Saving Private Lynch, first show

[hood]

I saw a commercial for this one today:

Friday, April 18 @ 9pm ET/PT on A&E network

A Bill Kurtis Special Report
An in-depth look at the rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch by American Special Forces from an Iraqi hospital. Bush Administration officials said that it was an Iraqi who passed a note to US marines which launched the daring mission that extracted Private Lynch from the Nasiriyah hospital.

[SFontaine]

While the rescue was great they're REALLY REALLY overplaying this. She was rescued. Great for her and good work SOF Soldiers but seriously.. They're making this out to be the biggest story of the war.

[Alleycat]

It's a big deal because its one of the first or is the first successful rescue of a POW during wartime.

[96B]

It might mean alot in the mission successfulness sense, but how is all of this media frenzy publicity going to make her feel? Does anybody every consider she may have survivors guilt? After all she witness her fellow soldiers get slaughtered. Shes a hero, just like everybody else that fights for this country and its great she was rescued but the media really needs to be careful with this.

[Smoothie104]

There were a bunch of "Secret Service" personel surrounding her when she returned, why?

[Knave]

It's a big deal because its one of the first or is the first successful rescue of a POW during wartime.

The first since the Second World War....

[Merik]

It might mean alot in the mission successfulness sense, but how is all of this media frenzy publicity going to make her feel? Does anybody every consider she may have survivors guilt? After all she witness her fellow soldiers get slaughtered. Shes a hero, just like everybody else that fights for this country and its great she was rescued but the media really needs to be careful with this.

Its called the Audie Murphy syndrome.You feel that you didnt do enough to help out your buddies left behind and now you have all this fame except you feel you didnt deserve it.All these East Coast and Hollywood a**holes have no idea what they are going to do this girls mind.

[papabear]

There were a bunch of "Secret Service" personel surrounding her when she returned, why?

Are you referring to these individuals?
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030412/capt.1050186927.war_lynch_rsb101.jpg

Can anyone confirm that the lapel pins belong properly to Secret Servuce agents?

[Knave]

There were a bunch of "Secret Service" personel surrounding her when she returned, why?

To make sure some nutball didn't try to hurt her when she returned home; a peace-creep, Iraqi sympathizer or the like. Don't think that there isn't someone in the United States who would want to hurt her.

She's become a symbol for the War; a poster child. And a lot of Palestinians are in disbelief and disappointment because of the collapse of the Hussein regime in Iraq and the poor showing the Iraqi Army did against the Americans.... these are people who were sold hook, line and sinker on the antics of the Iraqi Information Minister.

They still don't believe that Baghdad has been liberated; one news article quoted a West Bank shopkeeper as saying that it was "on a big stage" and that the people shown cheering were "American actors."

And, trust me, at least a few of those folks have immigrated into the United States.

[Duke]

These guys are USA CI-Counterintelligence. The insignia is the color, size and shape of the Army's Military Intelligence Branch Insignia. Also, for officers its in the correct location. Their second stated mission is personnel security in the prevention of sabotage, espionage, damage or theft.

[covert-one]

The main reason why this is such a "BIG" story is the fact that she is a
F-E-M-A-L-E . :bash:

[covert-one]

The main reason why this is such a "BIG" story is the fact that she is a
F-E-M-A-L-E . :bash:
When was the last time there was a female POW????????????????????????

[Smoothie104]

I guess its possible that someone may want to harm her. It just seems a little much since she is on U.S. Government Property. Its not like she was being unloaded next to the gold and jewelry kiosk at the mall, or in the parking lot of the nearest mosque. Im sure she would be easy to find back home at the general store, or the local gas and sip.

Could they be there to debrief and interview her?

[papabear]

The main reason why this is such a "BIG" story is the fact that she is a
F-E-M-A-L-E . :bash:
When was the last time there was a female POW????????????????????????

Try the first Gulf War.

[Ichhabe]

Read in the newspaper that the rescue of Lynch probably was staged. Hope thats not true.
Any on that in the American newspapers?

[Vance]

Staged? Like, fake? I doubt it.

[hood]

which paper was that? there's countless stories about it, but none saying that it was fake.

[Light Fighter]

I dont think for a second that the Lynch rescue was faked, but I do think that us just getting a helpful hint by running iraqi's is a bit strange. I think that the 7 POWs were rescued by a one of the Special Operations teams, be it a SEAL team, Delta, SF, who knows. I think the 7 POW story is more of a PR thing. Trying to shut up those that still protest the war. But who knows, truth is stranger than fiction.

[Zach R.]

I could understand a paper like the Washington post saying something like that.They've already said that 24,500 Afghani civilians died during Operation Enduring Freedom.

[Silverado]

Oh for Christ's sake this whole thing is being blown way the hell out of proportion. So some girl who was unlucky to get shot up and captured by the Iraqis is captured, and treated for her wounds in hospital and is then subsequently liberated by US troops. Well I'm sure heartland America breathed a sigh of relief but jeezus leave it at that will you. Now you folks are going to make a movie out of this little episode!! Try selling that pitch to former POW's from little conflicts like WWII and Vietnam, to name but two, there likely fall over laughing in disbelief. Hell they might even politely point out to you just how lightley she got off. Ask any former allied POW who got to endure Japanese hospitality during the war in the Pacific if the Japs would have been quite so understanding, or for that matter if the Nazis would have treated the wounds of injured Jews when they arrived for their brief stay at "Hotel Auschwitz", I think not.

[MK133]

What makes me poop my pants is the fact that she is old enough to be a POW but not old enough to go have a beer when she gets home.

I hope she is able to teach like she wanted to do, some worry after an experience like that, she would be too traumatized.

[Silverado]

On the other hand she could turn out to be a wonderfull teacher. An experience like that provided you come to terms with it would give a person a unique perspective which could well be a positive attribute for a teacher.

[front]

Semperfi2003:

"It might mean alot in the mission successfulness sense, but how is all of this media frenzy publicity going to make her feel?"

Great. She, hopefully is going to make a whack load of cash... get her broken limbs fixed, get into the college (which was mentioned that she and her family have constantly talked about but... they were so poor that she went in the military to get the cash to help her out):

http://www.newswise.com/articles/2003/4/POW.WVU.html

And she is now in no short supply of scholarships either. Good. It's going to make her feel real good... and now she can get out of the whole deal she signed up for, fought with when it went real bad, and get out while the going's good.

Hollywood can make all the movies they want about anything, including this woman, and what she went through. And, again, hopefully she'll make a serious amount of moolah off the whole deal.

Byline on this other board (link below):

"Does Pfc. Jessica Lynch Own the Movie Rights to Her Life?* NBC is planning to make a movie about Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the rescued American POW, even if it doesn't get her permission. Can the network do that? Doesn't NBC need to buy the movie rights to her life?" :

http://www.unitedjustice.com/stories/jessica-lynch.html

And so...

"The Washington Post reported Thursday that the 19-year-old Army supply clerk shot several Iraqi soldiers during the March 23 ambush that resulted in her capture. She kept firing even after she had several gunshot wounds, finally running out of ammunition, the newspaper said, citing unidentified U.S. officials.

"She was fighting to the death," the Post quoted an official as saying. "She did not want to be taken alive."

Pentagon officials and family members contacted late Wednesday declined comment on the report."

So in the end 'Silverado' "Oh for Christ's sake this whole thing is being blown way the hell out of proportion."

This is what you get when you have a war on real time TV. Nothing is out of proportion... it's all in your face 24 hours FAUX News a day.

We all know it guys. It's like a movie. A movie is a story which needs a beginning, (Jessica Lynch, poor, joins up for college funds), a middle, (trained, does well, 'sees the world', ambushed and fights, is wounded, left behind broken and battered), and an end, (is rescued, and reunited with her family). All brought to you by FAUX News... 24 Hours a Day Every Day...

They LOVE it! It was written for them! "Blown out of all proportion"?!

Not by me... or anyone on this board... fair dues to the woman. She did her bit... and no messing.... as for the big news channels... they love it.

But as for what she can get out of it? I would really like to see her get a good agent.. and stick it to them... bigtime.

"Tears Of The Sun" eat your heart out. :-)

cheers

front

[front]

My above comment was written on April 17th...

Reports on the BBC World Service that the whole "rescue" was staged.

From a Texas paper:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/coxnet/iraq/story/0517_LYNCH.html

Ack!

Read the article, or just the last three paragraphs.

She still deserves the cash! :-)

cheers

front

[Smoothie104]

I remember reading that the initial reports of her fighting to the death, emptying all her mags, etc... were published before she had ever been debriefed. When pushed to come up with an answer as to how, the adminstration said the info was gleaned from "intercepted iraqi radio transmissions"

Other members of the captured unit complained about malfunctioning weapons which failed to feed and had to be operated single shot style, and we are supposed to believe that this girl rained deadly fire on the enemy and killed a bunch of them because it was being talked about on un-recorded and un-verifiable iraqi militay frequencies?

Not to belittle the situation or the event, becuase it is both tragic and heroic, but it sure is good for morale once the spin has been put on it.

Imagine the publics reaction to a report about her running out of the truck upon taking fire, tripping and falling, getting run over by the truck behind her who swerves and runs off the road into a ditch, killing some wounding others. Thier weapons are filthy because they thought that they wouldnt need them, and their commander told them that they wouldnt be anything to worry about anyways. A few trucks get blown up, someone pisses in their pants, half the group is crying, the other half is scared ****less, Someone says "maybe we should just give up, I didn't sign up for this ****, I wanted to work on computers" and everyone says "OK!"

I believe the truth lies somewhere in between. Will we ever know? Doubtful. I have no military contacts in that part of the country, mine are all from the Savannah area, Ranger Battallion @ Hunter, The 3rd ID out of Hinesville and a few mechs and avionics guys for the 160th, but those Nightstalkers, even what little they do tell me, I can't post it here.

Bottom line, the American Media is pretty much forced to come up with feel good stories, to keep the support of the war High. Its basically propoganda. Do I mean forced by some government entity? maybe... But its also forced by the public and the almighty dollar. Who is going to get higher ratings, the network that shows the live footage of the armored column racing toward baghdad unapposed? or the network who shows friendly fire accidents, equipment malfunctions and poor discipline getting people killed, and errant airstrikes blowing kids to bits.

Did you notice that after CNN's coverage of the first nights strike during the 1st gulf war, evey network had a 24 hour "Baghdad Cam"? The 1st gulf war was Huge for CNN. This time the networks spent millions and millions of dollars in hopes of making bigger and bigger profits. I doubt that any of the big Corporations were interested in actually telling the truth, even if they could. They know that EVERYONE will be watching the news, so they cash in while they can.

Face it, we want hero's, real or embellished......besides, would you want your parents to get a letter from the War office saying "We regret to inform you that your son is dead becuase he was stupid"

[Seraphim]

She was hit by a truck? :cantbeli:

[OzMan]

Exactly, well said. This whole thing is a big crock of ****. Yeah, she got captured, and she got rescued. So what. Sorry to be cold-hearted here, but she ain't no hero. Those guys who risked their lives trying to save her are the ones who deserve the credit. And what kind of thanks do they get? From the first time I heard that a girl got rescued, I knew that it would balloon into this whole charlie-foxtrot.

[Duke]

The events of Pfc Lynch's rescue is inconsequential to the media fanfare, its the fact that she fought. Politically, many of the American papers have liberal slants and must exhort liberalism. Thus, liberal papers must drum up her experience as an indicator that women should not be barred from combat infantry.
During JUST CAUSE a femal Army MP Officer led an assault against PDF personnel. (MPs have historically fought infantry style firefights) I remember the liberals, particularly Pat Schoeder, in early 1990 screaming to lift the ban on females and infantry.
This is a reccuring argument and expect it to happen again in the next conflict.

[budanski]

BBC Tries Shooting Blanks

May 20, 2003: The British media have been promoting a story that claims the U.S. commando raid to rescue wounded American soldier Jessica Lynch was staged. Part of their proof is the assertion that the troops participating in the raid were firing blank rounds. But anyone familiar with how military weapons use blanks knows that for a weapon to fire blanks it must have a large orange metal device fitted on the barrel. This "blank adaptor" restricts the amount of hot gas leaving the barrel when the weapon is fired. This provides enough hot gas in the barrel to operate the reloading system. The blank adaptor, in addition to being very obvious, takes several minutes to put on or take off. Now the Brits may fall back on the assertion that the troops had movie prop weapons. These also fire blanks, but have the "blank adaptor" built into the barrel via a metal plug with a narrow exit hole to keep the hot gas in (and prevent anyone from using real bullets in the gun, unless the metal plug is removed.) As for the rest of the story, some of the Iraqi hospital staff assert that the Iraqi irregulars had fled before the American commandos showed up. Earlier, other hospital staff had said quite the opposite. The British press are rather infamous for their creative use of sources and story angles to snag a valuable hot headline. Their story that American troops would go behind enemy lines equipped with blanks is in itself remarkable. What's not remarkable is that this story, and many equally off the wall (and later discredited) scoops should emerge from the London media

[Chops]

Eagle 1-1

I have it on good authority that the combined JSFTF that extraced her came under no fire whatsoever. Allegedly some of the Ranger containment elements took a few rounds but as far as the JSFTF went- no bad guys at target and clean extraction.

rgds

Chops

[cut]

budanski, what's the source of that article?

[Argyll]

At first glance,it all sounded too good to be true,then came along the inconsistencies!
I'm pretty sure that the captured members of the convoy will be able to shed some more light on the whole incident,or for the theorists,will they be allowed to.I posted in an earlier thread round about the time it all happened,and at 1st I thought she was a gutsy SOB,who basically fought for her life,now I'm not so sure!!The theory she was hit by another truck I've heard too.!! Some basic Q's.
1.Why was PFC Lynch kept seperate from the other "wounded" POW's,if she was cuptured in the same location,is it perhaps because they(Iraqis)saw that she was the one who was wounded more severly,and took her to the hospital in Al Nasiriyah?
2.The convoy was ambushed,and in viewing the video(al Jazeera),at the time,despite the horrific scenes,there was a lack of expended ammo,around the area,which would indicate a complete surprise attack,and the claims from the other POW's that they couldn't fight back due to weapon malfuntions.
Now It would be fantastic if the reported events ,on PFC Lynch were true,and that she fought for survival,but it looks like the holes are getting bigger,and with her amnesia we'll have to go along with the PR exercise.
Whatever the truth,I do wish PFC Lynch a speedy and full recovery,and also her comrades in arms on that convoy

[GazB]

If she really wanted to fight to the death she would have fired off every round but one...

There are plenty of American movies of the week that aren't worth watching... little kids with cancer, crap sports teams that win because they got a new coach that believed in them, this will just be another movie to avoid...

Fortunately there are enough OK ones that you can put up with like T1 and T2... looking forward to T3, and the X-men movies have been OK.

[Dmitri]

I think the most obvious malfunction of this heroic story is that even after killing bunch of Iraqies, who in turn were most likely trying to kill her, and runnig out of ammo, her enemies just decided to spare her life rofl , and then have such a great pity on her (after killing some of their comrades) that they took her to a good hospital where she was later treated better than other Iraqies.. :cantbeli: Riiiight.

[Ichhabe]

If she killed some or not is not the interesting plot here. What is interesting is that they caught her alive. And here is the essence of that. A dead American is a dead American, But one that is alive, and a women is gonna be a good propaganda value. But all this is just wild speculations, and frankly rather tasteless of us to debate here. But that is my 2 cents as you say in the USA.