Grex Agora47 Conference

Item 165: Saving Private Lynch - A PR spin goes out of control

Entered by sj2 on Sun Nov 9 19:48:17 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

67 responses total.

#1 of 67 by sj2 on Sun Nov 9 19:51:34 2003:

I admire that she had the courage to come out with the truth and 
contradict the mighty Pentagon. Thats heroic indeed. Few people let go 
of the free credit that comes their way.


#2 of 67 by md on Sun Nov 9 21:27:38 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."


#3 of 67 by other on Sun Nov 9 22:36:14 2003:

The MILITARY is manipulating NEWS REPORTS?!!  I'm SHOCKED, 
absolutely SHOCKED!!


#4 of 67 by bru on Mon Nov 10 03:29:22 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.


#5 of 67 by aruba on Mon Nov 10 04:45:00 2003:

Why wouldn't you believe her, Bruce?


#6 of 67 by other on Mon Nov 10 05:16:23 2003:

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


#7 of 67 by mcnally on Mon Nov 10 06:04:42 2003:

  re #5:  because her first-person testimony conflicts with what he'd
  prefer to believe?


#8 of 67 by bru on Mon Nov 10 14:35:01 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.


#9 of 67 by sj2 on Mon Nov 10 16:12:13 2003:

She never claimed rape and still denies any memory of being raped. Its 
the US military which is saying that during her medical examination 
they found evidence that she had been raped. Its the US military which 
did not say anything about a rape initially (the story's hero's rape 
might not have sounded too good). 


#10 of 67 by happyboy on Mon Nov 10 17:41:37 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?


#11 of 67 by scott on Mon Nov 10 18:03:10 2003:

Hmm... I'm getting a definite whiff of "she's just a hysterical female; of
course she's confused about what happened" from a couple people now.


#12 of 67 by cross on Mon Nov 10 18:28:25 2003:

This response has been erased.



#13 of 67 by tod on Mon Nov 10 18:43:43 2003:

This response has been erased.



#14 of 67 by albaugh on Mon Nov 10 18:59:19 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.


#15 of 67 by tod on Mon Nov 10 19:31:29 2003:

This response has been erased.



#16 of 67 by bru on Mon Nov 10 19:38:40 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.


#17 of 67 by tod on Mon Nov 10 20:15:38 2003:

This response has been erased.



#18 of 67 by happyboy on Mon Nov 10 21:26:49 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.


#19 of 67 by mynxcat on Mon Nov 10 21:39:45 2003:

I missed the Elizabeth Smart movie??!! Damn! Now that's one creepy 
story.


#20 of 67 by cross on Mon Nov 10 22:29:26 2003:

This response has been erased.



#21 of 67 by mynxcat on Mon Nov 10 22:52:52 2003:

Ew.. creepier than I thought... (I take it the little girl you mention wasn't
Elizabeth?)


#22 of 67 by anderyn on Tue Nov 11 00:01:13 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. 


#23 of 67 by cross on Tue Nov 11 01:04:50 2003:

This response has been erased.



#24 of 67 by willcome on Tue Nov 11 07:20:02 2003:

SHAVING PRIVATE"S CLYNCH!  AHAHAHAHAHahahaha


#25 of 67 by sj2 on Tue Nov 11 08:16:05 2003:

Re #16, you are the one who's confused because apparently you didn't 
even bother to read the news reports. Its all very clearly reported 
out there as to who said what. Its no *fog* of the war situation.

A rough timeline
================
1. US military rescues Private Lynch in a commando operation. States  
that they were given insider information by an Iraqi lawyer about the 
whereabouts of Ms.Lynch.
2. US military says she fought to her last bullet and got captured. At 
this point they say nothing about the rape. Lynch says nothing (I 
guess mostly coz she's still an the rolls of the army)
3. Ms.Lynch leaves the army and writes a book. Says that she never 
fired any bullets and her group lost its way and walked into the 
ambush (This part was reported by BBC earlier too citing a US Army 
inquiry report)
4. US military now says that during her medical examination it had 
turned out that she might've been raped. The Iraqi doctor who examined 
her says he did not find any evidence of rape but also says that he 
wasn't looking for rape evidence.
5. Ms. Lynch says that she has no memory of what happened to her in 
the three hours she was unconscious after the capture. 



#26 of 67 by tsty on Tue Nov 11 10:30:39 2003:

60 minuets had a pretty good exposition of this series of events. the
intercpeted radio transmissions (iraqui) stated  *SHE*  kept firing.
  
teh  presumptoin (first reports are always wrong) was obviously
lynch or johnson or ...  ?????? .... teh description was 'blonde' so
it might have been a male!!!
  
soem burr-head dude fofed a whole damn mortar site .. blonde, btw.
  
war is hell.
  
inserting *complimetnary* dialouge isnt' nearly as slanderous as conjuring
hostile dialouge. attributing such dialouge is unfurtunate as well
as udnersatndable. not enough time/evaluation has taken place to get
it all right.
  
however, these are *sweeps weeks* for teh dying newtwrok television stations.


#27 of 67 by sj2 on Tue Nov 11 18:02:16 2003:

And here is the real fog of war

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3260473.stm
------------------------------------------------------
By the end of the day, 1/2 marines had seized both bridges, but 18 of 
them were dead - all from Charlie company. Scores more were injured. It 
was the heaviest loss of life for an individual US unit since the 
Mogadishu debacle of 1993. 

But the story of 1/2 marines is seldom heard amid all the focus on 
Jessica Lynch and her disputed rescue. Some I spoke to after the war 
expressed their frustration at the way the media had concentrated on 
the 20-year-old army private.
------------------------------------------------------


#28 of 67 by rcurl on Tue Nov 11 18:07:40 2003:

The Iraqi lawyer was interviewed on Scarborough Country last night and
Scarborough was making a big thing of Lynch not having telephoned the
lawyer yet to thank him. I think the lawyer was embarrassed by this
too.


#29 of 67 by richard on Tue Nov 11 19:52:39 2003:

Ain't Larry Flynt a nice guy:

NEW YORK -- Pornographer Larry Flynt says he bought nude photos of Pfc.
Jessica Lynch last month to publish in Hustler magazine, but changed his
mind because she is a "good kid ... and a victim of the Bush
administration." 

The photos, which purportedly show the undressed Army supply clerk posing
with male soldiers, were sold to Flynt last month, according to a
statement from Flynt that was read to The Associated Press Tuesday by his
publicist. 

The publicist, who would not give her name, said Flynt "has no plans to
use the photos." 

"Jessica Lynch is a good kid, she's not a hypocrite or out to fool
anyone," Flynt's statement said. "She's just a victim of the Bush
administration, who is using her to justify the war in Iraq and force-feed
us a Joan of Arc." 


#30 of 67 by tod on Tue Nov 11 21:54:13 2003:

This response has been erased.



#31 of 67 by bru on Wed Nov 12 04:38:12 2003:

and what is larry flint doing by announcing he has the prints?  Could he be
...EXPLOITING... her for fun and profit?


#32 of 67 by happyboy on Wed Nov 12 06:39:35 2003:

why are you so worried about her now, dummy? i thought you 
said she was lying about being raped.!


#33 of 67 by sj2 on Wed Nov 12 07:40:23 2003:

<sarcasm> So when do I see her on the cover of Playboy or Penthouse? 
</sarcasm>


#34 of 67 by mynxcat on Wed Nov 12 14:34:33 2003:

Why does she even have nude pictures out? Or are these pictures from 
the rescue?


#35 of 67 by bru on Wed Nov 12 16:31:56 2003:

I never called her a liar.


Just that with all the stories floating around I do not know who to believe.
Flynt says she and some of the other girls in her unit posed for the pictures
befor they left.  (not for him, but for fellow recruits)  One of them
obviously thought more of Flynts money than of the impact on a fellow
serviceman.



#36 of 67 by tod on Wed Nov 12 18:06:12 2003:

This response has been erased.



#37 of 67 by happyboy on Wed Nov 12 19:05:06 2003:

re35: you should give her the benefit of the doubt, dummy.


#38 of 67 by tod on Wed Nov 12 23:46:52 2003:

This response has been erased.



#39 of 67 by gull on Thu Nov 13 19:28:59 2003:

Re #35: Capitalism at work.


#40 of 67 by tsty on Fri Nov 14 08:22:30 2003:

listened to flynt state that 'if she calls me i will give her the pics'
  
yes, capitalism at its best ... 
  
lynch .. CALL flynt!!!!
  


#41 of 67 by gull on Fri Nov 14 13:50:23 2003:

Definately.  If she calls and gets them back she might be able to sell
them to a higher bidder. ;>


#42 of 67 by tod on Fri Nov 14 18:08:16 2003:

This response has been erased.



#43 of 67 by tsty on Sun Nov 16 08:08:36 2003:

who thiks the mobshot jessic lynch? hell, she is from *palistine*!
,


#44 of 67 by twenex on Sun Nov 16 21:33:51 2003:

In overy ittem i hav red tooday i have scene a risponse from tsty, al
misspolled.

Is this supposed to give us confidence, hmm?


#45 of 67 by keesan on Mon Nov 17 00:43:33 2003:

I have seen seven blanks in a row, thanks to my twit filter.  Someone let me
know when he starts using a spell checker.


#46 of 67 by twenex on Mon Nov 17 04:59:43 2003:

Heh.


#47 of 67 by sj2 on Mon Nov 17 06:45:58 2003:

Why do I see "view ignored response" instead of tsty's response?? ;)


#48 of 67 by sj2 on Mon Nov 17 07:02:24 2003:

Re#45, go easy on that twit filter, Sindi. Self-censorship is, after 
all, still censorship with all the drawbacks. 

Heh, who knows whether this is reaching you even. :) Anyways .....


#49 of 67 by remmers on Mon Nov 17 13:46:20 2003:

There are books that I choose not to read because I know from experience
that I don't care for the author.  That's not "censorship" (which I define
as somebody else deciding not to let me read something), it's me making
a choice about how I will spend my time.  Why should bbs responses be
any different?


#50 of 67 by twenex on Mon Nov 17 15:35:39 2003:

Good point, remmers.

Profs 1, Visitors 0


#51 of 67 by rcurl on Mon Nov 17 18:13:54 2003:

There are probably books one *should* read, even if one doesn't "care for
the author". That said, however, I don't know of any twits here that
one *should* read. 


#52 of 67 by remmers on Mon Nov 17 18:22:27 2003:

Textbooks being a case in point, if you're a student.  But I was
speaking of discretionary reading.


#53 of 67 by rcurl on Mon Nov 17 19:13:35 2003:

Creationists probably *should* read books on evolution by scientists, even
if they don't "care for the authors". 


#54 of 67 by twenex on Mon Nov 17 19:37:42 2003:

ROTFLMAO. My agreeable mood continues....


#55 of 67 by klg on Tue Nov 18 02:41:24 2003:

And evolutionists ought to read more books on the subject of intelligent 
design?????????


#56 of 67 by other on Tue Nov 18 04:26:56 2003:

They did.  That's part of why they're evolutionists.


#57 of 67 by sj2 on Tue Nov 18 05:23:39 2003:

OT - The "Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins talks how the design 
behind evolution is very sophisticated yet unplanned.

Re #49, my point was that unless you are really hardpressed for time, 
it doesn't hurt to know other people's point of view, no matter how 
ridiculous they sound to you (provided they have one).


#58 of 67 by tsty on Tue Nov 18 06:12:14 2003:

i guess the cancer survivor doesn't know about the tiwt flitter .... heh-heh.


#59 of 67 by rcurl on Tue Nov 18 06:49:10 2003:

"Intelligent design" has been overwhelmingly should to be unsupported by
evolutionists that DO read their books. The IDists, however, appear not to
have read a word of evolution science, much less produced any evidence
opposing evolution science.



#60 of 67 by twenex on Tue Nov 18 10:26:40 2003:

Your first sentence makes no sernse whatsoever.


#61 of 67 by remmers on Tue Nov 18 11:46:10 2003:

Re #57:  I would never filter someone whose point of view I didn't
already know.


#62 of 67 by gull on Tue Nov 18 15:04:27 2003:

Re #60: Change the "should" to "shown" and it makes more sense.


#63 of 67 by twenex on Tue Nov 18 15:13:17 2003:

Quite right; good idea.


#64 of 67 by klg on Tue Nov 18 17:10:22 2003:

Wouldn't one suppose that the vast proportion of those who support 
Intelligent Design have had much more exposure to Evolution than vice 
versa?  (The situation would be analagous to the fact that Jews living 
in America generally know much more about Christianity than Christians 
in America know about Judaism.)


#65 of 67 by gull on Tue Nov 18 18:51:01 2003:

My experience with a lot of lay people who argue theories like that is
that they outright refuse to read books about evolution and the like,
because they feel those are works of the Devil.


#66 of 67 by rcurl on Tue Nov 18 19:15:43 2003:

Thanks, gull. (That was an unlikely typo - the wrong letters aren't near each
other. Must have happened in the brain....)

The IDists have heard of evolution from the popular media, but don't study
the evidence. They like the metaphors (watches imply a watchmaker) more
than the facts.


#67 of 67 by willcome on Thu Nov 27 09:35:19 2003:

man, those whores have gfoood MARIHUANA/


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