News-Info-Alerts

Re: Media Turns Ugly & Against Lynch, US Recovery Mission

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 15, 2003

AII POW-MIA Comment: For the past 60 years, former POWs were honored, respected, and left alone to live their lives in peace. A number wrote books that elevated the public's awareness of their experiences and added to the historical record and understanding of the horrific plight of captivity. A number spoke publicly about how they endured, what kept them going and many were looked upon as inspirational and motivational speakers. Even a handful spoke out about POWs and MIAs who remained unaccounted-for. With the exception of a reurned bracelet, a prayer breakfast or reunion, everyone had the decency to leave them be.

The ex-POWs did not consider themselves heroes, simply survivors. Some went on with military careers, others in the civiian sector and almost all simply went on quietly and privately.

However, the realtime war that brought us realtime POWs and MIAs and KIAs with the media one-upping one another to get the story first, with it aggressive, non-stop rampage for more information, has opened a door that should have remained shut...

The analysis and judgment of former POWs and their experiences as captives... especially by those most ill-equipped to do so... civilians, journalists, editors, TV anchors, protestors and politicians.

Let us not forget that the debriefings of former POWs from Korea and SEA remain classified, as they should. Let us not forget that a number of POWs from the first Persian Gulf War have chosen to never speak of their experiences as POWs and have gone on with their lives. Yet, there are demands by untold outlets and talking TV and Radio heads that all the news that fits must be reported and every aspect of every POW's captivity thrown onto page 1 for the rest of the world to digest and debate.

The BBC or anyone else for that matter are not the arbiters of what are and are not legitimate POW experiences. It is up to the POWs themselves and the Defense Department. Anything else is just spin and ink.

Give them a parade, give them their POW benefits, give them a medal and leave them alone. If they want us to know something, they will tell us.

End of Rant

"Saving private Lynch
Rescue of Jessica Lynch was not staged, despite BBC documentary's assertions

By Mike Walters

The spirit of the Salem witch trials is alive and well in 21st century America. But instead of striking down a handful of disliked and suspicious villagers, malicious journalists are needlessly seeking to put a petite, young blonde on the stake of their own cynical world view.

On April 1, a joint operation of elite soldiers stormed an Iraqi hospital and rescued Pvt. Jessica Lynch, the first prisoner of war rescued since World War II and the first woman war captive ever rescued in U.S. military history. Held by Iraqi forces for nine days and suffering multiple injuries, she was quickly hailed as an American hero.?

Recently, however, many journalists have sought to discredit that title. They call into question what The Washington Post initially reported about Lynch being a teenager shipped off into the desert who, upon having her unit ambushed, "fought fiercely, was stabbed and shot multiple times, and killed several of her assailants" before being captured.

After that, the American people watched the news intently as their fragile hero returned home to begin her recovery. Sadly, not everyone was happy to rejoice in hearing about the bravery and courage a fellow citizen exhibited while serving her country. Instead, certain journalists embarked on a witch hunt to discredit Lynch as an American hero. ?

There's a saying in the journalism business: "If the story seems too good to be true, get more sources." This skepticism is a symptom of a pessimistic view of life where there could be no true heroes because the person uttering such a phrase isn't one and doesn't associate with any. Employees of The Washington Post later followed such bleak advice and interviewed Iraqi medical and civilian eyewitnesses of Lynch's capture, captivity and rescue.

The "revised" story now suggests Lynch suffered her injuries due to a vehicle accident, her weapon jammed before she could kill any enemy soldiers and she was not mistreated by them. What exactly qualifies these scornful eyewitnesses as more reliable sources? When one man claims that the enemy soldiers struck Jessica in the face, another is quoted as saying it "never happened" and is only "Hollywood crap you'd tell the Americans." The Washington Post would now have people believe the "new" version of what happened is more believable because it's more negative. ?

To those who believe in the existence of the exceptional nature of humanity, such pessimism is disgusting, but is nothing compared to the recent allegations of a BBC documentary. They claim the rescue was staged to raise public opinion about a sluggishly advancing war; that the soldiers stormed a hospital they knew contained no enemy soldiers and carried guns filled with blanks, jumping and shouting in front of a film crew for dramatic effect. They even suggest that the Iraqis offered to hand over Lynch via ambulance days earlier but the Americans turned it away so that they could proceed with their "fictional assault."

Pentagon spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan called the BBC's allegations "ludicrous and insulting," and rightly so. Such tripe belongs in a time slot wedged between documentaries about a faked moon landing and alien hostages from the 1950s kept in the American desert.

"The thing that is most insulting is the suggestion that we would put U.S. service members at risk to stage such an event. This was a real rescue under a combat situation," Lapan told Reuters.

For those who hold a more positive outlook on human nature, the details of Lynch's story are not important -- it's what she represents. We live in a country full of heroes who are willing to stand up for what they believe in, even if it means leaving their lives back home to fight a war against evil on foreign soil. Jessica Lynch -- Miss Congeniality at her county fair and the smallest member of her high school basketball team -- chose to leave her peaceful life to fight an evil dictator halfway across the world.

Now she undergoes a daily routine of physical therapy, spending hours each day learning to walk again while she heals physical and mental wounds.

Heroism is found not just on the battlefield, but in the choices an individual freely makes to fight adversity against heavy odds. No amount of dirt digging by a few surly journalists will ever change that fact that the 20-year-old war veteran learning to walk again embodies the honor and courage that is the American hero.
 
© 2003 The Battalion - Texas A&M's News Source "