Many DUers have the Jessica Lynch story wrong.

[jfxgillis]

Or might have, pending broadcast. Let's see before we jump to conclusions.

Look. Here's the synopsis of tonights's interview on ABC:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Primetime/GMA031106LynchBook.html

Near the end of which is the following line:

"Lynch also speaks frankly about how her story was portrayed by the military."

What the hell do you all think that particular phrasing implies about whatever the hell Lynch is going to say about the military's "portrayal"?

Do you think she would need to "speak frankly" if all she was going to do was confirm the portrayal? She's already blown the bogus Pentagon/Washington Post account out of the water just according to this little snippet:

"The former soldier told Sawyer that her rifle jammed, and she put her head in her hands and prayed to God for help."

And yeah, I KNOW the rape angle is going to overwhelm the substantive truth Lynch tells about the CYNICAL MANIPULATION OF HER ORDEAL BY ADMINISTRATION PROPAGANDISTS, but:

a. That's not her fault, it's the media's and the Administration's, and

b. It YOUR task to try to get this other angle out.

[ForestsBeatBushes]

1. Sorry.

It's tough to get over the 'rape angle'. :eyes:

[imhotep]

2. If she had any honor

she wouldn't be on tv.

[jfxgillis]

3. Foof.

She all but declares she's doing it to set the record straight.

If some of that record is capable of being exploited by Administration propagandists and some of it is capable of being exploited by anti-Administration polemicists, what's yer beef? Emphasize the aspect that strengthens your position.

Beats the SHIT out of trashing her in public on this board where you know the freepers and righty-bloggers are gleefully recording every rude comment.

Moreover, since she really had no choice about her original appearance on tv, why shouldn't she address the audience through the same medium?

[TheWebHead]

7. it's mind-boggling isn't it?

it's topics like the reactions to Lynch that must leave a lot of DU'ers disenchanted with this forum. It's some near psychotic level of partisanship that would convince someone that somehow Jessica Lynch and her family were somehow duped into believing she was anally raped, then they would go out on national television and admit/discuss it. Just because the Pentagon hyped her story out of the gate, doesn't mean you discredit every single thing related to her capture, including her own accounts -- which seem to run more consistent with that of the staffers at the Iraqi hospital she was held as opposed to the Pentagon. Some of you people seem to think she was under the watchful eye of a modern day Mother Theresa when initially captive by Iraqi fighters.

[jfxgillis]

12. That's an EXCELLENT point.

There was a huge amount of warmonger-peacenik pundit-brawling back when the story was fuzzy, with the warmongers mocking the "Gentle Doctors" story.

When I said it was DU's task to get certain parts of the story out, that's what I meant. Someone should point out that the Administration propagandists have been PROVEN WRONG by Jessica's own words.

[incapsulated]

13. No, it's perfectly reasonable

"Just because the Pentagon hyped her story out of the gate, doesn't mean you discredit every single thing related to her capture, including her own accounts -- which seem to run more consistent with that of the staffers at the Iraqi hospital she was held as opposed to the Pentagon."

"Hyped" her story?? How about made up one lie after another? "Jessica in a brave shootout with the Iraqis!" "Jessica shot!" "Jessica stabbed!" All lies.

Or how about the big gunned rescue that was convientently videotaped, which, according to most of the facts including her own version of her treatment, as well as investigations done by journalists in Iraq, was pretty unecessary?

She cannot "recount" anything about a rape, since she admits to no memory of the events.

What rational person would accept any "new" story at this point, without reasonable questions regarding it's truth, after all this propoganda? This has nothing to do with the girl herself, it never did. It was all about the pentagon using her for propaganda purposes, and no, I don't find it strains credibility to believe that they might have lied to her about what happened, since she can't remember anything. I retain my right to reserve judgement on this whole story until more information comes out. I'm not judging Lynch, I'm skeptical of the story, which, again, isn't based on her memory.

[jfxgillis]

16. Now that is a rational approach

But I saw way too many posts on the other thread that were not.

[incapsulated]

17. There was some nasty stuff posted

I will agree with you there. Rape is not a topic for jokes and I certainly don't blame Lynch for any of this.

[Silverhair]

20. Why they used overwhelming force in the "rescue".

Basically, that's the way the military does things.

It is certainly true that they could have just as easily drove up in an ambulance and picked her up from the hospital. But that is taking a type of risk that the military just doesn't like to take. If their intellegence had proved to be wrong, and they had been met with force, then the ambulance team would have been killed/captured and the brass would be in trouble for not sending them on such a hairbrained mission without protection.

So the brass sends in such a heavy fireteam that nobody wants to argue with them, the rescue is pulled off with no problems, no casualties to either side.

[incapsulated]

21. What I read...

And I can't link it, was that it was quite over the top since they had been at the hospital the day before and knew the situation.

They also damaged the very hospital that had gone out of its way to take rather good care of an "enemy" soldier in the process.

It also made their little video drama far more exciting, don't you think? I mean who would videotape a peaceful exchange?

[Northwind]

14. I've said it before, I'll say it again

The only real difference between a lot of people on his forum and the ones they claim to hate at FR are the dirty names they use. They are the same in all ways that matter.

[DUreader]

4. Come on, wait and see at least (or wait and read as I will) kill yer tv

[jfxgillis]

8. Oh, I'll watch tonight ....

.... I was most intrigued by the line that inspired this thread.

Prolly read the book, too, though.

Besides, while I admit I jumped the gun a little, I must be, oh, 400th in line on this forum at that and I was hoping to get a new thread going because that other one was radioactive.

[gardenista]

23. Oh, give me a break!

She had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had the greater misfortune of fitting the perfect description of a Rovian propaganda play, and since her ordeal, her life has not been her own.

In my view, she has deported herself with honor throughout. I am quite sure that she would have preferred never to have been thrust into the limelight, particularly starring as Snow White/Zena, depending on what the spinmeisters are looking for at the time.

This is a young, inexperienced woman who was serving her country with the hope of enjoying meager GI benefits in order to gain an education. She did not ask to be the pawn in this debacle. It is deplorable that you would accuse her of lacking "honor" because she finally consented to one of the hundreds of interview offers she has had to field.

Shame on you.

[oldcoot]

43. Why not?

It appears that Lynch is using this opportunity to correct the various lies about her experiences in Iraq. We should be thankful that she is willing to go on national television to set the record straight. Hopefully, many Americans will watch her interview and start realizing that the Bush administration has been lying to them.

[rman]

44. how's that?

how would not being on TV make her more honorable?
other people tell their version of her story; do they have honor?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

5. explain to me why her family

appeared at clearchannel's pro war rallies (after jessica was rescued, btw)

the honeymoon is over. if she continues to let the rw use her for propaganda, then she should be criticized...and hard

[jfxgillis]

10. Because their baby was terribly hurt

and it's too horrible to contemplate all that suffering for no good reason, so they create or accept any reason they can.

War becomes self-justifying, and that's one of the reasons it's terrible.

[Wonk]

6. Saving Private Jessica - BBC

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/may2003/jess-m23.shtml

210 M quicktime
10 M mp3

[karlschneider]

9. Destitution often leads to prostitution.

If I were offered a million bucks to vote for Chimpy, I would...



have to think about it. For about 36 milliseconds.

So there it is. I could be a whore. Just not a cheap one.
:eyes:

[Classical_Liberal]

11. Nobody is attacking her.

. The administration continues to use her to lie, and I will not be silent about it.

[jfxgillis]

15. Oh bullshit.

Let me explain something to you, ClassicalLiberal. There's a significant semantic difference between "I am not attacking Jessica Lynch," which may be perfectly true (I'll trust your good faith and accept that it is indeed perfectly true) and "NOBODY is attacking Jessica Lynch," which is perfectly false, as the other thread demonstrates, and that's what your reply claims.

And I most explicitly said in the root posts that DU should attack the Adminstration Propagandists with parts of Lynch's story.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. Why don't you post an example of someone attacking Lynch...

...that way, you'll prove your point that at least one poster on DU is attacking Lynch.

Otherwise talk is cheap, and in your case, inflammatory.

[jfxgillis]

26. Are you freaking kidding me? Take your pick.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=659708&mesg_id=659708

[Skittles]

27. I'LL ATTACK HER

she's cashing in while her fellow soldiers continue to DIE in Iraq. She's a DISGRACE.

[incapsulated]

28. Read this then...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=666206&mesg_id=666206

She is telling the truth to all their lies about her story. If that is not worth going public for, I don't know what is.

[Tinoire]

29. Meanwhile Shoshana Johnson- with her nappy hair

For every Jessica Lynch, the wounded soldier who returned to a hero's welcome and a book and movie deal, there is a Shoshana Johnson.

Johnson, shot through both legs and held prisoner in Iraq for 22 days, will receive 30 per cent disability benefits, about $700 per month less than her colleague Lynch.

Johnson is black, Lynch is white and the Johnson family says that is the difference.

<snip>

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=1253

When will Jessica Lynch's 15 minutes be over so the others can get a turn?

[charlie]

30. Shoshana was honored by the CBC

because the Pentagon and the goddamned Republicans can't stand the sight of her:

"This is an honor I don't feel I deserve," Johnson said in a soft, Southern drawl after being presented with a plaque and a flag. Her mother wept with pride.

Johnson's words were befitting a hero. Yet throughout the simple ceremony, an undercurrent of tension prevailed. Well-wishers whispered that the Pentagon had tried to block the ceremony. Told that the press would not be allowed to ask questions and that Johnson was under strict orders not to talk, people wondered why.

"This is an honor they feel she doesn't deserve," people whispered. The rumors and whispers and snide remarks appeared to be more than half true. Indeed, the caucus held the ceremony almost as an act of defiance. The caucus had hoped to give Shoshana an official resolution of Congress, but that plan had been blocked by House Republicans and Pentagon officials.

...

Nevertheless, the Black Caucus decided to honor Johnson, believed to be the first African American woman to be taken as a prisoner of war, because they felt her heroics had been ignored.

http://www.sacobserver.com/news/063003/shoshana_johnson.shtml

[Tinoire]

34. How enraging! They felt it was an honor she didn't deserve?

Shot in both legs? Didn't deserve the honor? :wtf:


And as long as malleable people continue their fascination with the Jessica soap opera, people like Shoshana and the countless vets who have lost sight, limbs, and life will get NO honor.

What a nice little bone to distraction!

[incapsulated]

33. Does every wounded soldier or pow get 15 minutes?

No, they don't even get a visit from the chimp or their faces on tv. And when they die, no photos of the coffin please, no bad news allowed. Johnson is no different.

Of course they focused on Lynch because she was a pretty white girl in peril. It's not Lynch's fault she was used this way. As far as I'm concerned, she has some payback coming for all the free PR they got out of her story, without asking. If she is using the opportunity to set the record straight, and show them for the propagandists that they are, good for her.

[Tinoire]

37. No it is not Jessica's fault

It is our fault!

And I admit, I followed the story at first but you must admit it's gotten old and our fascination with its banality is an insult to all the other service men and women who are being quietly flown home in
(get this) "transfer tubes"

Bush Hides War Dead; Body Bags now Called 'Transfer Tubes'

Bush team doesn't want people to see human cost of war
Even body bags are now sanitized as `transfer tubes'
Tim Harper
Toronto Star (Canada)
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1067728207768&call_pageid=1038394944805&col=1038394

Washington - Charles H. Buehring came home last week.

He arrived at the air force base in Dover, Del., in the middle of the night, in an aluminum shipping case draped in an American flag. <snip>
But America never saw Lt.-Col. Buehring's arrival, days after a rocket from a homemade launcher ended his life at age 40 in Baghdad's heavily fortified Rasheed Hotel last Monday.

Americans have never seen any of the other 359 bodies returning from Iraq. Nor do they see the wounded cramming the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington or soldiers who say they are being treated inhumanely awaiting medical treatment at Fort Stewart, Ga.

In order to continue to sell an increasingly unpopular Iraqi invasion to the American people, President George W. Bush's administration sweeps the messy parts of war — the grieving families, the flag-draped coffins, the soldiers who have lost limbs — into a far corner of the nation's attic.

No television cameras are allowed at Dover.

<snip>
More than 1,700 Americans have been wounded in Iraq since the March invasion.

<snip>
There is also an ongoing investigation into the condition of patients awaiting treatment at Fort Stewart, Ga., where hundreds of sick and wounded soldiers say they are languishing in dirty barracks waiting months for needed medical treatment.

They say they must hobble across sand to the use the bathroom, are housed 60 to a barracks and must pay for their own toilet paper.
Only recently did the Senate successfully demand the White House stop charging wounded soldiers $8.10 per day for their hospital meals.

<snip>
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=1253

[incapsulated]

39. Jesus

Transfer Tubes?? Have they no shame at all?

:puke:

I have to give Druge some props for making that story about how the wounded were being treated more common knowlege.

Believe me, nobody was more sick of the Jessica story than myself. But between the rape story coming out this morning and her interview tonight, it was kind of hard to ignore. It turned out for the best in the end anyway. She told the truth and showed the public how they had been played. Hopefully, we can move on and pay attention to what is going on over there now. Well, after the book stuff dies down, anyway.

[Tinoire]

41. I hope we all move on- It's a calculated ploy

to keep people from thinking about the very real dead and wounded...

I wish Jessica the best of luck but her 15 minutes are up for me... She's home, she's fine, she's got book deals and is getting married... Dear media, can we now move on to the 1,700 who didn't have a Hollywood story? Can we move on to 2ID soldiers sitting around with that thousand yard stare and have no counselling services available?

Yead, Transfer Tubes... Can you believe this (*&^ ? No cameras allowed...

I had a friend send me news footage of this war from German TV- dead and wounded US soldiers all over the place from some ambush- here we get Jessica. We are watching & living 2 different wars.

I can't even follow her story anymore... I fear so much to get a call that one of my young troops was killed and think of the one I know who came back and refuses to re-bond with his kids because he blew a house up- a house that had kids inside... They had to give him 3 direct orders to do it and he did... He's dead to the world now and nobody cares! You know what I mean...

Peace

[jfxgillis]

32. Well howthe HELL do you like that ...

.... it turns out I was pretty close in my interpretation of that buried line in the synopsis when I started this thread in the first place.

I like that fine.

[jfxgillis]

31. Thank you for sharing.

Saves me a bunch of hassle.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

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

[hlthe2b]

18. Well, please post the details...

My stomach is not strong enough to watch that. I empathize with Jessica but I do believe she has both exploited and been exploited during all of this.

I do wish her a full recovery and long healthy life. I regret that her colleagues will not all be able to do so as well.

[Tinoire]

22. Ain't my task do do squat with Freeper news

Who really gives a rat's butt about "The Jessica Story". This is nothing but Freeper feed.

Gotta go... got more important stories to comment upon than some blond chick from Palestine, USA.

Wonder if any of all those other hostages got raped- either anally or otherwise- the Black female soldiers with the nappy hair for instance.

[economic justice]

38. But...

With your attitude it's just the reverse of what you are fighting! "That blond chic" for instance. You seem determined to cut Lynch down by using HER race against her. That does no good, either.

[gardenista]

40. Are you so blinded by your predjudice that you can't see one of the

first REAL opportunities to expose the BFEE for the evil, lying, manipulative bastards they are?

THIS is a story that has a human face, and not only the face of Jessica Lynch, but the faces of Lori Peistewa, and Shoshanna Johnson.

THIS is a story, NOW, now that the Roveco production has been turned around on its maker, THIS is a story that can cut through the fog of the tabloid-dulled millions.

I am Jessica Lynch. I am a soldier. I got injured and captured doing my duty. So did Shoshanna Johnson. My dearest friend, Lori Peistewa was killed. My misfortune was exploited by Karl Rove.

That is her message to you. Too bad you can't hear it because of the color of her hair.

[BiggJawn]

24. It's TV HYPE!

C'mon, you think she's gonna deny everything that's been said about her by the Pentagon?
You think she wants the last thing she ever sees to be Rumsferatu's twisted snarling face?

you think she's gonna "Tell All", you gonna be sorely disappointed....

[incapsulated]

25. Rumsferatu!

Oh, that's brilliant!

:)

[FauxNewsBlues]

35. She did just that

The emptying her clip like Rambo. She says it was a lie.
The being raped. She does not have memory of it, though she was suffering from partial amnesia. The only "proof" of her being raped, was a military medical report. She does not recall it whatsoever.

She does not recall ever seeing the Iraqi lawyer who rescued her.
There was no firefight in the hospital. The Iraqi military personnel had left the hospital, it was just staff there. She thinks the tv camera rescue was bullshit.

She most effectively demolished the Karl Rove propaganda about her even when it made her look less heroic than Rove et al tried to make her. Bless Jessica Lynch. She is a hero now.

[rman]

45. she did tell something different then the official story:

she said she didn't fire a shot because her gun jammed. the official story is she did fight bravely.
she said she wasn't mistreated bt Iraqi doctors. the official story is she was beaten and raped.

are you disappointed?

[sandnsea]

42. Who cares?

She's been through a horrific ordeal and is an innocent victim of this Administration. But who cares! It's more fun to beat people up for totally irrational connections to the BFEE than to consider facts. As far as I'm concerned, anybody who could beat up on this girl is totally depraved. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

[leesa]

46. I have no power to get it out, she's the one being interviewed about

HER experiences, SHE'S the one to get it out there. It may take more courage than she needed in Iraq to battle the Bush Crime Family. I wish her luck and strength