Everybody that goes through the horrors of combat is a hero. Lynch was out there and got caught in it. But the way the Bush administration hyped and distorted her story is an ugly mark upon it (and a clear example of how it works to exploit and manipulate every issue). This administration will do ANYTHING to enhance its position or hold on to power. We've never had such a lying bunch in control EVER in our American history (and there have been some lying sombitches before).

From a Reuters release about Lynch's homecoming:


Lynch was in a 507th Maintenance Company convoy when her unit was ambushed. A 90-minute firefight ensued.

But she became a national hero after media reports quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying she fought fiercely before being captured, firing on Iraqi forces despite sustaining multiple gunshot and stab wounds.

In the end, Army investigators concluded that Lynch was injured when her Humvee crashed into another vehicle in the convoy after it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The U.S. military also released video taken during what was portrayed as a daring rescue by American special forces who raided the Iraqi hospital where she was being treated. Iraqi doctors at the hospital said later the U.S. rescuers had faced no resistance and the operation had been over-dramatized.

Lynch herself has been quoted as saying she can remember nothing of the ambush or the rescue, and her remarks on Tuesday shed no new light on the episode.

"The failure here was that the news media got to thinking the government could be trusted to reflect reality," said Carolyn Marvin, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication.

"It no longer matters in America whether something is true or false. The population has been conditioned to accept anything: sentimental stories, lies, atomic bomb threats," said John MacArthur, the publisher of Harper's magazine.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Florida had no comment when asked about assertions that the heroism tale was seen by some critics as government propaganda.

The Washington Post, the first to report the heroic version of Lynch's capture, came under sharp criticism from its own ombudsman for its handling of a story that contained information which was "wrong in its most compelling aspects."

The Lynch story also exposed CBS News to criticism after the network offered Lynch a movie deal while trying to persuade her to give an interview about her experiences.

On Sunday, CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves acknowledged CBS News probably erred in offering the deal.




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