Jessica Lynch Sets Record Straight
The Former POW Discusses Her Testimony In Pat Tillman Probe
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Lynch Discusses False Heroism
Harry Smith questions Jessica Lynch about being falsely portrayed as a hero in the Iraq war, and her testimony at a congressional hearing concerning the death of Pat Tillman.
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Appearing on The Early Show, former POW Jessica Lynch talks about testifying in Washington, D.C. (CBS/The Early Show)
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Photo Essay
Hero's Homecoming
Crowds gather to welcome home former POW Jessica Lynch.
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Soldiers Set Free
Read about the freed POWs, see pictures of them and their jubilant families and follow the story of POW Jessica Lynch's rescue.
She spoke before the House Government Reform Committee along with the family of fallen Army Ranger Pat Tillman.
Tillman, a former professional football player who joined the Army Rangers after Sept. 11, was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. At first the military said he was killed by enemy fire and even posthumously awarded him the Silver Star.
Lynch was badly injured when her convoy was ambushed in Iraq in 2003. She was later rescued by American troops from an Iraqi hospital, but the tale of her ambush was changed into a story of heroism on her part.
"It meant a lot, really, it did, especially to come out for the Tillman family," Lynch told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "They really need answers. And, you know, they have tons and tons of questions that are just unanswered. And they need that."
At the hearing, the chairman of the House panel, Henry Waxman, accused the government of inventing "sensational details and stories" about Tillman's death and Lynch rescue. After she arrived home, Lynch set the record straight in a book called "I Am a Soldier, Too."
"At first I didn't even realize … the stories that were being told," she said. "It was quite a while afterwards, and then I found out. It was a little disappointing. And I knew that I had to get the truth out there because, one, I wouldn't be able to live with myself ... knowing that these stories were portraying me to do something that I didn't."
Although Lynch was injured severely, she didn't suffer any gunshots wounds. Still, recovery is a long process and she said the healing is slow.
Lynch, whose brother also serves in the Army, isn't sure why the stories were made up because her capture occurred so early in the war. But she was the first POW rescue since World War II, which was big news. She wants America to understand that the real heroes were those who died in the fight and those who risked everything to save her.
"Definitely my friend Laurie, for trying to get us to safety," Lynch said. "But, you know, she was killed in combat so — but the ones who came in and rescued me, the ones who were in my unit fighting to death, you know, those are my real heroes."
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See all 140 CommentsPosted by Amazedd at 12:22 PM : Apr 25, 2007
Aren't you one of those scum bags that rained insults and discredit on Senator Kerry for doing the EXACT same thing? I'll say this as a Vet, anyone who walks into combat is a Hero. Those that avoid it and then USE divisions between vets to gain political advantage? Those are the scumbags. There was NO reason for Bush to do what he did here and in the end it was HIS call because HE KNEW!! Couse it should be a surprise since he hid out during Vietnam then ran the Swift Boat ads during the champaign to get elected. He's a COWARD, George Bush is and that is the REAL point in all this.
Posted by didntinhale but swallows
no sparky - she said her "rescue" was delayed 24hrs so that the DOD could organize the video taping.....
understand? Bush/rummie/cheney wanted videoed heros - if they could have gotton Tillman falling on tape, they'd have shown us that too.
Disgrace, dishonor, to Bushit and his neocons
"Southern" Racist? Are they different from other racists?
Sounds almost racist to me.............
However for anyone, whether military officers or the administration itself, to cover up the actual cause of death as in the Tillman case, or fabricate facts as in the Jessica Lynch case, for propaganda purposes just to instill acceptance of the war in the public and inspire volunteers for service, is not only disgraceful but should be held as a criminal action. IMO
Posted by ralan40 at 12:32 PM : Apr 25, 2007
ralan40, they only reported what was spoon feed to them by W and his pack of liers. FauxNews reported the same thing at the time so stop trying to spin this away from W and his fantasy land.
- Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
War is ugly. Our enemies hate us. The funny thing is they love to see the President get bashed by the terrorist apologists in our country. In a time where solidarity is needed most president haters are dividing our country and emboldening the terrorist's and evil doers of the world who lash out at all that is good in the world.
Posted by speakfdead
Your cynicism aside, did you even READ this story? The circumstances of Tillmans death were changed to deny the reality of the event - to the point of awarding him a silver medal posthumously (not given to those who die under friendly fire). Lynch was touted as a hero with a story that was entirely made up.
Our military service members are most certainly all heroes (Tillman and Lynch included) just by serving, we don't need to lie to the American people about their heroism - in fact to do so cheapens all of us.
And the question remains, why did the Department of Defense feel the need to lie to make any of these people "more heroic" like when they delayed Lynch's "rescue" 24 hours, and released details like how she was shot, when she wasn't? The obvious answer is propaganda. If you have a better answer I'd love to hear it.
Most people don't hate the president, or at least didn't at first, but rather they hate the enormous damage his administration has done and continues to do to the country and the stench he has brought to the presidency.
Bush once, sarcastically, commented, %u201Cdon%u2019t compare me with Bill Clinton%u201D.
Ironically, He now makes Clinton look like a saint by comparison.
BTW, I don%u2019t recall seeing this moniker (speakfdead) before. Could it be that you simply change your ID so readers here will not recognize you and simply skip your intended-for-distraction posts?
Just asking.
I agree this woman should be labeled as a coward who threw her weapon to the ground when placed in a tight situation. I agree that this woman, who seems to have a problem with people taking advantange of her heroism, making a killing on stunts to make money out of this 'lie'
Lynch is the poster child of a true liberal coward and that is why the liberals and the liberal media are now adopting her cause and giving her the media to spread her gospel.
I discovered through personal experience, that the military has a culture of blaming things that were initiated through officers, on the lower ranked personnel.
Case in point,
A Col. ordered me to do "something" and... if questioned about..it... "whose idea was this? who did this, and why?"
I was also ordered to lie about it, and say it was MY IDEA and I did it on my own without anybody telling me to......I didn't want to lie...and told him so...
he said: because I was only in the military for "a little while" and he was a "career professional", so I should do what he said...and lie about him telling me to do it. so I would get in trouble instead of him.
what a crock!!!
How dare they? They do. Truth = nothing.
Vote for change, local, national.... make this country great again. Please
Guess, better turn the large statue of flag raising over Iowa Jima into scrap.
Since it was staged.
Its a sad fact the USA today, but the next attack will be the call to a new call "NATIONALSIM".
There will no room for this garbage in the media.
Why do the Bush Haters keep trying to depict our president as a liar? Because they hate Bush. It's that simple.
This from a formal liberal turned independently moderate who despises the acrimony from both left and right, and wishes we would only debate principles based on truth.
By far the funniest post I've ever read on this site.
What a dupe. "Liberal media"! lol That'll be the day...
Posted by didntinhale at 12:34 PM : Apr 25, 2007"
'"We heard the noise of helicopters," says Dr Anmar Uday. He says that they must have known there would be no resistance. "We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital.
"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, 'Go, go, go', with guns and blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show - an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors." All the time with the camera rolling. The Americans took no chances, restraining doctors and a patient who was handcuffed to a bed frame.
Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance. "I told her I will try and help you escape to the American Army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my life." He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire. They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.'
Pentagoons doing Hollywood, fed to the media...Disgusting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html
And also, when I say we moved together I am speaking of our country. Our President, Congress, and people. Other countries may have joined or not, but we as a country were United. Perhaps at that point we were more united than I can ever remember in my life. If we would stay united, I say we would already have removed the majority of our troops from Iraq. I even think that would have been bad business for the media.
Also, We have to protect our country first and foremost. The U.N. couldn't find it's way out of a wet paper bag. They will not protect any country.
Because he is a liar. I'm so sick of this "Bush-hater" stuff. What, do you think we just woke up one day and decided to hate Bush for no reason? I'm sure that's the story you want to believe, but we have plenty of reasons to hate Bush.
1. Iraq
2. Katrina (New Orleans is still a ********)
3. His first veto is a bill that could help people
4. Patriot Act and other anti-American legislation
5. Cronyism (at least pick cronies who are qualified at the job)
6. Spying on Americans and torture are A-OK under Bush
7. Ignores the advice of people more capable than him (Colin Powell, various generals to name a few)
8. Dubai ports deal (security belongs in American hands)
9. Where is bin Laden? - Doesn't seem interested in finding him anymore
10. Walter Reed
Those are just some off the top of my head. Do I hate Bush? Yep, I sure do and for good reason.
how many cabinet members have to be convicted of crimes before Congress can impeach the Genetalia?
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I read elsewhere that it was Tillman's patrol that had first fired at their own friendly forces and Tillman was killed by the return fire. If that's true, then Mr. Tillman would then be perhaps partly responsible for both his death and for the death of the friendly Afghan fighter who also killed in the exchange.
Since everyone seems to be hell bent on telling the truth the truth has to be exposed in all directions. As it stands now, Tillman wasn't the hero described in the Silver Star citation so I suppose that's now void. So, let's replace it all with the truth, regardless of where it leads. Half-truths can be worse than simple deception. The whole thing now has to be aired, and not by a couple of 2-bit politicians who seem to only be interested in the parts of the truth that give them political advantage.
The whole world never accepted that there was WMD in Iraq. Colin Powell was sent to the UN to convince the whole world but still no one believed it except those in the USA who were easily deceived by their president.
We moved together at that moment in time.
The world did not move with the US at that moment in time. The idea did not even have enough world support to secure a UN resolution.
Get the facts before making absurd statements.
Posted by vbnvbn at 02:05 PM : Apr 25, 2007
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vbnvbn; if you are saying that %u201CThe whole world thought WMD was in Iraq.%u201D Was something I said, or even insinuated, in one of my comments you must be the one who is sedated. Please post the date and time of my comment you are referring to.
"The liberal media"
"I agree this woman should be labeled as a coward"
"Lynch is the poster child of a true liberal coward"
Posted by xzavierbrown at 01:37 PM : Apr 25, 2007
so you think its ok for the military to lie about this.
the liberal media thing is very thin. the "consevatives" everyone gets so upset about the media talking about aren't true conservatives anyway.
conservatives are good with money and advocate more freedom and small government. a true conservative wouldn't be terrified of "terrorists"
especially ones that the C.I.A. create.
yeah i said it, because its true, the C.I.A CREATED Al Queada. the word itself means "the base" reffering to the secret base set up by the C.I.A. to train the mujah hadin,(which included bin laden, who was not a small part)this was all done to fight the russians. the mujah hadin was used for state sponsered terrorism (sponsered by ole uncle sam) in order to thwart russian attempts to take over afganistan. this is all public record
it is not paranoid conspiracy. look it up, the info is readily available.
The truth does not diminish his service or his sacrifice. It's not his fault that he was awarded a SS so that politicians can use his corpse as a recruiting poster. H3ll, he deserves the SS just for the abuse that the Bush administration heaped on him.
and a consevative should and would be the first to be outraged about the military lying about the way our patriot soldiers died.
if you think its ok for the administration and the military to LIE knowingly in order to keep the heat off and by time, then you advocate ussing our troops as props in the effort to protect americas corporate intrests.
all these facts stated are publis record.
there has always been underhandedness in politics and it sometime has included the military.
however this administration has brought it to an all time high, and is totally unapologetic about it, and you defend them
And you served...where?
regards
Posted by vbnvbn at 02:30 PM : Apr 25, 2007
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Thanks for the clarification.
Ditto, regards.
No one spoke up...despite reasons for invading Iraq not adding up. The mask of terrorism being used to play on people's fears has gone far enough. Being quiet when the facts regarding major incidents skewed-is not in the best interest of this country. The silence only allows the gov to continue in their ways & only a few seem to care. I always thought a good citizen was one who seeks the truth & tries to speak out against injustice.Lately, I find that this is not the case in the US... a good citizen seems to be defined as one that doesn't question authority.
If not why didn't he do his duty during Vietnam?
Posted by speakfdead at 01:42 PM : Apr 25, 2007
speakfdead, Your beloved Saint W was told of the false reports before his SOTU address and went ahead and lied to the American people.
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The way things look now the Neo-commies in Congress are using Mr. Tillman to hurt the President. They seem only willing to want a part of the truth, the part where the Army screwed up.
They can't steamroll over the honor of Tillman's commanders while perserving the unsubstantiated notion that Tillman and his brother were perfect soldiers without fault. If the Army owes the Tillman's the truth then it should be the complete truth, the real truth, not a selective version that only seems to want to make the Tillmans superstars while the US Army is made into super-bad.
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hmmm? come to think, her script did seem to have a remarkable resemblence to the one delivered by Valarie Plame :)
Thanks a lot for your postings. When nation was still mourning for 9/11/2001 this President invaded Iraq on limited information( for the benefit of you know who) and time and again taking 9/11 attacks, terrorism & Iraq in the same sentence.
Now people started to realize slowly what is what. If you happen to travel out side of US even to most US friendly countries one will know what they think about this war. French fries are called freedom fries and some other countries are called old Europe.
What is stopping this Prez. to take UN help and asking for multinational forces( consisting of other Arab friends). In some of my postings here I have mentioned that respected then secretary of state Mr. Collin Powel said if you break it, you are going to fix it. And it needs more than 300,000 to 500,000 troops for peace keeping. No body in this Admin. listened.
Posted by greengirl221
you cant watch the boys come home in body bags.
bush banned coverage of that particular part of the wor because it would "decrease moral"
or wake people up, in my opinion
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