Hero or Greedy American?

[OnyxCougar]

From Yahoo

Jessica Lynch Was Not Raped, Say Iraqi Doctors
By Rosalind Russell

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi doctors who treated U.S. soldier Jessica Lynch dismissed on Monday allegations made in her biography that she was raped during her capture in Iraq (news - web sites), saying she had the best possible care.

Surgeons who treated Private Lynch for multiple injuries after her convoy was attacked near the southern city of Nassiriya in the initial days of the U.S.-led invasion in March said they were shocked and hurt by accusations that she was sexually assaulted.

In "I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story" to be published on Tuesday, the author says U.S. military medical records indicated Lynch was raped and sodomized before she was evacuated from a Nassiriya hospital in a U.S. commando raid widely publicized through the world.

The ABC television network quoted Lynch, unconscious after her injuries, as saying she did not remember any sexual assault, adding: "Even just the thinking about that, that's too painful."

A rocket-propelled grenade attack on Lynch's Humvee military vehicle on March 23 left her with a broken leg, arm and ankle and a gash across her head. Eleven other soldiers were killed in the attack in which the Humvee crashed into another vehicle.

Dr Jamal Kadhim Shwail was the first doctor to examine Lynch when she was brought to Nassiriya's military hospital by Iraqi special police.

Shwail said Lynch was lying in the crowded reception of the hospital, unconscious and in shock from blood loss.

She was wearing her uniform including a flak jacket, military trousers and boots, none of her clothes had been unbuttoned or removed, as the book claims, he said.

"We only had a few minutes to save her life, we found a vein in her neck to give her fluids and blood," Shwail told Reuters at his home in Nassiriya.

A team of five doctors treated Lynch, who was given an anaesthetic to allow a 15-cm (six-inch) cut to her head to be stitched and her fractures realigned.

He said her flak jacket was removed and her clothes were cut away to expose the injured sites. The anesthetist cut away an area around her groin to insert a catheter to drain urine. "NO WAY"

Lynch, now 20, was the same age as his eldest daughter Noor, said Shwail. A copy of People magazine with the blonde soldier's smiling face on the cover lay on the couch beside him.

"She was a woman, young and alone in a strange country," he said. "It was our duty to look after her and we did. Now people are saying she was raped... it pains us."

Shwail said he saw no signs of rape but neither was he looking for them.

"The thought did not cross my mind. Her injuries were consistent with severe trauma, a car crash, nothing else. Her clothes were not torn, her boots had not been removed. There is no way (she could have been raped)."

Shortly afterwards Lynch was transferred to Saddam Hospital in Nassiriya, now renamed Nassiriya General.

There, Dr Mahdi Khafazji operated on her fractured right femur when her condition had stabilized. He said he cleaned her body before surgery and found no signs of a sexual assault.

"I examined her very carefully," he said at his private clinic in the center of Nassiriya. "I cleaned her body including her genitalia. She had no sign of raping or sodomizing."

"ASSAULT WOULD HAVE KILLED HER"

He said Lynch's injuries were so severe she would have died had she been sexually assaulted after she was wounded.

"If she had been raped there is no way she could have survived it. She was fighting for her life, her body was broken. What sort of an animal would even think of that?"

During the days Lynch was in hospital, Nassiriya was battered by fighting.

Hundreds of civilian casualties poured into the hospital, but a senior medical team assigned to Lynch made sure she had the best care the hospital could provide, and a female nurse was constantly at her bedside, said Dr Khudair al-Hazbar, then deputy director of the Saddam hospital.

"It was war, but we cared about her and we did everything we could for her," he said. "I spoke to her every day. She was frightened, but polite to us. I know she is grateful"

On April 1, after Iraqi forces had deserted the hospital, it was raided by U.S. commandos. The event was filmed by the U.S. military through a night-vision lens and Lynch was stretchered away.

"They attacked the hospital at night. There were explosions outside which broke the windows. The patients were terrified," he said. "The Americans knew the Iraqi military had gone so why they didn't come for her quietly, I don't know."

Hazbar, now hospital director, said he was shocked by the rape allegations.

"Who is saying this? In our culture, we protect women," he said. "Everyone was very sympathetic toward her. In our culture it is very unusual -- a woman, a soldier."

Publishers of the authorized biography by Rick Bragg stood by the anal rape claim.

"A doctor who treated Lynch (at a U.S. military base) and who was privy to all her medical records has reported that some of her injuries are consistent with an assault. What more verification do you need?" a spokesman said.

How exactly, is she a hero? Her humvee got hit by a rocket, she is one of the few (if not the only one) to survive, and she's a hero? Lucky maybe. Survivor, maybe. But hero? Why? Her biography said she was raped, the doctors say she wasn't. SO.... Hero or Greedy American?

[insoluble]

We all need a blond haired blue eyed "hero" to get all emotional over. If not, how would the american cattle keep finding reasons to believe in this action? From what I understand, she was turned down at evil wal-mart, so she joined the military.

[Undertoad]

I for one cannot find a speck of spite, sitting here on my ass in great comfort while others take such risks on my behalf.

[insoluble]

on your behalf???? How so?

[Undertoad]

She was injured while in the service of the country of which I'm a citizen.

[insoluble]

that's a pretty vague and complacent standpoint.

[breakingnews]

Yeah, she did serve for the country, but there's such an arrogance about her attitude. Her lack of modesty is definitely unattractive. She's profitting from her misfortune (bravery?), which is okay since it's a harrowing tale - but she's made no effort whatsoever to address the public as to why she agreed to the book/movie, and so soon after her rescue. It's mostly public perception, but I don't find her very respectable, especially if I'm supposed to view her as a heroine.

[Uryoces]

Originally posted by insoluble
that's a pretty vague and complacent standpoint.

How do you mean his comment is vague and complacent? I have a friend who's been activated and is heading to the Gulf, and my niece is a Blackhawk pilot hading to Korea. I imagine that she's going to be re-routed. Our own Tobiasly is there on the ground in Iraq right now.

We're in the damn country, right or wrong we've toppled the government there. I'm hoping that Bush has some kind of diplomatic rabbit he can pull out of his ass, and that Tobiasly, my friend, and my niece can help get us out.

This was about Lynch, wasn't it? Yeah. Poster child all the way. I don't think anyone will ever know, but I don't think it's beyond her to lie about her experience.

[bmgb]

I've been meaning to start a thread about Lynch and her comrades, but I haven't got it together yet. I believe she is a hero, because:

1. Even though I don't support wars in general (and especially not this one), I have a great deal of respect and admiration for those who put their lives on the line for this country. And she really has been through hell.

2. And this is a big one, Jessica Lynch is now taking on the US government. It was reported last week that she made statements to Diane Sawyer that she feels her story was misrepresented by the US Military for propagandistic purposes (WHAT??? No! You don't say!) and that this was wrong. (This interview will be on Prime Time Live tomorrow night.)

As far as the rape question goes, I don't know why her (US) doctors would lie about her being raped (remember, she never said she was raped. If it happened, she does not remember it.) Also, nobody knows whether her bones were broken in the humvee accident, or if her captors broke her bones, possibly after they raped her. She hasn't made any statement about the alleged rape other than telling Diane Sawyer that it's a painful thought. Basically, it's Iraqi doctors' word vs. our doctors.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I got the impression she's pretty meek. If the writer. Rick Bragg (what a name) took liberties with the story, I doubt if she would buck him.

Originally posted by Uryoces
I don't think it's beyond her to lie about her experience.

It's excellent that you're an expert on the subject! Please provide the evidence that led you to the conclusion that it's not "beyond her to lie about her experience". I understand that you were simply posting an opinion; I'd just like to know what makes you think she might be a liar. 'Cause I think that you really have no reason whatsoever to believe that other than your suspicions - in which case, I don't think it's beyond you to be a child molestor.

Originally posted by OnyxCougar
How exactly, is she a hero? Her humvee got hit by a rocket, she is one of the few (if not the only one) to survive, and she's a hero? Lucky maybe. Survivor, maybe. But hero? Why? Her biography said she was raped, the doctors say she wasn't. SO.... Hero or Greedy American?

Originally posted by insoluble
We all need a blond haired blue eyed "hero" to get all emotional over. If not, how would the american cattle keep finding reasons to believe in this action? From what I understand, she was turned down at evil wal-mart, so she joined the military.

I don't know that she's a hero, but I do know one thing: it takes a hell of a lot more guts to even end up in Iraq than it does to sit in your armchair and speculate, to criticize from afar. Is she a hero? I don't know. But I doubt the word could be twisted in such a manner to make it apply to you folks.

Originally posted by breakingnews
but she's made no effort whatsoever to address the public as to why she agreed to the book/movie, and so soon after her rescue.

What the fuck does she owe us again? I just checked and I came up with <b>nothing</b>.

You've made no effort whatsoever to address the public regarding concerns you may enjoy scat play. Whether or not you do is <b>your own fucking business</b>. Just like her decisions are hers. I don't imagine you'd enjoy people picking over your life and questioning every decision you made, so why does she deserve any different?

[Beestie]

Why is everyone picking on this poor woman?

She was terribly injured in service to our country (i.e., both our sorry asses) and the Pentagon and the media decided to "manufacture" a hero. She does NOT impress me as a willing participant and has publicly contradicted Army accounts of the battle. Do you know how much GUTS it takes to publicly disagree with the Army?!?!?

Jessica is a hero - she suffered terribly for her country and she is debunking lies left and right. Nuff said.

[bmgb]

The more I think about it, and the more I read about it, the more I think she probably wasn't raped. But this has nothing to do with her. She is not running around yelling, "I was raped! I was raped!"

All she has said about the Iraqi hospital, is that she thinks they treated her well. She says a nurse there used to sing to her. Though the Iraqi lawyer whose actions led to her rescue said he saw her slapped, she says she does not remember being slapped.

I also heard there was a story in the British media that the hospital had tried to turn her over to the US first, but the US military said, "No. Wait 'til tomorrow." (I presume they were waiting for the camera equipment.)

At this time, the Iraqi doctors seem more credible to me than the US Military doctors, because the military has already repeatedly lied and distorted what happened to Private Lynch. Luckily, there are people trying to tell the truth. And Jessica Lynch is one of them.