Jessica took awful beating

New York Daily News ^ | 4/05/03 | OWEN MORITZ

[kattracks]

Pfc. Jessica Lynch was beaten more severely than first reports indicated, doctors said yesterday.

Besides two broken legs and a broken arm, the 19-year-old Army truck driver suffered fractures to her right foot, right ankle and a disk in her spine, and had a gash on her head.

Lynch underwent spinal surgery Thursday to repair the fractured disk that had been pressing painfully on a nerve, doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany reported yesterday.

"The prognosis for her recovery is excellent," said Col. David Rubenstein, the medical center commander.

Officials have refused to say why so many of Lynch's bones were broken, but it's likely she was tortured. An Iraqi man who told the Americans where to find her urged the troops to hurry, saying she was being tortured. He later described a scene where the helpless woman was being slapped by a black-clad member of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's thuggish Fedayeen.

Despite her ordeal, Lynch was in good spirits, asking for turkey, a pair of glasses and a newspaper from her hometown of Palestine, W.Va.

"Her emotional state is extremely good - she's jovial, she's talking with staff," Rubenstein said. He said she was particularly cheered by the pink casts she requested.

She will need "extensive rehabilitative services," he continued, but was expected to recover completely.

She's "a daughter any parent would be proud of," he added.

A friend from her unit is with her and has spoken by telephone with her family, Rubenstein said.

The military also accommodated a request from Lynch, who was being fed intravenously, for solid foods. From her list of favorites, cooks in the hospital kitchen delivered an order of turkey, apple sauce and steamed carrots.

The private has no television in her hospital room, on Rubenstein's orders. And Lynch's father back in the U.S. confirmed that doctors have asked him not to discuss her ordeal with her.

"We will answer her questions when she asks them," Rubenstein said.

Nine of 11 bodies discovered in the raid that freed Lynch are believed to be those of American soldiers. Those bodies were transported yesterday to Dover, Del.

With News Wire Services

[patriciaruth]

For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 4: 1-3

[DoughtyOne]

The only good part of this is that we will find out who did it.  And when we do that person will be skinned alive and hung by his family jewels to rot.

Chemical Ali, we're coming for you.  There isn't a rock big enough, there isn't a cave deep enough, there isn't a bunker strong enough to protect your ass.

[Ruth A.]

I'm not trying to cause trouble, I am just confused. What was the point of the earlier press conference that minimized her wounds? Any woman that has endured this deserves to be called PFC Lynch rather than being referred to as "Jessica" in the headlines. Yes, she's 19, but these past two weeks have caused her to mature rapidly.

[bybybill]

We don`t need to know what happened to her, lets just let her heal

[Iwo Jima]

Pfc Lynch has by all accounts performed her duties as a soldier bravely and honorably. As the doctor is quoted to have said, any parent would be proud to have a daughter like that.

But I am wondering (and hoping) that the article is wrong about the doctors determining that she received her injuries through being beaten. Her injuries seem more consistent with a really bad car wreck (like being runover by a tank).

We will just have to wait and see what she has to say either directly or through spokesmen. It's important to know how ALL of our POWs were treated and IMHO especially our female soldiers. As you said, those who tortured or mistreated our troops will need to be dealt with.

[DoughtyOne]

I'm leaning toward her leg and arm injuries being torture. I am also leaning toward her spine injuries as being torture. She was shot twice, which might be the causes for some of the fractures.

The man who told us where she was saw her slapped. Thank God that man took action.

You may be right about the injuries. I can only go with my own gutt feelings on it.

[Iwo Jima]

I thought that they had corrected the earlier reports of gunshot wounds and stab wounds, stating that she had not been shot or stabbed. Am I wrong? This is such a big story, that the reports are coming in fast and furious and often wrong.

[guitfiddlist]

I hope they "neutralized" that black-clad Fedayeen colonel during the raid...with extreme prejudice.

[MadIvan]

I told Happygal last night, if Jessica was tortured, the Allies will be far more angry and determined. If she was sexually molested, I said, there will be a blood rage that will utterly destroy everything and anything to do with the former Iraqi government.

Regards, Ivan

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

you would think the now gang would be thrilled if ever there was a woman to honor and ask your daughters to look up to as a role model its private lynch yet they are silent. she must be to pro george bush for them

[DoughtyOne]

Her father talked to the doctor and she had indeed been shot twice. They surmise the bullets were small caliber, possible handgun or small rifle wounds. I don't really know if they made bone contact. I'm not sure of the status on the stab wound issue right now. As you say, this has gone back and forth. She had two broken legs, one broken arm, spinal injuries, two gunshot wounds and had been beaten. She also has a wound to the head, although that may have been from being struck with an object of some kind.

[SSN558]

If it is true, and there has been plenty of disinformation out there.....Jessica Lynch has one more act of bravery to complete. Testifying at a war crimes trial.

[patriciaruth]

"family jewels?"

Common, have the balls to say balls if you're gonna use white-out

[DoughtyOne]

Nah I'll get some grandmas checking them out.

[patriciaruth]

A cousin said that the doctors initially told her mother that they had found two exit and two entrance wounds consistent with small-calibre, low velocity rounds, plus some shrapnel. Thus the initial report.

Then we had the report where the doctors said she hadn't been shot or stabbed.

Then I just heard them say again in a news report that she had been shot.

I don't think they want to push her right now to remember precisely what happened.

When someone comes in as messed up as she was, I guess the doctors have trouble sorting it all out. From personal experience I can tell you that some docs aren't meticulous in their initial history and examination. And then the docs that come after just read the initial report and repeat it as though it were gospel. That was why I used to try really hard to have as precise a history and physical as I could when I was practicing, as you don't want to come back in three days later with an accident victim and find you overlooked a major or even minor injury, or a major clue about the underlying etiology.

[American in Israel]

Before the Intifadda I was warned that if I get in a traffic accident in the Palestinian areas to flee the scene till I get to an Israeli checkpoint or Police station to turn myself in. The Palestinians Police regularly break your arms to make you more easy to handle. I would not be shocked that she was tortured in this way.

[Iwo Jima]

I would find it pretty unusual if a doctor couldn't tell if someone had a gunshot wound or not. If they can't tell that by now, it's time to get a new doctor. How would they know what needs to be treated? If there is an entrance wound with no exit, then there is a bullet in there somewhere, right? How would they know whether or not is was causing problems, such as bleeding, nerve impingement, etc.

It's not (just) a matter of history, it's also the physical examination. They have taken her to surgery several times. You know that they have done lots of x-rays, CT scans, MRIs. How could they not know if she had been shot?

I'm thinking that there was no gunshot wounds or stab wounds, that that is just a rumor that got started the way that rumors do. Even reporting that the doctors say that she was not shot doesn't seem to phase a good juicy rumor like this.

I just wish that we could get basic facts straight.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Pfc. Jessica Lynch...

Is my American hero.

God bless her and her family, now and always.

[ArneFufkin]

D1, I want any post-conflict War Crime trials to be held under the evidentiary rules, juries or judges and sentencing guidlines and timing as chosen by the citizens of those Iraqi communities where these alleged crimes against humanity took place.

Let the Shi'tes of Basrah and Baghdad, the Kurds of Mosul and Kirkuk, and the Generals of the American Armed forces have first crack at the fedayeen butchers, based on the volume of alleged monstrosity. The idea is get these guys fairly tried, sentenced by those who have been victimized by their crimes, and their sentences quickly and fairly executed.

The Brits are going to be a problem here. As soon as Basrah is rescued, they need to turn over their POWs for a vetting by the locals. They can't allow any of these guys, in their custody, to face a death sentence. It's against their national law. That's your European sensibility right there.

If I were the most heinous hit man for Uday, I'd be searching day and night looking for a British division to offer myself up for surrender. All those guys should. There's no capital punishment in the UK, and they've extended that to military tribunals that any of the accused war criminals in their custody might face. They'll get three squares in a British jail, representation by some Marxist amnesty rights shyster, and I'll bet that they garner an outpouring of Muslim support during the trial, and even if found guilty, they'll live despite their hellish brutality.

I love the Brits, but they are so constrained by their political considerations, they are paralyzed. They've been mucking around outside Basra for two weeks now. We're finally sending our Special Ops guys in to target bad guy buildings and create some lethal havoc for the fedayeen scumbags. Al Basra should be under Coalition control by now, but the Brits CANNOT afford a single civilian casualty because of the Marxists and backstabbers back home. The BBC's campaign of sabotauge and enemy propaganda is disgraceful ... they are poised to nail a civilian death on their boys, and they have played last weekends death of the 10 civilians who ran the American road block as an example of the more primitive and inhumane way WE are conducting our affairs as opposed to the Brits. They're playing soccer with the locals. What a mess for Tony Blair, and a typical multi-national command headache for Tommy Franks.

[johnb838]

There's a passage I got memorized, seems appropriate for this situation:

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

Ezekiel 25:17.

[patriciaruth]

How could they not know if she had been shot?

Remember how the doctors that worked on Reagan couldn't figure out why he looked ashen and was having trouble breathing? Took them a while to find the entrance hole in his armpit.

Now if this was a veterans' hospital, I'd say you were lucky that they knew she was female.

[chasio649]

bump

[patriciaruth]

Great one!

[Brian Allen]

<< .... She was shot twice .... >>

No she wasn't. Reports of her having been shot and stabbed turned out to be false.

I believe she has pink plaster on her fractures and wanted specs and a hometown newspaper, though.

Best ones -- Brian

[patriciaruth]

And then again, bullet can ricochet around in the body and end up in weird places. They can even enter an artery and be carried downstream for quite a ways.

Can't MRI these people as metal in them can be lethal if magnetic resonance hits it. And CAT scanning the whole body can take time.

The hard part is figuring out if there is a news source that's trustworthy.

[ArneFufkin]

The torture and physical abuse of PFC Lynch is why I am opposed to having any of our female military personnel engaged upon any zone of active battle whatsoever.

We, as a civilized and enlightened society, value and recognize the courage, skill and dedication of our heroic females to their military service.

But we, as human beings who choose to kill and die in wars to protect and guarantee the future of our people - cannot deny the natural truth that women are far too valuable to waste in battle. It's a primal evolutionary mandate. Women are more important to the ongoing continuation of our species, our people, than are men. That's why men fight wars, we are interchangable parts. Every single woman is a giver of life to our next generation.

The rescue of Private Lynch was a story of great interest and joy EXACTLY because she was a young FEMALE POW. If the Seals and Rangers would have retreived Sgt. Joe Testosterone, it would never have made the news. Men save each other, die in support of each other, and press on after losing one each other in every war, throughout time. More importantly, men will not jeopardize a mission, risk their lives and those of their comrades in an effort to provide special attention or support to another man. They will do that for a woman. It's a primal, visceral reaction and that's a vulnerability in battle, and it is an invitation for an enemy to use their possession and threatened torture of a female American as a way to leverage some concession or throuth Psy-Ops corrupt the morale of the citizens back in that soldier's country.

There is no way to deny that a woman who is struggling under seige in battle will affect the behavior of the men around her in a way another man would not. We had 4 or 5 POWs paraded before the Iraqi camera that Sunday, yet the soldier that the media focused upon was the single mother, that young soldier named Shoshana. It was natural, that her imprisonment was more disturbing and offputting than the 4 young men ... all heros loved by their country and families ... being held by our brutal enemies were.

That's why men have fought the wars for the protection of their families and the future survival of their people throughout history. It's about ensuring the continuation of our species, our people, our nation. Any single woman, in that context, is irreplacable. Every single man is dispensible. That's just the way it is. Xena is a cartoon character.

[mombonn]

The rescue of Private Lynch was a story of great interest and joy EXACTLY because she was a young FEMALE POW. If the Seals and Rangers would have retreived Sgt. Joe Testosterone, it would never have made the news

I don't agree. A great deal of coverage was given to Scott O'Grady back when he was rescued. I suppose you'll say he got so much attention because he's telegenic.

Given the daring of the rescue mission, Joe Testosterone would have received just as much attention.

[RAY]

By all accounts it took several investigation by doctors to find the entry wounds and to realize that President Regan had been shot. The President was also shot with a small caliber weapon.

[LouisianaJoanof Arc]

While I agree she is a hero, please don't overlook the heroes that rescued her and those who dug up our dead with their bare hands.

[The Wizard]

it was confirmed today she was INDEED shot

[chilepepper]

The rescue of Private Lynch was a story of great interest and joy EXACTLY because she was a young FEMALE POW. If the Seals and Rangers would have retreived Sgt. Joe Testosterone, it would never have made the news

I also don't agree. If the Iraqi lawyer had secretly slipped a note to the US guys that Joe Testosterone was being held and tortured in the nassiria hospital, i think the outcome would have been exactly the same, even if the media effect less sensational.

i for one have reluctantly come to the conclusion that women in the military, and in combat, are a net plus for a number of reasons. if this raises the bar in improving the general safety of soldiers, in order to make it safer for women as a a side benefit, i am all for it.

the truth of the matter is that Jessica Lynch and her toughness has struck a blow into the fanatical mindset of the Arabs, and anyone who has the mistaken belief that America has grown soft -- and from that mistaken belief arise wars (the degenerate Clinton did much to create the belief of this softness and this in and of itself helped bring about 9/11)

[Oberon]

...and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble...

So, is this the Lord's way of saying "Your a$$ is grass"?

[TracyLynn]

Apparantly Shoshana and Jessica were not the only females to be taken in that ambush.There was another one.They have started to release the names of those bodies found in the rescue op the other night. May God be with thier families.

(this is an excerpt from a Fox news article)

"The dead included the first American woman soldier killed in the Iraq war, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz. Piestewa, a Hopi who was one of the few American Indian women in the military, was the mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl."

[GladesGuru]

Given the general tenor of Western Civilization's writings since the Renaissance, your argument is not supported by the facts.

Attractive, young women are given more protection than a male combatant. Sorry, but that is the was it is, has been , and will always be. Feminism must eventually meet and deal with, the fact that human behavior has some hard wired behavioral pre-dispositions

May I here draw your attention to the reality of behavioral pre-dispositions like rescuing young women capable of producing the next generation.

Treating women as equally disposable as men leads to extinction, not equality.

Your position fails based on the evolutionary value of protecting those capable of reproduction.

[octobersky]

Good point.

[FITZ]

Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz. Piestewa, a Hopi who was one of the few American Indian women in the military, was the mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl."

I wonder if she was tortured also? To me it still seems better if moms were home raising their small children. They were interviewing some women soldiers at Fort Bliss ---some do seem like they'd be very tough good soldiers.

[Pharmboy]

Absolutely. When they call her "Jessica" it boils my blood. She is Private Lynch, soon to be Corporal Lynch, I would imagine.

[exnavy]

I'm curious, are you on active duty? It's none of my business really, I just wondered.

[TC Rider]

Fox is now reporting that 'Chemical Ali' had been in the same hospital as Jessica.

[iconoclast]

She was shot twice, which might be the causes for some of the fractures.

I'm quite sure I heard it reported Friday evening that she had been shot in both legs and one arm, explaining those fractures.

[pfflier]

The only good part of this is that we will find out who did it. And when we do that person will be skinned alive and hung by his family jewels to rot.

I suspect the jewels of someone that would do this are too small to work with.

[pfflier]

The lastest I read here was that she had two small caliber (handgun) wounds.

[xp38]

May prayers and love sustain her God bless Jessica Lynch.

[Iwo Jima]

Do you recall where you heard that? I tend to think that this is a story that the media thinks is too good to let go, regardless of the facts. What I heard Friday on Fox news was that the doctors said "no evidence of gunshot wounds," to which I said "Don't you know???" Then several hours later some woman correspondent just casually said that Pfc Lynch had been shot without acknowleding the fact that the reports seem to be alternating between "shot"/"not shot" without even letting on that the other version exists.

I know that in the "fog of war" information is easily mangled, but for crying out loud, why can't we get this simple fact straight. I know that the truth of what happened is going to outrage us, but before I work up a real case of outrage, I want to know what I am getting outraged about.

[iconoclast]

Apparantly Shoshana and Jessica were not the only females to be taken

Has anyone heard anything about Shoshana? I saw her family on TV yesterday and it was just heart wrenching.

The death of the young Indian girl infuriates me. I agree with those that want to keep females as far from combat as possible. The fact that we do not speaks volumes about the depths to which our culture has sunk since the sixties.

[kayak]

Well said!

[Iwo Jima]

I'm just going to take a wait and see attitude on this issue of whether Pfc Lynch was shot/tortured/mistreated, etc. There is just too much contradictory information out there that I have to believe will be clarified fairly soon.

What we do know is that she did her job well and bravely, suffering serious injuries in the service of her country. If there is more to the story than that, I DO want to know the basic facts (although not every personal detail) because I want to know how she and ALL of our POWs have been treated. It's important to know the truth so that payback can occur.

[Happy2BMe]

God bless Jessia - and thank you God for sparing her.

Folks - there is a reason she was spared.

Without women, America in no way shape or form would have ever won any of the wars she has ever fought, PERIOD!

But I want to go on record that women have no place in combat roles.

Again, I thank God she has been spared.

But placing women in combat roles gives the enemy the unique psychological weapon of posessing our women soldiers with the implied intent of imposing on them torture and rape not normally associated with the capture of a male POW.

I know this is not politically correct, but women should be taken out of combat roles.

Jessica fought off the enemey bravely, with distinction and honor and I take ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from her heroic deeds.

There are countless roles women can play in contributing to military readiness and succes every bit as critical as combat roles - that is where we should post our women soldiers.

PC flame suit firmly suited up.

[ArneFufkin]

First, I am not minimizing PFC Lynch's courage or say anything but I feel great joy that she is alive, just as I have tremendous gratitude that we have the service of Navy Seals and Army Rangers who weild such skill, fearlessness and lethal experience to rescue a POW from her captors. I feel wonderful as an American that we got one of our own ... a remarkable young woman ... back from the clutches of those sociopaths.

Don't kid yourself, though, mombonn. We are especially joyful because a young American woman has been delivered from what we all know was a unfathomable fate.

We do not ever need to see that again. Women can be - all they can be - as a Carrier Flight Boss or a Falcon Flight Wing Crew Chief, or as a JSTAR Captain or a Four Star General sitting at General Franks right hand. She can be the President's most trusted adviser from the NSC, helping him work through the diplomatic/military morass. She can be my President and my trusted Commander in Chief.

I do not want ANY women, going forward, to be put in a position where they ... INDEED ALL OF US ... are at the mercy of rapists, sadists and insane and violent Third World sociopaths. That's who we are going to be hooking up with, going forward.

Having women engaged in the chaos of brutal violence in a battle zone is nothing but trouble. It's bad for her, it's bad for the guys who are fighting to protect their own lives in pursuit of the mission, and it's bad for AMERICAN interests.

That's my point. It's no slur on Pfc Lynch's competence or courage. There is no single battle slot a female is so fit to serve that will ever trump that slot being served by a less qualified man whose death, capture or severe injury would have a less deleterious effect on the mission at hand, the propaganda leverage of the enemy AND the vital "war" for a solid public support, emotional morale and fundamental confidence back home.

The fact of the matter is, mombonn, that female chopper pilot who was taken prisoner in Desert Storm withheld any disclosure of the abusive rape and sexual violation she suffered at the hands of her Iraqi captors. Why would she not share this, perhaps she was emotionally distraught? No, she held this information back because she KNEW that this disclosure would have scuttled any authorization of female access to the battle zone. She was an advocate for women in combat. How lovely. That's the political b.s. around this stuff, mombonn, that is Clinton era crap all the way.