Iraq TV Shot Tape of POWs Lynch, Piestewa

Associated Press ^ | 12/30/03

[saquin]

NEW YORK - Graphic video footage of a badly injured Jessica Lynch and Lori Piestewa, who may have died shortly afterward, was taken by Iraqi state television following the ambush of the soldiers' Army convoy, NBC reported Tuesday night.

The video, aired on "NBC Nightly News," shows the two Army privates at the hospital where they were taken following the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Co.

The tape was never aired in Iraq, NBC reported.

Piestewa, her face swollen and bruised and her head loosely bandaged, is shown as someone positions her feet, and then her head, for the camera shot. Her lip is shown curling back in an apparent grimace.

Lynch, 20, of Palestine, W.Va., is also shown bandaged, her lip cut.

Neither appears awake or alert.

"I haven't watched it," Piestewa's mother, Percy Piestewa, said when contacted by The Associated Press. "I don't want to talk to any reporters right now."

Telephone messages left with two spokespeople for Lynch's family were not immediately returned.

Iraqi doctors have previously said the women were brought to a private clinic following the ambush, and that Piestewa, a 23-year-old mother of two from Tuba City, Ariz., died half an hour later of severe head injuries.

Lynch and four other soldiers were rescued by U.S. special forces April 1, but 11 of their colleagues died during and after the ambush in Nasiriyeh.

Piestewa was the first U.S. female service member to die in the war.

The identities of Lynch and Piestewa were verified for NBC by Spec. Shoshana Johnson, one of the rescued soldiers.

"It was a little shocking to see Lori, but it also gave me a little peace to know that they tried, they did their best for her," Johnson, 30, of El Paso, Texas, told the network. "I mean, it was obvious they tried to bandage her up and give her medical care."

NBC told the Army it had obtained the tape before airing it so the families of the soldiers could be told first, according to MSNBC.com.

Defense Department spokesman Jim Turner said Tuesday night officials were aware of the Iraqi video, but had not seen it and did not have details about what it contained.

The United States repeatedly bombed Iraqi TV studios after they aired interviews with American prisoners of war. But this tape survived because an employee at the state network kept it at home, NBC reported.

[Kirkwood]

Iraqi docs obviously don't have a clue what they are doing. I've seen boy scouts do a far better job cleaning up and bandaging wounds. What I saw was an outrageous disgrace.

[Kirkwood]

By the way, I am a medical school professor and am in charge of emergency rescue services for Homeland Security for a major city. This so-called "care" was much, much worse than I expected to see.

[sarasmom]

Ping.
Heads up, and prayers needed.
Please pray for the family, friends and co-workers of Jessica Lynch and Lori Piestewa, and the remainder of the 507th.
NBC thought it appropriate to air video even the propoganda wing of Saddams Iraq and al Jaseera thought unfit for TV.

[Michael Ray Thompson]

This is the abuse that we have been hearing about in Iraqi.

[VOA]

Thanks for giving the link; now I've had a chance to see it.

It's unpleasant stuff.
And the insufficient amount of care fits with what we've heard about the
pathetic infrastructure in Iraq...and why we see reports of US military
rebuilding lots of clinics and hospitals, as well as updating Iraqi medicos whose
medical knowledge is state of the art, circa 1970.

The hair-tug for propaganda film purposes...well at least we have some tape
of the guy who should get a trial at The Hague...but better yet might
get to talk to some US authorities.

As for some of the flames I've gotten...if anybody thinks I was casting an
ignoble aspersion on the soldiers in this incident...they are just
trying too dang hard to "read between the lines" on my posts...so hard that
they got 180 degrees off-course.

But, if they like to think I said nasty things about these troops...
that's their opinion...

[DeepDish]

"NBC thought it appropriate to air video even the propoganda wing of Saddams Iraq and al Jaseera thought unfit for TV."

Gee and it is not even sweeps week. (/disgust)

I wonder how this squares with these people who think Sadaam's tonsil exam was degrading.

[The Wizard]

thanks for the link...Jessica was lucky she got out alive.....

[neverdem]

For the love of God, did you even see the tape? What is wrong with you people? You still have the unmitigated gall to cast aspersions on women who served their country in what they thought was a support position?

I saw the tapes. I'm sorry if you didn't catch my point. I cast no aspersions and honor all veterans. I would not let women fight until the last battle when no more men can answer the call. Call me what you will.

Happy New Year!!!

[sarasmom]

I am not a medical practitioner.
I recoiled from what I saw on that video.
I cant understand why NBC felt a need to broadcast it, and I dont understand how Shoshona Johnson could say she felt good about the medical care "they recieved" based on that clip.
I wonder if she actually saw it at all?

[saquin]

I don't understand why Shoshana said what she said. I think she saw some bandages and the fact that they were lying on hospital beds and interpreted that as "good care". I don't know if she watched the whole thing or noticed the hair-pull, head positioning. If she did, and still would call it "good care" then, I'm sorry, she's an idiot and handed unwarranted propaganda points to an Iraqi "doctor" who doesn't deserve it.

[visualops]

bump

[cars for sale]

and to add...go back and watch the video with the sound off and then listen to that POS Brokaw "lend credibility"
to Lori's story....Engle simply needs an ass whuppin

as for Shonanna, she was lead to her words or did not see the video

[Heatseeker]

Not to disrespect Shoshana Johnson, but her take on this clip is the exact opposite of what most of us take away from viewing it.

If NBC would show this (and it was on both 'Nightly News' and MSNBC) they also would not be above editing what they showed to Shoshona to remove the most offensive parts.

I confess to having a strong desire to make Tom Brokaw look like that. However, unlike Brokaw, I'm a human being.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[neverdem]

Don't get me wrong. I visted South Viet-Nam twice. Women have more important things to do, besides killing the enemy. And while their guile is appreciated, we should leave it to the end.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Thank you for your input. I watched the video again after reading your comments. There is a special place in hell for the people who did this to her. Imo, they were beaten. I don't think those facial wounds are consistent with a car accident. Of course I'm probably wrong...

[liberallyconservative]

It most definitely made me think Johnson viewed an edited version.

I just came home from my Mom's; she did not see the earlier airing of this. I told her if it comes on again, please turn it off; I don't want her witnessing this.

[VOA]

Have you lost your mind?
Did you see the tape?
Did you see the expression of agony on Lori Piestewa's face when they jerked her head around?
Did you see Jessica Lynch in obvious shock? You think this video shows they took care of them?

Have you lost your mind?

OK, thanks to "seamole" posting a usable link, I've seen it.

It's disturbing. It's Geneva Convention violation material.

And if you have the opinion that I was casting ignoble aspersions on the soldiers
in this incident...you are reading "between the lines" something that just ain't there.
So, just to make it clear, I have nothing but respect and honor for all the
soldiers of the 507th.


As for the wretched state of the clinic, the medical infrastructure of Iraq is such a
wreck, we're sending nurses and doctors to help the Iraqi M.D.s to catch up on
3 decades of medical training, as described in an earlier MSNBC article at
this URL:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/VCS/M343979.asp

The guy pulling on Lori's hair for the propoganda shoot...string him up.
But, the third-world treament Lynch and Lori were getting probably is more a reflection
of the sort of medical care you'd get in a country run by Saddam and his Baathists
for about 3 decades. (But not what Saddam used to get at his personal hospital
in Baghdad...now used by the US Military as seen on CBS.)

As for Johnson's comment, it could be that given the brutality of the combat,
she might have thought the Iraqi Fedayeen just left Lori to die in
the Hummer...without even attempting medical treatment at all.

Myself, the thing I find most disturbing is contemplating what might have
been going on when the camera was NOT taping.