Now, does this apply to Jessica Lynch?

[mrbitterness]

"See the Soldier with his gun who must be dead to be admired"

Partly.

Please help enlighten me pals on why everyone is worshipping her.

[sundown18]

quote:Originally posted by mrbitterness:
"See the Soldier with his gun who must be dead to be admired"

Partly.

Please help enlighten me pals on why everyone is worshipping her.

Is Ms Lynch's story any worse than other soldiers? No. Is it more compelling because she is a woman? Possibly. Did the media wrap themselves up in this story to whip us into a frenzy of patriotism so that we would rally around this invasion? Most likely.
I doubt that Ms. Lynch ever intended her story to be covered so much by the media. I feel that the media has created a hero to help justify this invasion. I'm not at all implying that her actions are not heroic, just the media picked up this story and ran with it.
I think Ms. Lynch was a soldier just doing her job.

[Auburn Annie]

Here's the CNN story - Ms Lynch herself thinks the story was overblown, manipulated by both the armed services and media.

#########################################

Lynch: Military played up rescue too much

(CNN) --Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch said that she believes the U.S. military overdramatized the story of her rescue in Iraq.

Lynch made those comments in an interview for ABC's "Primetime" to air Tuesday. The network released excerpts of the 90-minute interview Friday.

But a senior U.S. military official denied that the military ever exaggerated the rescue. Inaccuracies in reports of Lynch's ordeal were the fault of the media, which reported the story with incomplete information, the official said

Responding to questions that the military may have exaggerated the danger of her nighttime rescue from a Nasiriya hospital by U.S. commandos, she said, "Yeah, I don't think it happened quite like that."

However, she also said that anyone "in that kind of situation would obviously go in with force, not knowing who was on the other side of the door."

Ex-POW calls rescuers 'heroes'
Lynch, 20, a former private first class from Palestine, West Virginia, who has since left the Army, said the way the military publicized her rescue also bothers her, including the filming of it.

"It does [bother me] that they used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff," she said. "It's wrong.

"I don't know why they filmed it, or why they say the things they [say], you know. ... All I know was that I was in that hospital hurting. ... I needed help. I wanted out of there. It didn't matter to me if they would have come in shirts and blank guns; it wouldn't have mattered to me. I wanted out of there."

But Lynch said she considers her rescuers "my heroes." "I'm so thankful that they did what they did. They risked their lives."

Lynch and 16 other soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed March 23 after taking a wrong turn. Under heavy fire, the Humvee in which Lynch was riding crashed into a tractor-trailer, severely injuring her. Eleven soldiers died; six, including Lynch, were taken into custody.

Nine days later, the small-town private became a celebrity when U.S. forces stormed the hospital and rescued her in what the military characterized at the time as a dangerous, daring raid.

Subsequently, the hospital staff said no Iraqi troops were in the hospital at the time -- and that they had unsuccessfully tried to turn Lynch over to American forces earlier.

A defense official said, "Some media organizations had significantly inaccurate stories in the early days following the rescue, while the military was still collecting the facts and assessing her condition."

On Sunday, the rescue will be the subject of an NBC television movie, "Saving Jessica Lynch."

Response to revelations of rape
In her ABC interview, Lynch also responded to the revelation in a new book about her ordeal that she may have been sexually assaulted during her captivity.

She told ABC's Diane Sawyer that she does not remember being raped and "even just the thinking about that, that's too painful." She also said that she was not beaten during her captivity and that one nurse in the hospital even sang to her.

The book, "I Am A Soldier, Too," an authorized biography written by Rick Bragg, cites a medical report that shows Lynch was sexually assaulted.

Army officials would not comment on the account. A spokesman said that federal privacy laws prevent the military from discussing hospital records that would contain such details.

Iraqi doctors who treated her after her capture disputed the claims of rape, The Associated Press reported.

Dr. Mahdi Khafazji, an orthopedic surgeon at Nasiriyah's main hospital who performed surgery on Lynch to repair a fractured femur, told the AP he found no signs that she was raped or sodomized. (Full story)

Bragg resigned as a national correspondent for The New York Times in May after the newspaper determined he had written a story for publication under his byline that had largely been reported by an unpaid, uncredited freelancer. Bragg insisted that he was following newspaper policy and did nothing wrong.

Lying injured in the Iraqi hospital, Lynch said she "seriously thought I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life."

"I've never felt that much pain in my whole entire life. It was, you know, from my foot to my other foot to my legs to my arms to my back, my head."

Lynch told Sawyer that she doesn't consider herself a hero. "I was just there in that spot, you know, the wrong place, the wrong time."

Lynch and her fellow soldiers were tired, hungry and "weren't thinking quickly" when they made the wrong turn into an ambush, she told Sawyer. During the confrontation with Iraqi forces, she said, her rifle jammed and she did not fire a single round.

She said it hurt her to learn that some news accounts of her capture said she had fired at Iraqis until running out of ammunition and had suffered bullet and knife wounds. In fact, her injuries were the result of the Humvee crash.

"It hurt in a way that people would make up stories that they had no truth about," she said. "Only I would have been able to know that, because the other four people on my vehicle aren't here to tell that story. So I would have been the only one able to say ... I went down shooting. But I didn't."

Lynch said it may have been one of her fellow soldiers, Pvt. Lori Piestewa, who fought to her death.

"That may have been her, but it wasn't me, and I'm not taking credit for it," Lynch said.

Lynch told Sawyer that she would like to get a college degree and become a kindergarten teacher. But first she wants to complete physical therapy for her injuries.

She said she still has no feeling in her left foot and walks with crutches, and she continues to have kidney and bowel problems stemming from an injury to her spine.

"I just want to keep adding, you know, just steps every day, just so eventually I can throw away the crutches and ... just start walking on my own," she said. "That's my goal. I just want to be able to walk again."

CNN's Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.

[Borderstone]

The lyric applies more to the other female soldier who actually did get killed. If you recall she was from Arizona. I forget her name offhand but i think it's more applicable in her case. Either way it makes sense,though.

[Brian 57]

Her name was Lori Piestewa. She was Native American-- a Hopi from Arizona. She had a son and a daughter, both pre-school age. Here is an interesting piece from the Arizona Republic, found at * http://groups.msn.com/KayentaArizonaNews/pfcloripiestewa1.msnw

Betty Reid
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 8, 2003 12:00 AM

Just hours after Pfc. Lori Piestewa's mother heard that her daughter was killed in Iraq, snow began to fall in Tuba City.

Saturday morning, grieving family members stepped from their trailer on Juniper Drive and rolled in the wet snow.

In Hopi, Piestewa is defined as the rainwater that collects on the desert floor after a heavy downpour

"She (Lori) came down in moisture and told us, 'I'm at peace with myself and I'm with the Creator,' " Lori's mother, Percy, said Monday, adding, "We knew it was her sending us a message in the snow."

The family got word of Lori's death late Friday. She had been missing since March 23, when the enemy ambushed her Army maintenance company.

Piestewa is considered the first Native American woman to die in military service for the United States.

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle on Monday called Piestewa an ''American hero."

Two Arizona legislators are crafting memorial resolutions in her honor.

Sen. Jack Jackson Sr., and Rep. Jack Jackson Jr., both D-Window Rock, say the resolutions should appear today or Wednesday in the House and Senate.

The Piestewa family has been consoled by an outpouring of worldwide sympathy. "They feel as if Lori were their own daughter," her mother said.

Percy spoke of her youngest daughter as an "easy-go-lucky" youngster who enjoyed shrimp, lobster and Mexican food.

"She had an expensive taste for a rez child," her mother said affectionately.

After her military service, Lori, a single mother, wanted to work either as a police officer or firefighter, her mother said.

During her divorce proceedings, the soldier fought to retain her Hopi maiden name.

"I want to die a Piestewa," Percy quoted her daughter as saying.

[TheWatchman]

quote:Originally posted by mrbitterness:

Please help enlighten me pals on why everyone is worshipping her.

As far as I am concerned she is a trader to the US Military and I have no use for her at all. People will lie and betray their brothers in arms for their one shot at fame and money. I hope she is soon long forgotten about.

[gwen snyder]

thanks Brian, I had not heard that story.

[Brian 57]

quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman:
As far as I am concerned she is a trader to the US Military and I have no use for her at all. People will lie and betray their brothers in arms for their one shot at fame and money. I hope she is soon long forgotten about.

Watchman,

I haven't been following the Jessica Lynch thing all that closely, so I don't understand the part about betraying brothers in arms. What is that all about?

[TheWatchman]

The short of it is that she did not deny anything that the military said in regards to her rescue for months. Once her book was about to come out, she said that it was not much of a rescue because the US soldiers waited until all the armed guards were gone and then snuck in to get her. If I was the one that rescued her, I would be a little upset with all her talk about the soldiers that rescued her and how they had it rather easy.

She also went along with all the reports that she was beaten up so bad she had broken bones etc. for months. Eventhough she cannot remember anything, she said that was not true at all because they treated her very well while in the hospital and even had nurses singing to her. Again, once her book came out, it was a different story and she said the hospital was wonderful. She said her injuries were from when the vehicle she was in wrecked.

Remember all the hoopla that she went down fighting and emptied her gun firing at soldiers before she was captured? She also went along with this for months as well, but right before her book came out she denied that and said her gun jammed and she dropped it. My guess is that she told the truth on this because there were other witnesses and she figured one of them would eventually talk.

All of the above is neither her nor there to me. It just shows where her motives are and how her stories changed because she wanted to sell her stupid little book. The reason that I call her a traitor is because she said that the military made all that stuff up about her capture just so Bush could gain public support for the war. Once I heard that pile of bunk, and taking into account all her other BS that I mentioned above, I have no use for that kid. I would guess the military probably feels the same.

[Brian 57]

I see where you're coming from. A rose by any other name still has thorns.

[gwen snyder]

watchman, when did you have this personal dialogue with ms lynch to find these many varied comments she has been accused of making? Or maybe you served with her and witnessed these truths?

[TheWatchman]

quote:Originally posted by gwen snyder:
watchman, when did you have this personal dialogue with ms lynch to find these many varied comments she has been accused of making? Or maybe you served with her and witnessed these truths?


Straight from the horses mouth on FOXNews, Gwen. She was being interviewed about her new book and I was disappointed with her lack of respect for President Bush and the military. Thanks for the interest in my comments Gwen. You sure do like to play games with words don't you?

[gwen snyder]

sorry I was a semantics major in school... words are tools ya know?

[TheWatchman]

Would you like to volley? You serve. http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

[gwen snyder]

no thanks, I believe you win, or I am so incredibly disinterested currently that I would be worthless in competition. But, thanks for offering.

[violet Blue Horse]

Jeeze, say no more. FOX news, that bastion of good taste, honesty and fair and balanced reporting.

That explains a lot about a lot.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by TheWatchman:
[B] Straight from the horses mouth on FOXNews, Gwen.

------------------
Born once - Got it right the first time. )O(

[DMD3]

They should'nt bash Lynch. It's not her fault she's getting a lot of attention, and people are getting jealous. Women have no place in combat, I'm afraid. http://www.corfid.com/ubb/frown.gif

[TheWatchman]

http://www.iroc-zpostforum.com/villageidiot.jpg

[violet Blue Horse]

Seek help. All I'm gonna say, seek help.

------------------
Born once - Got it right the first time. )O(

[Dr.Evil]

Originally posted by TheWatchman
http://www.iroc-zpostforum.com/villageidiot.jpg

That's what you get for screwin' me!

[Tarheel]

Funny picture of the two billyhillies.

[mrbitterness]

Well, let's out it this way: If your definition of hero is someone, anyone who had once served or is still serving military service, then what about those soldiers who tortured their victims - the prisoners in the Abu Gariab Prison? Are they not patriots too? Ain't they risking their lives, staying in Iraq for a good cause?