Couric & Co.
April 24, 2007 5:04 PM

The Truth And Jessica Lynch

By
David Martin
Topics
Field Notes
(CBS)
David Martin is National Security Correspondent for CBS News.
To watch Jessica Lynch testify before a congressional committee today, you had to take her word for it that this was the same terrified young lady we saw being carried on to a transport plane after her rescue by special operations forces.

She showed no outward signs of the severe injuries she had suffered when her vehicle was hit by a rocket propelled grenade and crashed, although she said she still has no feeling in part of her left leg and wears a brace at least some of the time.
(AP /APTN)
She most definitely is no longer terrified. She is self-assured and articulate, no doubt skills she had to develop in order to handle the media frenzy that descended on her when she arrived home in Palestine, West Virginia, as probably the most famous private in the Army.

A couple days after her rescue, The Washington Post had reported that before she was captured by the Iraqis she "fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers...firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition" According to the Post account, which was based on anonymous sources citing battlefield reports, Lynch kept firing "even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds." By her own account, none of that happened. She never fired her weapon and was knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed, waking up hours later in an Iraqi hospital. As she put it in her testimony today, the story depicted her as "the little girl Rambo from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting. It was not true." She blamed the media for perpetuating the myth. "They should have found out the facts before they spread the word like wildfire."

Her hero status earned her and a co-writer a $1 million advance for a book, so in one sense the myth paid off for Jessica Lynch. But in her testimony she eloquently debunked the urge to put a heroic face on war. "The American people are capable of determining their own heros...and the don't need to be told elaborate lies...The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype."



  • David Martin

    David Martin is CBS News' National Security Correspondent.

Add a Comment
by knitone-2009 April 26, 2007 8:09 AM EDT
I totally accept, and understand, her not being able to recall the events of her capture, but that didn't stop her from co-authoring a book about it or accepting any of the perks that came about because of the "official story". I would think that the inability to remember those things would make it difficult to write a book about them. She's obviously recalled enough now to dispute the "official story", and regardless of when she found herself able to correct the record, I'm sorry she experienced what she did.
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by jebby_one April 25, 2007 1:05 PM EDT
but she didn't refuse the $1,000,000
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by cathaleen April 25, 2007 12:06 PM EDT
All our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are heros. I admire Jessica Lynch for coming forward with her true story. After all she was there when it happened. She never did mention that Iraqi doctor who supposedly saved her life. She once said she never saw him and would not meet with him. Has anyone done a follow-up story on this?
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by knitone-2009 April 25, 2007 5:03 AM EDT
Jessica Lynch said "They should have found out the facts before they spread the word like wildfire." If memory serves, she was not that forthcoming with the facts while she was being fitted for her designer wedding gown and accepting her million-dollar book deal.
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by jerr11 April 25, 2007 4:59 AM EDT
By coming out and telling the truth as it is, Lynch is showing she is a true hero.

She is not afraid to stand up to the crooks and liars in the white house to expose their manipulation of the American people with their lies.

Everything they do are a pack of lies, from the lies that got us into Iraq to the lies they spin so that the American people will support their illegal war.

Just ask Pat Tillman's family.
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by taylpatr April 25, 2007 4:40 AM EDT
Let us not forget Lori Piestawa, the real hero of that terrible day. If Jessica does do a book, I feel she will give the credit where the credit's due. God bless you and your family, Lori. Godspeed, Soldier!
Reply to this comment
by RichardLowry April 24, 2007 11:15 PM EDT
Mr. Martin,

Thank you for a fair and balanced report. Other media outlets are reporting the Jessica blamed the military for the Rambo story. I am following this story very carefully because I am very close to it. I spent nearly three years of my life researching what happened in Nasiriyah and I watched the hearing today in its entirety.

Yours is the first report that has been accurate. Please read my op-ed piece:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/568yzazb.asp

Regards,

Richard S. Lowry
author

The Gulf War Chronicles
Marines in the Garden of Eden
US Marine in Iraq: Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003

coming soon

The Surge
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