'Truth was a stretchable fabric'
America realises the daring rescue was not all it seemed at the time
Saturday June 21, 2003
The Guardian
Daily Variety Editorial, June 18
"The 'Saving Jessica Lynch' saga gets weirder by the day ... Early accounts circulated by the military portrayed her as the ultimate heroine, suffering gunshot and stab wounds as she mowed down Iraqi soldiers with her M-16. The Lynch story fired up troops and helped counter anti-war protests at home. Amid the tidal wave of media coverage, NBC made a pact to do a TV movie. In the months since, revisionist history has crept into the Lynch affair...
"The Washington Post, whose early reporting on Pte Lynch helped venerate her supposed swashbuckling, pointed out in a startling article on Tuesday that she was neither stabbed nor did she kill anyone. Her fabled gun jammed ... [The Post contends] the strategy was to create a photo-op that would thrust a living symbol of patriotic valour into the battle for hearts and minds ... 'The rescue turned into a Hollywood concept,' one unnamed military public affairs officer told the Post. If the concept in March seems like Courage Under Fire, the best storyline now would be All the President's Men."
Chicago Tribune Editorial, June 19
"To some, the rescue of Pte Lynch has now been transformed into a symbol of lingering scepticism about whether the American people were given valid information leading up to, and during, the war against Iraq.
"The plain fact is: American commandos raided a hospital in the midst of a war zone and saved an American soldier without any loss of life - the first successful rescue of an American POW since the second world war ... The bigger concern now is the truth. There's no reason that some of those who risked their lives that night couldn't be made available for interviews ... Those commandos are critical to illuminating the rescue. Their stories should be told."
Nicholas D Kristof New York Times, June 20
"It looks as if the first accounts of the rescue were embellished, like the imminent threat from WMD, and like wartime pronouncements about an uprising in Basra and imminent defections of generals. There's a pattern: we were misled.
"None of this is to put down Pte Lynch ... [She] is still a hero in my book, and it was unnecessary for officials to try to turn her into a Hollywood caricature ...
"My guess is that 'Saving Private Lynch' was a complex tale vastly oversimplified by officials, partly because of genuine ambiguities and partly because they wanted a good story to build political support for the war ... We weren't quite lied to, but facts were subordinated to politics, and truth was treated as an endlessly stretchable fabric. The Iraqis misused our prisoners for their propaganda purposes, and it hurts to find out that some American officials were misusing Pte Lynch the same way."
Daphne Eviatar Nation, July 7
"Almost 30 years ago Phillip Knightley chronicled in The First Casualty how journalists get duped into spreading the government's propaganda. At least during Vietnam, the media eventually grew sceptical. But in today's quick, high-tech wars, there's little time for the seeds of dissent to sprout and the media seems eager to please a patriotic public. It's no coincidence that the name Jessica Lynch is much more recognisable in the US than Ali Abbas, the 12-year-old Iraqi boy who lost both arms in the bombing of Baghdad, or even Lori Ann Piestewa, the first American female soldier killed in Iraq."
Dave Addis Virginian Pilot, June 18
"In an article on Monday, [the New York Times] revealed the depths to which the major networks will sink to drag Pte Lynch, the badly injured former POW, into the klieg lights and force her to weep, on cue, for the patriotic glory of the Nielsen ratings machine. An interview with Pte Lynch, who is still hospitalised, is the biggest 'get' available to the network newsies right now. The Times article spelt out just how much power the entertainment conglomerates, which own the major TV outlets, are willing to exercise to get to her first ...
"There was a time when it was considered a fatal breach of journalism ethics to offer so much as a dime for a news interview. The networks have fallen so far off the wagon that if the goods are hot enough they'll offer instant fame and fortune ... What we're seeing here is the darker side of the culture that we sent Pte Lynch to Iraq to defend, and it's not a pretty sight."
Kathleen Parker Orlando Sentinel, June 18
"Dear Jessica ... None of this is about you, which is one of the hard lessons in life. No one other than your family and close friends really cares about you ... Effective April 1 when you were rescued, your story became about them - [the network correspondents] who hope to bounce their ratings and thus their own fame and fortunes. Once they 'get' you, all that you are, have been and hope to be will; be distorted by what they need you to be for them.
"Let me translate a line from the CBS proposal. Here's how it reads in part: 'From the distinguished reporting of CBS News to the youthful reach of MTV, we believe this is a unique combination of projects that will do justice to Jessica's inspiring story.' Translation: 'If we can just get this kid to sign on the bottom line, we'll make Iraq's oil look like the penny ante in a game of five-card draw.'"
'Truth was a stretchable fabric'
America realises the daring rescue was not all it seemed at the time
Saturday June 21, 2003
The Guardian
Daily Variety Editorial, June 18
"The 'Saving Jessica Lynch' saga gets weirder by the day ... Early accounts circulated by the military portrayed her as the ultimate heroine, suffering gunshot and stab wounds as she mowed down Iraqi soldiers with her M-16. The Lynch story fired up troops and helped counter anti-war protests at home. Amid the tidal wave of media coverage, NBC made a pact to do a TV movie. In the months since, revisionist history has crept into the Lynch affair...
"The Washington Post, whose early reporting on Pte Lynch helped venerate her supposed swashbuckling, pointed out in a startling article on Tuesday that she was neither stabbed nor did she kill anyone. Her fabled gun jammed ... [The Post contends] the strategy was to create a photo-op that would thrust a living symbol of patriotic valour into the battle for hearts and minds ... 'The rescue turned into a Hollywood concept,' one unnamed military public affairs officer told the Post. If the concept in March seems like Courage Under Fire, the best storyline now would be All the President's Men."
Chicago Tribune Editorial, June 19
"To some, the rescue of Pte Lynch has now been transformed into a symbol of lingering scepticism about whether the American people were given valid information leading up to, and during, the war against Iraq.
"The plain fact is: American commandos raided a hospital in the midst of a war zone and saved an American soldier without any loss of life - the first successful rescue of an American POW since the second world war ... The bigger concern now is the truth. There's no reason that some of those who risked their lives that night couldn't be made available for interviews ... Those commandos are critical to illuminating the rescue. Their stories should be told."
Nicholas D Kristof New York Times, June 20
"It looks as if the first accounts of the rescue were embellished, like the imminent threat from WMD, and like wartime pronouncements about an uprising in Basra and imminent defections of generals. There's a pattern: we were misled.
"None of this is to put down Pte Lynch ... [She] is still a hero in my book, and it was unnecessary for officials to try to turn her into a Hollywood caricature ...
"My guess is that 'Saving Private Lynch' was a complex tale vastly oversimplified by officials, partly because of genuine ambiguities and partly because they wanted a good story to build political support for the war ... We weren't quite lied to, but facts were subordinated to politics, and truth was treated as an endlessly stretchable fabric. The Iraqis misused our prisoners for their propaganda purposes, and it hurts to find out that some American officials were misusing Pte Lynch the same way."
Daphne Eviatar Nation, July 7
"Almost 30 years ago Phillip Knightley chronicled in The First Casualty how journalists get duped into spreading the government's propaganda. At least during Vietnam, the media eventually grew sceptical. But in today's quick, high-tech wars, there's little time for the seeds of dissent to sprout and the media seems eager to please a patriotic public. It's no coincidence that the name Jessica Lynch is much more recognisable in the US than Ali Abbas, the 12-year-old Iraqi boy who lost both arms in the bombing of Baghdad, or even Lori Ann Piestewa, the first American female soldier killed in Iraq."
Dave Addis Virginian Pilot, June 18
"In an article on Monday, [the New York Times] revealed the depths to which the major networks will sink to drag Pte Lynch, the badly injured former POW, into the klieg lights and force her to weep, on cue, for the patriotic glory of the Nielsen ratings machine. An interview with Pte Lynch, who is still hospitalised, is the biggest 'get' available to the network newsies right now. The Times article spelt out just how much power the entertainment conglomerates, which own the major TV outlets, are willing to exercise to get to her first ...
"There was a time when it was considered a fatal breach of journalism ethics to offer so much as a dime for a news interview. The networks have fallen so far off the wagon that if the goods are hot enough they'll offer instant fame and fortune ... What we're seeing here is the darker side of the culture that we sent Pte Lynch to Iraq to defend, and it's not a pretty sight."
Kathleen Parker Orlando Sentinel, June 18
"Dear Jessica ... None of this is about you, which is one of the hard lessons in life. No one other than your family and close friends really cares about you ... Effective April 1 when you were rescued, your story became about them - [the network correspondents] who hope to bounce their ratings and thus their own fame and fortunes. Once they 'get' you, all that you are, have been and hope to be will; be distorted by what they need you to be for them.
"Let me translate a line from the CBS proposal. Here's how it reads in part: 'From the distinguished reporting of CBS News to the youthful reach of MTV, we believe this is a unique combination of projects that will do justice to Jessica's inspiring story.' Translation: 'If we can just get this kid to sign on the bottom line, we'll make Iraq's oil look like the penny ante in a game of five-card draw.'"
