SECTION TWO
sm
COLUMN
NINETY-THREE, JUNE
15, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
'SAVING'
PRIVATE LYNCH:
LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!
PVT. JESSICA LYNCH ALLEGEDLY BEING 'RESCUED' FROM AN IRAQI HOSPITAL
Subject: Saving Private Lynch: Take 2 - By Robert Scheer
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 01:46:02 -0400
From: portsideMod@netscape.net
Reply-To: portside@yahoogroups.com
To: portside@yahoogroups.com
"After a thorough investigation, the British Broadcasting Corp. has presented a shocking dissection of the
"heroic" rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch, as reported by the U.S. military and a breathless
American press.
"Her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived," the BBC concluded---the polite British
way of saying "liar, liar, pants on fire."
* * *
Saving Private Lynch: Take 2
By Robert Scheer,
AlterNet - May 20, 2003
http://www.alternet.org/story.html'storyID=15958
In the 1998 film "Wag the Dog," political operatives employ special editing techniques to create phony footage that will
engender public sympathy for a manufactured war. Now we find that in 2003 the real-life Pentagon's ability and willingness to
manipulate the facts make Hollywood's story lines look tame.
After a thorough investigation, the British Broadcasting Corp. has presented a shocking dissection of the
"heroic" rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch, as reported by the U.S. military and a breathless
American press.
"Her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived," the BBC concluded---the polite British
way of saying "liar, liar, pants on fire."
Though the Bush administration's shamelessly trumped-up claims about Iraq's alleged ties to Al Qaeda and 9/11 and its
weapons of mass destruction take the cake for deceitful
'. . .one in a series of egregious lies marketed to us by the Bush administration. . .'
propaganda---grand strategic lies that allow the United States' seizure of
Iraq's oil to appear to be an act of liberation---the sad case of Lynch's exploitation at the hands of military spinners illustrates that the
truth once again was a casualty of war.
Lynch, who says she has no memory of the events in question, has suffered enough in the line of duty without being reduced
to a propaganda pawn.
Sadly, almost nothing fed to reporters about either Lynch's original capture by Iraqi forces or her "rescue" by U.S.
forces turns out to be true. Consider the April 3 Washington Post story on her capture headlined "She Was Fighting to the Death,"
which reported, based on unnamed military sources, that Lynch "continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple
gunshot wounds," adding that she was also stabbed when Iraqi
forces closed in.
It has since emerged that Lynch was neither shot nor stabbed, but rather suffered accident injuries when her vehicle
overturned. A medical checkup by U.S. doctors confirmed the account of the Iraqi
doctors, who said they had carefully tended her injuries, a broken arm and thigh and a dislocated ankle, in contrast to U.S.
media
reports that doctors had ignored Lynch.
Another report spread by news organizations nationwide claimed Lynch was slapped by an Iraqi security
guard, and the U.S. military later insisted that an Iraqi lawyer witnessed this incident and
informed them of Lynch's whereabouts. His credibility as a source, however, is difficult to verify because he and his family
were
whisked to the U.S., where he was immediately granted political asylum and has refused all interview requests. His future
was assured, with a job with a lobbying firm run by former Republican Rep. Bob Livingstone that represents the defense industry,
and a $500,000 book contract with HarperCollins, a company owned
by Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox network did much to hype Lynch's story, as it did the rest of the war.
But where the manipulation of this saga really gets ugly is in the premeditated manufacture of the rescue itself, which
stains those who have performed real acts of bravery, whether in war or peacetime.
Eight days after her capture, American media trumpeted the military's story that Lynch was saved by Special Forces
that stormed the hospital and, in the face of heavy hostile fire, managed to scoop her up and helicopter her out.
However, according to the BBC, which interviewed the hospital's staff, the truth appears to be that not only had Iraqi
forces abandoned the area before the rescue effort but that the hospital's staff had informed the U.S. of this and made arrangements
two days before the raid to turn Lynch over to the Americans.
"But as the ambulance, with Pvt. Lynch inside, approached the checkpoint,
American troops opened fire, forcing it to flee back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize
catch," the BBC reported.
"We were surprised," Dr. Anmar Uday told the BBC about the supposed rescue. "There was no military, there were no soldiers in
the hospital. It was like a Hollywood film. [The U.S. forces] cried 'Go, go, go,' with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks
and the sound of explosions," Uday said. "They made a show for the
American attack on the hospital---[like] action movies [starring] Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."
The footage from the raid, shot not by journalists but by soldiers with night-vision cameras, was fed in real time to the
central command in Qatar. The video was artfully edited by the Pentagon and released as proof that a battle to free Lynch had occurred
when it had not.
This fabrication has already been celebrated by an A&E special and will soon be an NBC movie. The Lynch rescue story---a
made-for-TV bit of official propaganda---will probably survive as the war's most heroic moment, despite proving as fictitious as the
stated rationales for the invasion itself.
If the movies, books and other renditions of "saving Private Lynch" were to be honestly presented, it would expose this caper
as merely one in a series of egregious lies marketed to us by the Bush administration.
##
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