The Jessica Lynch Affair

This is one gohd forsaken mess that very nicely shows the necessity of not believing what you hear from government sources about military ops. Or from media clowns jumping through hoops in a media circus.

I had heard of the Jessica Lynch media craze, of course, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I didn't consider it much because I was focusing on other issues. In an effort to keep HTML files down to a manageable size (manageable for those with dial up accounts), I try to be very selective about what goes into the chronologies. There are stories I will opt to not chronicle because I already have a number of samples of similar incidents and my primary focus is to provide as wide a range of sampling as possible. Also, I can't spend my entire time rewriting and posting articles about censorship efforts. I am, as of this writing, unemployed, but that means I have to take time to search for a job; as well as time for my family and day to day nuisances. So when the question arose about covering propaganda I decided against it. Propaganda is, in an oblique fashion, a kind of censorship; in that it violates the right of a populace to information. As I mentioned elsewhere, information must, due to its very nature, be real and true. If it is not true then it cannot be information, only misinformation. And the reason one misinforms people is much the same one invokes censorship. Both are about controlling the flow of information, and both serve the same purpose: to grab control of the hearts and minds of the populace.

The Jessica Lynch affair got its start when a supply convoy got lost and was ambushed by Iraqi defenders on 24 Mar 2003. It wasn't until the ninth day of the affair that American military forces began to exploit it for propaganda value and the media increased that value tremendously by reporting uncritically on the story. Step two in the affair was when the U.S. got intelligence indicating that Private Lynch was alive and well and in custody at the Saddam Hussein Hospital in Nasiriya.

So they did what they had to do. They sent in a rescue team composed of Navy Seals and Army Rangers. The rescue team found Private Lynch, of course, and successfully exfiltrated with her.

Cheers, kudos, and pandemonium in support of the brave rescuers fighting against overwhelming odds behind enemy lines and lots of noise about Lynch's personal heroism in the face of being seriously injured by enemy gunfire during the ambush.

Except none of those heroics ever happened. At least according to the people who were in the hospital and on duty on the day Ms. Lynch was rescued. They were reportedly interviewed separately by investigators for the Toronto Star during the week of 28 Apr to 03 May. On 05 May, Mitch Potter of the Star's Middle East Bureau filed the real story about Private Lynch's stay in that hospital and her rescue.

For one thing, there were no Iraqi soldiers in the hospital. They had evacuated two days before the raid.

Secondly, reports of her battlefield wounds were grossly exagerated; all her injuries were apparently incurred from some kind of a fall. According to Dr. Harith Houssona, primary physician, "She was in pretty bad shape. There was blunt trauma, resulting in compound fractures of the left femur (upper leg) and the right humerus (upper arm). And also a deep laceration on her head. She took two pints of blood and we stabilized her. The cut required stitches to close. But the leg and arm injuries were more serious." At least the press reported the nature of the injuries correctly once Private Lynch's father set them straight.

Thirdly, Private Lynch received a level of care easily the equal of what she could get anywhere in North America, having been assigned to the most nurturing nurse[01] in the hospital as well as getting extra juice and cookies in spite of the short supplies, and to top it off, . . .

Fourthly, her physicians went well beyond the call of duty in providing orthopedic surgery in which, "We only had three platinum plates left in our supply and at least 100 Iraqis were in need. But we gave one to Jessica." So testified Dr. Mudhafer Raazk, the surgeon in the case[02]. Plus, Private Lynch was scheduled for more orthopedic surgery which would have used another plate; except she was rescued the day before the second operation.

Lastly, the staff on duty that evening were quite cooperative with the rescue detail[03]. Once the infiltraters realized there were no armed personnel in the hospital the tension fell off quickly and a medic was taken to Jessica's room while the rest of the team secured the hospital.

And here's where ham-handedness rears its butt-ugly head.

When the team hit the hospital they went in like a swat team hitting a crack house. Locked doors were blown open with small explosive charges, the electricity was cut off, most of the medical staff was covered with automatic weapons, and I have no problem with any of that. There was no way the team could know the exact conditions inside the hospital before hand, of course.

However, according to the article, once it was established there were no Iraqi soldiers and the tension de-escalated, several staff members and patients were secured in plastic handcuffs. Including one patient, a civilian, who was immobilized by abdominal wounds. Plus, the rescue team trashed the specialized traction bed Jessica was in. These are beds designed for long term care patients. "That was a special bed, the only one like it in the hospital, but we gave it to Jessica because she was developing a bed sore," said Dr. Houssona.

All of which raise the questions: Why was it necessary to handcuff any patient never mind one with such serious abdominal wounds that he was already immobilized; what possible threat did the bed pose that it had to be mistreated as well[04]?

And none of that seems to have been reported by the press, even though, according to Doctor Raazk, three embedded journalists -- two cameramen and a still photographer -- penetrated the hospital with the infiltrating detail.

But the most asinine thing in this whole affair happened the day before the raid took place. According to Dr. Housanna, "The most important thing to know is that the Iraqi soldiers and commanders had left the hospital almost two days earlier. The night they left, a few of the senior medical staff tried to give Jessica back. We carefully moved her out of intensive care and into an ambulance and began to drive to the Americans, who were just one kilometre away. But when the ambulance got within 300 metres, they began to shoot. There wasn't even a chance to tell them 'We have Jessica. Take her.'"

Okay. I can see some twitchy little dumb-ass on the front line opening fire on a military ambulance at three hundred meters, even though grunts should know that firing on any ambulance is in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention. But to open fire on a civilian ambulance[05]?

And still, in spite of everything, I can explain all of this nonsense away as being due to the fog of war.

However.

The article reported one last detail that makes this whole thing stink like something rotten in the state of Denmark. Jessica Lynch is being held in Walter Reed hospital and no reporters are allowed near her. U.S. Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Ryan Yantis was quoted as saying, "Until such time as she wants to talk - and that's going to be no time soon, and it may be never at all - the press is simply going to have to wait."

Intriguing, no? The wording of this statement makes one wonder just who has decided that she does not want to talk to anyone and that she is not going to want to talk to anyone any time soon and quite possibly not ever.

And why should Private Lynch be sequestered from public contact? Well, the big thing is, if she tells that public that she was really very well treated[06] it could shake the underpinnings of a propaganda campaign which -- like every propaganda campaign -- is based on demonizing the enemy. Although propagandist depictions of ordinary Iraqi citizens did not demonize them so much as paint them as simple-minded children who must be protected from themselves. Quite in keeping with the mind-set of imperealism. If this propaganda campaign was shaken it would be disastrous. This could be the truth fired that would cost the Bush administration the propaganda war and by which they would lose their still tenous control over Iraq and have to withdraw[07] under public pressure.

FOOTNOTES:

[01] Khalida Shinah, age 43, who has three daughters about Lynch's age. She reportedly said through a translator, "It was so scary for her. Not only was she badly hurt, but she was in a strange country. I felt more like a mother than a nurse. I told her again and again, Allah would watch over her. And many nights I sang her to sleep."
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[02] The Toronto Star article reported that the hospital listed 400 dead and 2,000 wounded in the span of two weeks before and during the eight days Lynch was there. Most of them were killed or injured by Iraqi Fedayeen fanatics for refusing to fight the invading American and British forces.
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[03] The staff not only showed the medic to Private Lynch's room but when asked also showed the detail commander a small graveyard in which some dead servicemen had been buried. They could just as easily have made the detail search the hospital for Lynch and have denied there were any bodies around.
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[04] Had a brain fart on this one. The rescue detail might have misinterpreted the design of the bed for a torture device. Sounds silly, but believe me it ain't. Stranger things have happened by human beings.
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[05] And it wasn't the only time U.S. service personnel fired on an ambulance in anger, either. There are very clear rules for the proper identification and use of a military ambulance in a battle zone; which I know very well because I was an army medic for six years. In fact there are a number of insignia used by NATO to designate invalid targets. The upshot of it is, you don't shoot at anything carrying a red cross, or in the arabic world, the red crescent.
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[06] In the article, Miller wrote:

What troubles the staff in Nasiriya most are reports that Lynch was abused while in their case. All vehemently deny it.

Told of the allegation through an interpreter, nurse Shinah wells up with tears. Gathering herself, she responds quietly: "This is a lie. But why ask me? Why don't you ask Jessica what kind of treatment she received?"

Of course, they would deny there was any abuse if there had been any, but considering the reported behaviour and treatment of Jessica, I would say that they actually gave her preferential treatment. I believe that in the Arabic world a guest is held in high esteem, although I would say that they treated Jessica so well because they saw her as a liberator more than as a guest in their country. As cynical as I am even I don't see anything to indicate that they treated her so well to cover their own butts for when the invading troops finally showed up to reclaim Jessica. You, not-so-gentle-reader, are more likely to be reading the descriptions of their comportment with an overly large dose of skepticism and distrust. Keep in mind, however, that these events took place in a culture you do not know. And demonizing to the contrary, the enemy still remains a human being.
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[07] A keypal of mine once wrote of an incident between British troops and Moro tribesmen in which an injured Redcoat was crying for water and a tribesman went to his aid at great risk to himself. The other British soldiers, of course, would have mistaken his intent and assumed he was creeping up on the injured man to kill him. When they saw the tribesman giving the injured man water and caring for his wounds they were positively astounded. The backlash from that was, they went to their officers and basically said, "You told us they were savages but we have seen for ourselves that they are men of honour. We will not fight them any longer."
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