50 BIATCH!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/3028585.stm

Private Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war, and the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict.

But her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived.

Private Lynch, a 19-year-old army clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was captured when her company took a wrong turning just outside Nasiriya and was ambushed.

Nine of her comrades were killed and Private Lynch was taken to the local hospital, which at the time was swarming with Fedayeen. Eight days later US special forces stormed the hospital, capturing the "dramatic" events on a night vision camera.

They were said to have come under fire from inside and outside the building, but they made it to Lynch and whisked her away by helicopter.

Reports claimed that she had stab and bullet wounds and that she had been slapped about on her hospital bed and interrogated.

But Iraqi doctors in Nasiriya say they provided the best treatment they could for the soldier in the midst of war. She was assigned the only specialist bed in the hospital and one of only two nurses on the floor.

"I examined her, I saw she had a broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle," said Dr Harith a-Houssona, who looked after her.

Jessica amnesia

"There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Harith had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance.

But as the ambulance, with Private Lynch inside, approached a checkpoint American troops opened fire, forcing it to flee back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.

When footage of the rescue was released, General Vincent Brooks, US spokesman in Doha, said: "Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they know that they'll never leave a fallen comrade."

The American strategy was to ensure the right television footage by using embedded reporters and images from their own cameras, editing the film themselves.

The Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer.

Bruckheimer advised the Pentagon on the primetime television series "Profiles from the Front Line", that followed US forces in Afghanistan in 2001. That approached was taken on and developed on the field of battle in Iraq.

As for Private Lynch, her status as cult hero is stronger than ever. Internet auction sites list Jessica Lynch items, from an oil painting with an opening bid of $200 to a $5 "America Loves Jessica Lynch" fridge magnet.

But doctors now say she has no recollection of the whole episode and probably never will.

It was a joke dude :)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Is this the best that the mighty USA has to offer as a "hero" ...

Why do you people feel such a need to prove yourself? And where do you get all these strange ideas about being the "best" country and all Europeans wanting to live in the US and such?

It's probably because we are tired of being bashed and hated by countries (in Europe particularly), that are only free (of the Nazis and the Soviets), because our grandfathers and fathers fought for you, and our tax dollars and young people provided 90% of the NATO deterrent.

It's because of the US that these small European countries can have the LUXURY of bragging about how THEY don't have to have a military. They can sit back SO smug about how peaceful they are when the ONLY reason that they are not under a communist dictatorship is because of us. Now they can just spit on our culture and our productivity that has made us able to protect them in the first place.

P.S. and if you really think that no one would have bothered littl'ole you if the US military wasn't around, then you really are in a dreamworld and have no idea of how history and the human condition actually work.....

Which Marvel comic book are you reading???

Ahh yes.....another example of a fine grasp of history. Do you realize that in 5k years of total recorded human history that, put all together, (month here and a month there), there are only 11 years out of the 5,000 where there wasn't a war going on somewhere on the planet....usually half a dozen at once.

But somehow, the US invented it?

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

what's even more fucked up is that people that did not risk their lives in any way shape or form, get 10s of M deals/contracts for running around playing games with balls....

And the WWII card is played again...

FYI, the US did not fight Germany because they wanted to help the "poor Europeans". After Japan attacked the US, Germany and Italy declared war on the US, and in response to that, the US declared war on them.
My country wasn't protected at all... after it got occupied, the US did nothing at all. It was only when war was declared on the US that they really stepped in. But guess who liberated my country? The <b>Canadians</b>.

Yes, American soldiers did great things when fighting the Germans. As did soldiers from many other countries. But please, don't pretend it was a selfless act done only by Americans out of pure mercy with us poor Europeans.

Now, about communism... I was under the impression that the US didn't ally with the Western Europian countries because they wanted to save the world, but because they saw communism as a threat to themselves and wanted as many allies as possible to fight that threat.

But regardless of all that... so what? The US wouldn't have existed if it hadn't been for Europeans risking their lives exploring that area, but you don't hear us saying you should bow down before us and praise us for that.

The funniest thing, though, is that we aren't bashing America, at least, most of us aren't. We may disagree with what your government does sometimes, but over here, that's considered normal. Criticizing governments is not considered a personal attack on all the inhabitants of an entire nation over here. Then again, maybe we're just strange like that.


And since you completely dodged the question, again, I ask: Why do you people (note for the paranoid: "you people" doesn't refer to all Americans, just the ones constantly bragging and hurling insults at the country of anyone that may slightly disagree with them) feel such a need to prove yourself? And where do you get all these strange ideas about being the "best" country and all Europeans wanting to live in the US and such?

yes please, let's bow down to the many Europeans that came over to the new world, almost wiped out our native Americans, raped their women, forced them to believe in their religion, stole their gold, and what ever else they could get their hands on,
The very ignorant ancestors that thought Indians wer uncivilized b/c they were different....
uhm yes thanks:mad:

The world hates america now, and everyone thinks americans are all the same.

The same ignorance that infects this country infects your own.

What else could be expected?

damn straight.

i'm waiting for my "dare to be great" situation so i can get money.

Speaking for myself...I cannot recall ever stating that America is the best country...or that Europeans in general care to live here. I have stated that America is the richest most militarily powerful country in the history of the world...and that is a fact.

I do happen to think that America is the "best" country on the earth for the size of its population...for its great wealth of geographical variety...for its great wealth of natural resources and of course for its great wealth and military power which was accomplished in a little more than 200 years as a nation.

I have been to a number of countries and I have...via the boob tube seen most...if not all...countries and their societies. I prefer the United States. I am extremely proud to have been born in the #1 country on the earth...and it is fact that it is #1.

As for what America does economically and/or militarily...99% of the time it does so in what it perceives to be for its own self interests...as all governments do...and is as it should be.

If it was not for America's military and nuclear umbrella Europe would have been belonged to the Soviet Union many years ago. So just say thank you.

All of Europe would be a Soviet Satelite if it were not for the United States...its expenditures...its military...and its nuclear umbrella that protected Europe...from the "Bear".

Yep...over 14,000 known wars in history...and the number of wars the USA has been involved in would not even respresent the comma in the number.

life in america..must be sweet !