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Was Jessica Lynch's rescue staged?


FROSTY28

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From the BBC.COM. Crazy if it's true. And in this media-driven day and age, it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

Private Lynch has lost her memory of her rescue

By John Kampfner

Private Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war, and the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict.

But her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived.

Private Lynch, a 19-year-old army clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was captured when her company took a wrong turning just outside Nasiriya and was ambushed.

Nine of her comrades were killed and Private Lynch was taken to the local hospital, which at the time was swarming with Fedayeen. Eight days later US special forces stormed the hospital, capturing the "dramatic" events on a night vision camera.

They were said to have come under fire from inside and outside the building, but they made it to Lynch and whisked her away by helicopter.

Dr a-Houssona found no bullet wounds

Reports claimed that she had stab and bullet wounds and that she had been slapped about on her hospital bed and interrogated.

But Iraqi doctors in Nasiriya say they provided the best treatment they could for the soldier in the midst of war. She was assigned the only specialist bed in the hospital and one of only two nurses on the floor.

"I examined her, I saw she had a broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle," said Dr Harith a-Houssona, who looked after her.

"There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

Dr Uday was surprised by the manner of the rescue

"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Harith had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance.

But as the ambulance, with Private Lynch inside, approached a checkpoint American troops opened fire, forcing it to flee back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.

When footage of the rescue was released, General Vincent Brooks, US spokesman in Doha, said: "Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they know that they'll never leave a fallen comrade."

The American strategy was to ensure the right television footage by using embedded reporters and images from their own cameras, editing the film themselves.

The Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer.

Bruckheimer advised the Pentagon on the primetime television series "Profiles from the Front Line", that followed US forces in Afghanistan in 2001. That approached was taken on and developed on the field of battle in Iraq.

As for Private Lynch, her status as cult hero is stronger than ever. Internet auction sites list Jessica Lynch items, from an oil painting with an opening bid of $200 to a $5 "America Loves Jessica Lynch" fridge magnet.

But doctors now say she has no recollection of the whole episode and probably never will.

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It only wouldn't surprise you if you're a brain-dead moron who thinks our elite forces were sent into enemy-held territory with blank ammunition. Otherwise, it would surprise the hell out of you.

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Originally posted by FROSTY28

Did you even read the article? The writer is saying there weren't any enemy forces present -- that we just staged a big dramatic rescue as propaganda.

What a crock of BS Frosty. If you think theres a SINGLE American military officer who'd agree (under any circumstances) to send his troops into a potential combat situation without the ability to defend themselves, you are truly out there. Perhaps 'Dr Uday' would prefer they put a couple of rounds in his skull next time around to increase his sense of realism. As far as 'reading the article', try posting one that actually offers something other than conjecture and you might get more takers. Whether there was resistance or not is irrelevant. And I'm pretty sure Jessica Lynch's loved ones are quite appreciative of the fact that HAD there been an ambush waiting, we were well prepared to take care of it.

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Oh, and don't forget, we bombed our own Pentagon - no plane ever crashed into it. And the moon landing - totally fake. On the other hand, there really were aliens crash landing in area 51. And that alien autopsy - absolutely genuine...:doh: :doh:

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Yeah, Frosty, I read the article. Days and days ago and we've discussed it more than once and the Pentagon called it the utter tripe it is. Further, you can't use blanks in our weapons. Blanks don't generate enough energy to fully re**** the weapon. Second, our special forces use real ammo in training, they certainly aren't going to use fake ammo behind enemy lines.

We did stage a big dramatic rescue. We secured the outer area. We captured prisoners and exchanged fire on the outer rim. We had no idea who was in the hospital or who would show up. Fortunately we didn't have to do any killing on the inside, but we secured every person in that building and cleared it, just in case.

Now, I realize that to you, the telepathic ability of the writer to know what the Americans knew is powerful to you, but meaningless. Again, the only validity one would give this nonsense is if one is a complete moron in the first place with no concept of what it takes to pull off something like this during war. If you think it's a meaningful article, that makes you what you are.

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Geez, calm down. I thought the article was interesting and it wouldn't surprise me if aspects of it were true. I could be wrong.

BTW, Art, is this site your job? Are you retired? Unemployed? It's amazing how often you post and at what length.

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It's not at all amazing, Frosty. It's called possessing knowledge and being able to type using more than two fingers. What's amazing is people who find fiction so fascinating that they lend it credence in the face of what any mild bit of intelligence or knowledge on a subject should immediately point out as the fallacy it is.

But, as long as you are dazzled by rapid ability to post and quick recall of information, you probably won't understand what I'm saying because you are too caught up in the mundane :).

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Originally posted by Art

Yeah, Frosty, I read the article. Days and days ago and we've discussed it more than once and the Pentagon called it the utter tripe it is. Further, you can't use blanks in our weapons. Blanks don't generate enough energy to fully re**** the weapon. Second, our special forces use real ammo in training, they certainly aren't going to use fake ammo behind enemy lines.

We did stage a big dramatic rescue. We secured the outer area. We captured prisoners and exchanged fire on the outer rim. We had no idea who was in the hospital or who would show up. Fortunately we didn't have to do any killing on the inside, but we secured every person in that building and cleared it, just in case.

Now, I realize that to you, the telepathic ability of the writer to know what the Americans knew is powerful to you, but meaningless. Again, the only validity one would give this nonsense is if one is a complete moron in the first place with no concept of what it takes to pull off something like this during war. If you think it's a meaningful article, that makes you what you are.

Art is correct. The M16A2 is a gas-operated weapon (ie..the 'exhaust' from the previous round cycles the next round into the chamber). In order to use blanks, soldiers must attach a BFA (blank firing attachment), a bulky, bright red (and btw, unmistakably noticeable) clamp on the flash suppresor at the end of the weapon. But that technical point alone isn't necessary to disprove the contention of the article you posted.

The reason you're getting blasted Frosty isn't a personal one. Post whatever you like. However, its an insult to the US military leadership to think they are a bunch of stupid sheep who are going to blindly follow orders to put their men's lives at risk for propaganda purposes. If you wanted to post the article for curiousity's sake, thats fine. But you ought to make your position clear when you do so. I suspect you believed the article, and thats why you posted it.

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Originally posted by riggo-toni

Oh, and don't forget, we bombed our own Pentagon - no plane ever crashed into it. And the moon landing - totally fake. On the other hand, there really were aliens crash landing in area 51. And that alien autopsy - absolutely genuine...:doh: :doh:

The aliens crashed at Roswell...not Area 51, that's where they were taken after the fact...:silly:

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Frosty, you may not be as nuts as many on this board seem to think just for saying something they don't like.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28908-2003May22.html

It certainly looks as if the Washington Post, one of the news outlets that ran with the dramatic story, is having some doubts about the veracity of it.

As the editorial points out, much of the dramatic part of the story was later reported to be wrong. It's just that it wasn't reported on the front page. I guess some of the people on this board just missed that part.

UNderstandable. I wonder if we took a poll how many on here would say they still believed Jessica Lynch was a hero firing away until she was shot. How many would believe she had been stabbed and tortured while in the hospital?

Yes, we were rightfully cautious in going in to get her out. But it certainly looks like docs treated her okay, and may very well have been making every effort to get her back into American hands. That story wouldn't have been as desirable at that point in time though.

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That certainly puts a different spin on it...

I agree with Kilmer that it's a little different than saying it was staged, the correct way might have been to say it was Overdramatized...

That's a little of that "Rooting for America" getting in the way of getting the story straight.

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Yes, but the story in hindsight looks far different from what was fed to the reporters and subsequently to us. The story was spoon fed to the reporters in such a way as to make Jessica Lynch look even more heroic.

It also came at a time where we desperately needed some possitive press to make us feel good about the war that had bogged down (atleast in the eyes of the public). Staged or press manipulation...so?

In the gulf war we used the press to provide faulty info to Sadam's regime. We did this time too, only this time we used it to boost support for the war. The press is just another war time tool. The only unfortunate part is that it makes it hard to believe what one reads, especially if it's what we want to hear about our government. We might believe it, but it's not hard to understand why foreign countries do not.

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Originally posted by Kilmer17

Isn't that the reality of 24 news channels and millions of internet news sites.

Yes it is... I for one have criticized ALL the media outlets in their crappy reporting skill often. Get the facts right, then do the story. Reporters and politicians are the two lowest professions I can think of.

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Originally posted by codeorama

Yes it is... I for one have criticized ALL the media outlets in their crappy reporting skill often. Get the facts right, then do the story. Reporters and politicians are the two lowest professions I can think of.

you left out lawyers:puke:

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The U.S. military made no statements about Lynch's actions or her plight. It appears the Washington Post went live with unsourced, unchecked stories and are now trying to absolve themselves of blame suggesting the back room conversations they had were reasonable for publication in a major newspaper.

The media hyped the story all on their own. The Pentagon didn't need to say anything. Hell, the press conference announcing what happened lasted what, 15 seconds? No questions. No hype. Just the media running wild with any unchecked story it could. But, it did that throughout the war.

I wonder why the Post is not upset with itself for falsely reporting the supply situation or the levels of resistence in the war? The bottom line is, no reasonable, sane person would give the BBC report a moment of credibility because the information is beyond the realm of possibility.

However, you have to somewhat knowledgeable and not led around by the nose by whatever media source you chose to realize that.

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Guys, I'm Mexican so I'm pretty much neutral and peaceful, but you have to see news from other countries not so edited and they're saying that this was "staged" at a certain point and way overdramatized.

Gladly the war is over, now it's time to help rebuild that country.

:peace1:

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Originally posted by gbear

Frosty, you may not be as nuts as many on this board seem to think just for saying something they don't like.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28908-2003May22.html

It certainly looks as if the Washington Post, one of the news outlets that ran with the dramatic story, is having some doubts about the veracity of it.

As the editorial points out, much of the dramatic part of the story was later reported to be wrong. It's just that it wasn't reported on the front page. I guess some of the people on this board just missed that part.

UNderstandable. I wonder if we took a poll how many on here would say they still believed Jessica Lynch was a hero firing away until she was shot. How many would believe she had been stabbed and tortured while in the hospital?

Yes, we were rightfully cautious in going in to get her out. But it certainly looks like docs treated her okay, and may very well have been making every effort to get her back into American hands. That story wouldn't have been as desirable at that point in time though.

Nothing in the editorial speaks to the main crux of this thread, that the rescue was 'staged'. So misinformation was spread (more than likely as a result of rumor, and in the euphoria following a successful POW rescue, rather than an intentional misrepresentation. I'm waiting for someone to make a point? The bottom line is, theres NO evidence this was 'staged'. None. So those posting this type of story should either say 'I believe it' and present some evidence, or not post it at all. Its not a matter of 'not liking' whats posted, its a matter of calling the poster out to provide evidence, or to acknowledge its a crock. I'm telling you its a crock. They went in expecting possible resistance. They met none. They rescued an American. The story had legs, and as with many stories, the truth was embellished and exaggerated to sell a story. But the crux of Frosty's original article is false. Prove me wrong.

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Novato,

Being in a foreign country with a kangaroo press that is anti-American, and completely devoid of any U.S. sources probably isn't the best thing to put up as evidence. What it is, however, is more proof of the general brainwashing the world is being given by liberal media who hate America first.

Again, simple intelligence gives you ample knowledge to know the rescue wasn't staged as put forth by the BBC. It was "staged" such that we went in and took our soldier back. Since the U.S. made no official statements that fed the euphoria the error here, if any at all, is on a zealous media unwilling to hold dear to journalistic ethics of actually validating information before printing it.

What's outrageous is considering as even one iota true the thought that our finest soldiers were sent into enemy territory without ammunition. That alone lets you know the veracity of the stories against the rescue. And being that it is so far beyond the realm of possibility, it lends more credence to the rescue than these idiots even realize.

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