Gyroscope

A newsletter for those unmoved by spin.
No. 16, November 10, 2003

Subscribe

Change Address

Unsubscribe

Comment

It's hard to know how to write satire any longer, reality seems to be doing a much better job.

Remember Pfc. Jessica Lynch? The Sunday Times of London reports (Nov. 2, p. 29) that she is getting a $1 million advance for her book that tells how she was in an auto accident with another army vehicle, was knocked unconscious, got taken to one of the better hospitals in Iraq, got care better than most Iraqis, and was rescued by commandos who overpowered the unarmed nurses. This after an Iraqi had taken her in an ambulance to American lines only to have US soldiers shoot at them and force them back to the hospital. Then, the army told everyone she had amnesia when she didn't, in case she did remember what had happened. The book is co-written by a Pulitzer-prize winning writer who got fired from the New York Times for making up a story. Seems an appropriate person to tell how the Army made up Lynch's story.

Then, (probably taking advice from publicists) she refused to meet with Mohammed Odeh Al-Refaief, the Iraqi who told the U.S. Army where to find her after all our technology couldn't locate her. Lynch is located in her West Virginia hometown getting ready for the debut of her made-for-TV move and an interview with Diane Sawyer. Mohammed was also in the same town, promoting the dueling made-for-TV movie about his life.

This makes three made-for-TV movies, because we should count the one shot on night-vision scopes made by the soldiers who came to get Lynch out of the hospital. That film was produced as well, including, apparently, some staged scenes.

Apparently Lynch is not much of a hero inside the army and even her town thinks she is getting too much money. However, the Lynch movie was made without her permission, so it seems she controls no part of her own story, starting right from the auto accident that severely wounded her. I don't blame her, she seems to have done nothing to promote herself, which makes her practically a hero, or at least unique.

The Times does say she is starting a charitable foundation for the children of soldiers killed in the war, so at last she really is a hero.

The Ronald Reagan movie is taking flack from conservatives and one of their main points is that Reagan never said about people with AIDS: "They that live in sin shall die in sin." This is being used as proof that the film is biased, liberal, lies, blaa, blaa, blaa. As the Daily Howler points out, Reagan's biographer Edmund Morris has Reagan saying is "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague [because] illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments." And of course, Reagan was very slow to think AIDS was a problem. So just more spin.

"Shot through both legs and held prisoner in Iraq for 22 days, Shoshana Johnson returned home to a difficult convalescence that lacked the media fury and official hype that attended her friend and comrade in arms Jessica Lynch.

Depressed, scarred, haunted by the trauma of her captivity and at times unable to sleep, Specialist Johnson walks with a limp and has difficulty standing for long. Now that she is on the verge of her discharge, the US Army is aggravating her injury, her parents say.

While Private Lynch was discharged in August with an 80 per cent disability benefit, Specialist Johnson learnt last week she will receive a 30 per cent disability benefit from the army for her injuries," reports Lee Hockstader

"This was probably the first incident in U.S. military history in which an American soldier [ Lynch] was awarded our country’s fourth-highest ground-fighting award for being conked out and off the air throughout a fight." Col. (Ret) David H. Hackworth

"Jessica's a wonderful girl, and we're happy she's OK. But it was Patrick; it wasn't Jessica. His weapon was working. He was doing everything possible. Patrick deserves so much, and he's not getting the recognition. He's still a private first class. He hasn't even been promoted."
Spc. Shoshana Johnson, speaking of Patrick Miller, a welder, who fought off the Iraqi attack before being held prisoner. He was awarded the Silver Star for valor. The story originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun.

"The 20-year-old private told ABC's Diane Sawyer in a "Primetime" interview to air Tuesday that she was bothered by the military's portrayal of her ordeal. "They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff," From the Veterans Against the Iraq War website.

Sites devoted to the ordinary soldier and their situation in Iraq include David Hackworth's polemical Soldiers for the Truth, families of wounded soldiers can stay at places supported by Fisher House, reports of problems troops experience are at Veterans for Common Sense and Army Emergency Relief makes funds available to military families and dependents in need. Veterans Against the Iraq War critiques Bush. And a nod for tradition, the USO, still going strong is organizing Christmas care packages for soldiers.