque.

DU'ers should be better than that.

[Zhade]

68. And, as you'll note, her clothes and boots had not been removed.

IMHO, the medical opinion of the Iraqi doctors who cared for her that rape would have killed her is far more convincing than the word of the U.S. military.

Of course she should not be ridiculed or disparaged - but you must admit that to repeat the lie that she was raped is itself quite Limbaugh-esque.

Perhaps you'd forgotten that had been debunked when it came out, so no harm no foul. At any rate, now you've got more info to show that, indeed, the rape allegation is pretty much bullshit.

[geek tragedy]

71. I'm going to take her at her word on the matter.

Clothing can be removed and put back on. If she believes it, so do I.

[Zhade]

72. Um, she doesn't recall it.

And the military claims it happened when she was unconcious.

You're free to accept their word, of course; I won't.

[geek tragedy]

74. I said she BELIEVES it happened.

If she didn't think it happened, it wouldn't be in her autobiography.

[Zhade]

75. Perhaps she trusts the military more than I do.

:shrug:

I do stand corrected on the 'believes' part, though, thank you for clarifying that.

[geek tragedy]

76. By default, she must trust the military more than you.

;)

I don't know what to make of the story and it certainly wouldn't surprise me if she weren't raped, but if someone believes they've been raped or abused, I tend to be extremely deferential to that belief.

Her reality is that she was raped, and that can't be a fun thing to have on one's mind.

[Zhade]

77. I think I can agree with pretty much all of that.

I still feel the evidence shows she likely wasn't, but I would never call her a liar or anything like that.

[stanwyck]

73. she's never said she was raped

and her examination by US military doctors showed no evidence of rape. That was added for the horrific effect. Just like her "emptying her weapon" against the enemy. Didn't happen. Her weapon jammed.
Don't believe everything you hear on hateradio. Most of it is false.

(hate to tell you this...but those troopers who said Bill and Hillary were going around Arkansas assinating people? Well, they admitted they lied, were convicted of perjury, and told of receiving bribe money from professional Clinton-haters.)

[SaveAmerica]

78. 'Clothing' can but you have to remember we're talking about

combat gear and boots. If you're not familiar with the military's combat boots they're not as easy as, say, desert sandals to put on. If they're still the same as boots of the past we're talking laces into eyes and then hooks, lots of eyes and lots of hooks. I'm thinking someone who is evil enough to rape someone is not going to take the consideration to put all that combat gear back on in such a fashion to make it look like she wasn't raped. I'm going to wager they'd dump her 'as is' for effect.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Who's paying for her college? West Virginia?

I thought the GI Bill (or its successor) was supposed to pick up the tab -- or at least most of it.

Or did the Bush gang cut educational benefits for veterans, too?

--p!

[Roland99]

9. The Propagandist used her and she's reaping the benefits for herself

:eyes:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

44. Yes, indeed...ALL of those benefits like seeing her friends get killed,...

...and her own body get broken in several places so that she still walks with a cane.

By the way, if anyone was listening back then, Lynch told people point blank that she wasn't a hero, that she hadn't been raped, she didn't shoot anyone, and that the Iraqis were very good to her at the hospital.

West Virginia could have easily pulled back their offer of a scholarship...why didn't they?

[wndycty]

8. How long before the Freepers bash her?

:kick:

[geek tragedy]

20. Well, some idiots are bashing her on this thread. Maybe

they should go over to Freeperville where they belong.

[wndycty]

22. At times. . .

. . .many DUers are nothing more than liberal freepers.

[QC]

26. Yep, a mirror image of Free Republic

is what this place is becoming. It's nothing like DU once was.

[BikeWriter]

62. I love your suggestion...

as a fellow Veteran of Jessica. :-)

[marbuc]

57. They already are

gems like save hero status for for "actually shooting the enemy" and those "kicking butt and taking names" are being bantied about. Another called these morans out as suffering from "penis envy," and I found this appropro for every circle jerk military lovefest that goes on over there.

[bahrbearian]

11. Tell the Truth!

This Reporter states "injuries sustained during her capture" she systained her injuries in a wreck, not by being captured.

[Liberal Veteran]

13. Was she ever really a POW?

I thought she just was taken to the hospital until she was "rescued".

[Chovexani]

30. Does it matter?

She was a soldier who signed up to defend her country and was used by the government to fight an illegal war for oil, and she got fucked up and is now walking with a cane, after having been paraded around TV as a symbol. Does it really matter exactly how and where she was fucked up?

Jesus, WTF is wrong with DU?

[theHandpuppet]

48. Thank you!

Some of the comments I'm reading here are shameful. Just because there's a lot of genuine and warranted anger at the Bushreich is no reason to go off on this decent kid. Stop the bullying and aim at the proper target.

Damn, some folks here...

[Liberal Veteran]

53. I wasn't questioning her service or bravery.

Just whether or not she was really a POW as the headline suggested. She certainly was injured serving her country, but POW has a fairly specific meaning (except in the US now where we have "enemy combatants").

I don't why you see it as an insult to want be told the truth by the media. This whole, "she was a prisoner" plays into that entire idiocy with the night vision cameras we saw on tv, which from my understanding was quite an embellishment from the facts of what really happened. My understanding is there weren't any military guards on her at the hospital and indeed, the hospital made several attempts to turn her over to the America forces before they finally managed to get someone to listen. Injured in the line of duty is more than honorable and brave, it doesn't require embellishment from the media.

If you see that as disrespectful toward her, you are missing the point of what I was asking. That question had nothing to do with bashing her or her service. Her honor in this is intact regardless of what games our government played turning this into a media circus/propaganda scheme.

That wasn't a slam against her, it was a slam against the media/government and I think it's ludicrous to get bent out of shape because we want to be told the truth, not the government line.

And to answer your question, it does matter and it has nothing to do with impugning Lynch's service. It has to do with impugning the integrity of government and our media. I'm sorry you missed the point and took my question as a slam against her.

[Zhade]

69. I'd say the truth matters, wouldn't you?

Of course she's brave and courageous - especially in her denunciation of all the lies surrounding her 'capture' (in reality, Iraqi doctors treating her well) and 'rescue' (a staged event, wherein U.S. soldiers faced no opposition in the hospital they shot up when taking her out after having refused the Iraqi doctors trying to return her more than once).

Wanting the truth about what happened does not in any way disparage or lessen Lynch's own bravery and honesty.

[BikeWriter]

63. Did she get broken bones in the wreck...

or was she stomped on? It's conjecture either way. She was certainly at their mercy.

[Liberal Veteran]

64. Again, the point wasn't a slam at her...

I was saying that basically, by the accounts we have, she was basically just taken to a hospital and left there, with apparently no intention of keeping her.

There is so much misinformation about this story and we will probably never know the whole truth.

And I certainly didn't mean to sound like I was deriding her. My vitriol is aimed at the Pentagon and the press for turning this into a piece of propaganda.

I guess in part, some of the confusion of the term POW may be arising from Gitmo or Abu-Gharib which is more what I think of in terms war prisoners these days.

[GreenInNC]

14. duhhhhh eom

[rocktivity]

15. You weren't a prisoner of war, and you weren't rescued

You were a patient in a civilian hospital, the Iraqis told the U.S. forces to come and get you, and they they turned it into a shoot-em-up for the cameras. Now you say it doesn't bother you anymore? You may have the financial capacity for college, but I'm not sure you have an intellectual one.

:headbang:
rocknation

[geek tragedy]

18. What did she ever do to you?

Crazy.

[rocktivity]

52. She's flip-flopped.

As in, "It used to bother me. It doesn't anymore." What part of that am I not understanding?

:shrug:
rocknation

[Lilith Velkor]

56. That just means she knows what's up.

I think she may have started out with some assumptions about the basic goodness and trustworthiness of the US govt, which she now knows to be false. That happens a lot in the military.

[arikara]

61. It looks like she's gone past it

as she should. Getting past it and getting on with her life. Far more healthy than dwelling on the assaults that were committed against her, and most by her own government at that.

Good for her and I wish her peace.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

45. Speaking of "intellectual", it doesn't look like you remember that she...

...told anyone that would listen that the NeoCon version of the story was wrong, including the crap written in that book that she supposedly authorized.

If anyone's being intellectually dishonest, it has to be those in this thread who want to continue to pretend that Lynch went along with the NeoCon agenda. The plain truth of the matter is that she did not. Period.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Orangepeel]

16. I admire her. I have since the beginning.

She never tried to pretend she was a hero and was always very straightforward about what happened and didn't happen to her.

I don't begrudge her writing a book -- especially one that told the truth -- or taking her state's offer to pay college tuition.

I guess an argument can be made that people shouldn't be admired for doing what they ought to do -- that is, not pretend that they are heroic when they are not -- but many people, when given the opportunity to play supergirl, wouldn't have the character to say, "no, not really. I pretty much had a car accident and lay in a hospital."

[Horse with no Name]

17. totally agreed.

She could have been a highly decorated war hero--this generations "John McCain".
However, she chose to tell the truth and drop back into oblivion as just another soldier.
If she doesn't write a book and tell her story--then we will be dependent upon Bushco revisionist history.
This was a book she NEEDS to write so the story can be set straight.
I also admired her for not letting others forget about the other female soldier who died in the accident--the "brown" one. Lori Piestewa.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/23/iraq/main682519.shtml
>>>>snip
(AP) Almost two years to the day after their company was ambushed, former POW Jessica Lynch honored fallen comrade Army Spc. Lori Piestewa — the first American servicewoman killed in the Iraq war.

The women were best friends who served together in the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas. They were also roommates at Fort Bliss and tentmates in Iraq.

"Many of you may know our story, but what you may not know is what a great friend Lori was, what a great mother she is to these kids, what a great daughter she is, and what a great devoted soldier she was," Lynch said at a news conference Tuesday. "She taught me so much and knowing her made me a better person."

Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe and single mother of two, is believed to be the first American Indian woman killed while fighting for the U.S. military.
>>>>>>snip
l

[Chovexani]

28. Jessica Lynch made sure Lori's family was taken care of

I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (shut up! :P), and Jessica Lynch nominated Lori Piestwa's family for the show, in order to fulfill the pact they had made with each other to take care of each other's families in case something happened to either one of them. The EM team not only built Lori's family a beautiful new home, complete with a memorial room for Lori, but they built a veterans center to honor the sacrifice of Native American soldiers who have died in service to the US, for the Native American vets to gather in.

I was always sort of indifferent to Jessica Lynch, other than appreciating her like I do any other vet (I come from a military family with many vets and that respect was instilled in me from a very young age). After I saw that show, my respect for her shot through the roof.

People bashing her here just make me sick. It's why I hardly come around here anymore.

[Erika]

32. Great post

She was a class act and showed her sisterhood with Lori.

Anyone who puts her down is clueless.

[theHandpuppet]

49. More than clueless...

Vicious and mean. Looking for an easy target. That's what bullies do.

[Miss Chybil]

36. Some people bash because they think being cynical is proof of a high IQ

- not because anything they say really makes any sense. Thanks for your post - from someone who lives not too far from "Piestewa Peak."

May all the victims of this evil war - living and dead - find peace.

[daleo]

21. I think you're right.

She showed a lot of integrity.

[Captain Hilts]

34. She's helped other folks in her unit. (nt)

[Chomskyite]

23. That's courage

God bless her. And I hope she finds more ways to get paid based on telling the story of what happened to her. She deserves every cent and more.

[Terre]

24. Why is this even news?

The Pentagon was shameless in their obvious propaganda campaign to use her, and us, but I'm wondering where's the news in this?

This information is over 2 years old - it's hardly "breaking". What am I missing?

[warrens]

25. The FRetards are not going to take this well, I predict

She better hire a bodyguard.

[Scout1071]

27. Please rate this story. It's only a 2 right now.

[nookiemonster]

29. If memory serves me, the gig was up when

BushCo accused Iraqi guards of raping her. Even the most stalwart of the RW types were backing away from that accusation.

They have a real problem with overreaching. Hopefully this can be used to our advantage.

[regnaD kciN]

31. You know you're in trouble...

...when your "poster child" starts calling attention to their status.

:eyes:

[Griffy]

33. get her to join Sheehan... and others.. oh the movement that could build!

she is on a vigil.. and i believe she's serious!

[Booster]

35. Rated and kick. Jessica also set up a trust fund for Lori's kids to

go to college. I really don't understand why some on DU continue to bash this girl. Why? In my opinion, she became a hero when she came back and refused to go along with the propaganda bullshit that this administration was putting out there. I don't think anybody could make me think badly of this young woman and I wish her nothing but the best.

[leftchick]

55. Jessica is a class act

and I agree she deserves nothing but the best for the rest of her life.

[RSchewe]

38. What is it about her that people are bashing? *nt*

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. Did you read the thread? Try that...you might be surprised....

...at how much you can learn.

[RSchewe]

60. Silly rabbit.... *nt*

[0007]

47. Let's get the Pat Tillman story out to the "Main Stream America"

So they can all see George W. Bush and his crime family in action and the lies they tell about dead servicemen & women.

[Libby2]

50. Yep, just another young American

chewed up and spit out by the neocons.

I wish this young lady all the best in the world.

Peace Jessica

[malmapus]

58. For what its worth, hold your mud Jessica

Don't fall back from the attacks you're surely to get (have already started to take). Stand tall and continue to speak your mind. For all its worth, this vet has got your back.

[GracieM]

59. Ya think?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

65. then she shouldn't have endorsed bush-SCREW HER!

as she did at a july 4th rally in charleston, wv last year

TRUST ME, I KNOW-I WAS THERE PROTESTING

[Zhade]

70. Did she really endorse b*s*?

If so, that's quite disappointing. Do you have any references for that?