BBC correspondent defends Lynch documentary

CNN ^ | 5/20/2003

[Utah Girl]

BBC correspondent John Kampener: "It is entirely legitimate for any country to want to get its own out as quickly and as safely as possible."

The U.S. military has denied misrepresenting the facts surrounding the rescue of Pfc Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital April 1 to make the mission appear more dramatic, as alleged in a BBC documentary. CNN anchor Leon Harris talked to John Kampfner, the veteran BBC correspondent behind the documentary, about the allegations.

[Utah Girl]

They should have sent these smug reporters in to rescue Jessica Lynch. In all of these accounts, they conveniently forget to mention that 8 members of her unit were found DEAD at the hospital.

[sd-joe]

So much BS, so little time.

[dts32041]

Remember this is from an organization that Tail wind actually happened.

Use to have respect for the BBC, esp when station with the BAOR, but looks like they attended the Arnett school of journalism recently.

[Texas Eagle]

"....they had actually tried to get Lynch to the Americans, by putting her in an ambulance, taking her to the front line. In the course of that journey, according to the doctors, that ambulance came under fire from American forces, and they had to take her back to the hospital."

How does the doctor know that the American forces weren't firing blanks at the ambulance? Or bullets with blanks or whatever that lying sack of **** said our forces were shooting when they went into that hospital.

[Eagle Eye]

Who will the truth hurt most?

[Utah Girl]

Your point being?

[Eagle Eye]

I wouldn't discount the BBC version so easily.

Not really a hard point to discern.

[sd-joe]

What does the author actually have:

1. In the middle of the war, an Iraqi ambulance charging toward US positions was fired at by US troops.

2. An Iraqi doctor who doesn't understand what was going on makes some outrageous claims.

3. The Dr is impressed that troops yelled Go, go, go, (he thinks it is like a movie); he doesn't know that is standard practice in every raid type situation from SWAT to military.

4. The Dr claims blanks were fired. No actual evidence of this exists. In fact videos do not show any firing.

5. A top military spokesperson gives "no comment" type answers to some questions.

6. Some British media did not like the way the Americans handled the media.

Sure sounds like a watertight case. (/sarcasm)

[LouD]

I don't think anyone reported that the rescue and extraction of PFC Lynch was a major battle. In fact, I recall that there was time for a bunch of Rangers, to dig up the bodies of her fellow soldiers who were buried at the hospital.

However, the fact that the whole operation didn't go to sh*t, with a small force pinned down in a hostile environment, just like Mogadishu, does not mean that the situation playing out that way wasn't an option. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we had no way of knowing before the fact what they might face on the ground. We should remember, too, that the entire op was predicated on intelligence from an unvetted asset, and could have easily been an ambush. I'm glad our guys went in there prepared for whatever contingencies they faced.

[Utah Girl]

And again, eight people from Jessica Lynch's unit were found dead at the hospital where she was. Sorry, the truth is somewhere in the middle, I prefer to err on our side. When the BBC (a hard left American hating TV station) and Robert Scheer obediently spew this stuff, I tend to believe the Pentagon and the Special Forces.

Oh, and Peter Jennings was wailing about the doorknobs being broken during the rescue, precious drugs were sold on the black market to replace those broken doorknobs, according to Jennings. Except when the report was broadcast, the doors that were shown in the report still had broken doorknobs...

And the original BBC reporter who interviewed the doctors at the Iraqi hospital and filed the report, is backpedaling from his story now. Hmmmm, so who do I believe? The Americans.

[Utah Girl]

Hard-left Los Angeles Times' columnist Robert Scheer's Tuesday column should not be missed. In "Saving Private Lynch: Take 2" Scheer asserts that the rescue of Jessica Lynch was a "fabrication" and a "caper." Scheer argues that the "manipulation of this saga really gets ugly" because of the "premeditated manufacture of the rescue itself, which stains those who have performed real acts of bravery, whether in war or peacetime." Scheer cites a BBC report, and ignores a Pentagon denial of the report.

These are serious charges, because they implicate every member of the special forces team involved in the rescue of Private Lynch. Are they liars and actors as Scheer asserts, or brave, selfless heroes as I and most other Americans believe?

Did the editors at the Los Angeles Times reach a conclusion on the objectivity of Scheer's incendiary charges before they ran them, or like Jayson Blair, was Robert Scheer simply allowed to file and smile as he left the electronic newsroom?

Surely the Times' editors must have recognized this column as one that would deeply offend most readers if it wasn't true. They could not expect to claim that their featured columnist isn't edited and thus allow his drive-by slander of the U.S. military to pass without any accountability on their end. The Pentagon has vigorously rejected the claim that it misrepresented the facts of the Lynch rescue, a statement that even the BBC has noted though the BBC's "Correspondent" program ran the story alleging the manipulation of the Lynch rescue. The Times, of course, did not carry the Pentagon's response.

On May 9, the Washington Post carried a long story on Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, the Iraqi lawyer who risked his life to bring word of the whereabouts of Jessica Lynch to the U.S. Marines miles from the town of Nasiriyah, still held by Iraqi forces. Scheer also attacks this brave man's credibility, asserting that "his credibility as a source, however, is difficult to verify because he and his family were whisked to the U.S., where he was immediately granted political asylum and has refused all interview requests." With breathtaking irony, Scheer then goes on to cite as the source for his column and the BBC piece, staff from the Iraqi hospital which held Lynch. These staffers claim that they tried to turn over Lynch to U.S. forces , but an ambulance in which they were transporting Lynch was fired upon as it approached a U.S. checkpoint.

Let's see. We can believe hospital staff who have to fear being implicated as Saddam's captors, or we can believe the U.S. military and our own experience of watching the record of the rescue as well as our memory of what Nasiriyah was like up until late in the war. We can believe Scheer and the hard-left BBC, or we can believe everyone else. You decide.

The Los Angeles Times has decided that Scheer has enough credible information to slander the military. It is a disgusting column, and the choice the Times made to run it is disgusting as well. Only a few days ago I wrote about the sickness at the Los Angeles Times. Mickey Kaus and Eric Alterman among others replied to my arguments that it wasn't that bad at the Times.

The editor at the Times can be reached at john.carroll@latimes.com. If you live in Southern California and no longer want to receive the views of the unbalanced along with your unbalance news, call 800-252-9141 to cancel your subscription. The Chairman of the Board of the Tribune Company, owner of the Lost Angeles Times is John Madigan. Contact him at 312-222-9100. Express your opinion of his paper's editorial choices. It is a free country, no matter what Robert Scheer thinks.

[MEG33]

Of course.

[Utah Girl]

Excellent points.

[Pukka Puck]

Good points.

[Pukka Puck]

That about sums it up.

Nice job of cutting through the bullshit.

[Utah Girl]

My apologies, the comments in post #11 are not mine, they are from Hugh Hewitt's site. My apologies, I forgot to attribute them to him.

[Gkubly]

I heard Col Hunt on Fox tonight call Scheer and the BBC Liars and that’s good enough for me. Mr Hunt has more credibility than the Red Diaper Baby Sheer and all of Sheer's comrades at the BBC put together. God I hope the left keeps their temper tantrum up thru the 2004 elections if they do you'll see the Demorats thrown out of office like never before.

[Fred Mertz]

For example, what kind of injuries did Lynch sustain in the hospital? Was it true that she received bullet and stab wounds as a result of the Iraqis? He said, well, the truth will come out at some point in the future.

There you have it. We'll get the truth in the future. Right.

[Fred Mertz]

I forgot to add that this article is severely mis-titled.

[Utah Girl]

What would your title be?