Saving Private Lynch - A PR spin goes out of control

Nov 9 19:48 UTC 2003

Miss Lynch, who was serving as an Army supply clerk, suffered broken 
bones and other injuries when her convoy was ambushed after taking a 
wrong turn near the Iraqi town of Nasiriya on 23 March. 

The Pentagon initially put out the story that Private Lynch - a slight 
woman who was just 19 at the time - had been wounded by Iraqi gunfire 
but had kept fighting until her ammunition ran out. 

But she told Sawyer that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong 
time, and that her gun had jammed during the chaos. 

"I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do," she said. 

"I did not shoot - not a round, nothing. I went down praying to my 
knees - that's the last thing I remember." 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3251731.stm

response 2 of 67:

Nov 9 21:27 UTC 2003

Some guy on The Daily Show said he was having trouble deciding whether 
to watch the Jessica Lynch special or the Elizabeth Smart special.  On 
balance, he said, he's decided to watch the Jessica Lynch special 
because "my fanatsies about Jessica Lynch seem somehow more, um, legal."

response 4 of 67:

Nov 10 03:29 UTC 2003

I do not know who to believe on the story, I am not sure I even believe her.

Chalk it up to the fog of war.

response 6 of 67:

Nov 10 05:16 UTC 2003

Especially considering she's making a claim that some would consider 
detrimental to her celebrity.

response 8 of 67:

Nov 10 14:35 UTC 2003

because she has changed what she said.  Originally there was no rape, now
there is.  She seems to shy away from fame one minute and chase it the next.
I dont know bu5t what teh celebrity is causing her problems.

response 10 of 67:

Nov 10 17:41 UTC 2003

re8:  well bruce, next time you are taken in a military
action and wounded and raped, try dealing with the media

try sharing your feelings about the brutality of what
occured.

i don't begrudge her ANY AMOUNT of confusion considering
what she probably went through.


you should be ashamed of yourself, stink-o, what kind of
line would you be spouting if it werw YOUR DAUGHTER going
through this instead of ms. lynch?

response 14 of 67:

Nov 10 18:59 UTC 2003

All of this was very well explained last night on 60 Minutes.  Jessica was
incapacitated by the Hummer's crash into the semi.  A mechanic from the outfit
hustled up the road into a bunker, and shot several Iraqis trying to mortar
the trucks.  A colonel in his command determined that he was the only person
in her ~2,000 person command that had earned the Silver Star for bravery. 
During the episode a US spokeswoman said that due to misreporting /
mistranslation (she instead of he) the blonde Jessica was mistakenly deemed
to be the blonde US soldier who fought to his last round and was shot &
stabbed to death.

response 16 of 67:

Nov 10 19:38 UTC 2003

My understanding was the military had no knowledge she was raped. We are
getting information from many sources much of it conflicting, which is what
happens with the fog of war.  She also is writing a book (has written?) that
is coming out and sets a different tone from her previous conversations.  I
agree with tod, the media are vultures.

response 18 of 67:

Nov 10 21:26 UTC 2003

re11:  if she is confused and traumatized it makes no difference
to me if she is a woman, man, or transgender,  what she went
through was horrible and she needs to be listened to, or left
alone if that's what she wants.


re16:  shut up, dumbass.

response 22 of 67:

Nov 11 00:01 UTC 2003

According to the Time magazine article I read today after checking this item,
Jessica does not recall the three hours after she was injured and when she
showed up at the hospital, and that is when it's conjectured that a rape
happened. She was told at the US military hospital that some of her injuries
were due to that, and it is really squicky that someone did that to a person
with broken legs and other injuries. (Though it's nasty no matter what...)
Her parents were the ones who told the journalist who wrote the bio, since
they wanted it on record that she'd been treated that way. 

response 24 of 67:

Nov 11 07:20 UTC 2003

SHAVING PRIVATE"S CLYNCH!  AHAHAHAHAHahahaha