curious development in jessica lynch story

[rainstorm]

jessica now has no memory of anything from the time she was attacked till she was rescued. i think that is very possible. i do think it is slightly possible this is a ruse to keep details leaking till she can have a movie made. if she has a sudden memory return in time for a book and movie then i will be very disappointed. right now i will assume her memory loss is indeed genuine.

[Lindaloo]

I believe it is a genuine memory loss. We only know part of what she went through by the media. Not one of us actually know what that girl went through. Must have been very intense for her to block it out!! It is known fact that people who have been traumatized will have amnesia.

[rainstorm]

I believe it is a genuine memory loss. We only know part of what she went through by the media. Not one of us actually know what that girl went through. Must have been very intense for her to block it out!! It is known fact that people who have been traumatized will have amnesia.

but cbs reported that she was treated like a princess whil in captivity and they were bringig her flowers and food in the hospital. it has also been reported that the iraqi's several times tried to send her back to american lines but the iraqis were fired on(i dont blame the americans, they had to be careful). finally, when she was rescued, any iraqi guards were long gone. i am just wondering if this was a CONVENIENT memory loss.

[weatherlover427]

I think it's a convenient and (for now) planned memory loss. Maybe they are trying to cover something up.

[rainstorm]

i agree

[streetsoldier]

rainstorm,

You have made two errors here; (a) you believe the Iraqis and (b) you believe CBS' story on this "development".

I have found the so-called "testimony" of the Iraqi doctors and staff suspect from the beginning (when it was so reported in a UK rag)...none of the staff mentioned the slapping episode which led that lawyer to tell the Marines aboiut her, and none of the present staff in the hospital has any idea why (or even that) the 9 bodies of her 507th comrades were buried on hospital grounds, within 50 feet of her room.

Their story does not coincide with the testimony of the lawyer-informant or that of an orderly in the same hospital (who gave info to Army intelligence), as to her exact location and positioning of her captors guarding her. And, if she was so well-treated, where were the "flowers" (nothing of the kind was found in that dirty room where she was kept), and why was she given only orange juice and crackers for food? Also note that these same doctors called her injuries "due to her truck being tipped over", as in an accident; Army evaluation teams on-site show nothing of the sort, but two vehicles that were so bullet-ridden that they were rendered useless, even as cover. And neither was turned over.

They claim she was brought there three days afterwards, yet...her torn BDU clothes, and those of PFC Lori Piestewa (so marked with name tapes...but why not any of the men's?) were found in a nearby outer building two days after the ambush by Marines, next to a cot with hand and leg straps and a battery with live wires attached...the same building in which the corpses of the dead 507th men were photographed for display on Iraqi State TV.

And the Nazariyah Hospital staff is suspect in themselves; they would not have had those positions, or education, if they weren't Ba'ath Party loyalists. Please consider this fact before making any "findings". Simply put, they are covering their OWN @$$es.

No, ladies and gentlemen, her lack of memory is NOT a "show"...nor does it have anything to do with future negotiations on a movie deal. If you read anything about her at length, you will recall that her last memory was of a bright light (grenade explosion, or RPG blast?), which could easily account for some of her injuries, particularly that on the head; she does remember being shot in the leg, her M-16 jamming before having to find shelter behind her truck from all the incoming Iraqi fire, then the "bright light"...what happened to her for the next six days, from what we DO know, is beyond the pale of most people's ability to imagine. Her memory loss, IMHO, is due to drifting in and out of consciousness between beatings and God-knows-what other horrors too vile to comment upon in this thread...and is entirely credible, as I myself have suffered memory loss over extreme traumatic circumstances (and I'm not the only person here who has).

Finally, I will address CBS itself...which has not been a credible news source since the Eisenhower Administration, and I'm amazed that anyone would cite its "news" staff at all.

[JetMaxx]

Folks, I've been in contact with Jessica's family and friends in Wirt County and she was injured far worse that the press has been told.

Please don't blame these folks...or Jessica...they are good, honest people. It's been over six weeks since she was injured -- and is still in a great deal of pain, even with pain medication. According to her family and friends, Jessica is like a little girl again (scared of the dark; doesn't want her mom to leave her alone; can't stand loud noises or flashes like lightning or flashbulbs)...traumatized beyond belief.

Yes, Jessica is a little fighter with a positive attitude-- she wants to get well again...just like my Becky would; but the facts are she may never walk again without aid of a walker or crutches (or without a limp). Her right leg is broken in three places, including the thigh bone; there's a pin in her right ankle, her right foot is broken...so is her right arm; a fractured shoulder blade, several broken ribs, and a fractured vertebra in her lower back. Jessica suffered a severe head wound that's just now healing. She may require skin grafts on her right leg...may be disfigured.

Jessica's mom and dad are scared to death she won't ever fully recover from the psychological and emotional damage--WHY they are being so tight lipped; they know Jessica may NEVER be able to face cheering crowds like Ron Young Jr did here in Douglasville last night, and may never be well enough to attend a press conference.

From what I've been told, the last thing Jessica remembers is a bright flash and waking up several days later in the Iraqi hospital; why many surmise the vehicle she was in was hit with an RPG. Please don't blame Jessica or her parents for the apparently bogus story she "fought to the death"...blame the clueless folks in the government and press that claimed it as fact.

I can't go into details, but Jessica apparently was tortured before being taken to the hospital...there are things I cannot discuss, but I know a couple of terrible things that was done to her....WHY she's repressed so much. She doesn't have amnesia...it's just too painful to remember, to express and tell anyone the details of.

I KNOW what shes going through....because I've recently told things (on this board AND to family members) that my dad did to me that happened more than 20 years ago -- even my mom's sisters and brothers in Tennessee didn't know. I kept it hidden behind a smiling face until it nearly killed me....Becky did the same thing. There are reasons why I came close to taking my life several times in the 1990's; that Becky almost died of anorexia nervosa twice; why she contemplated suicide.

Here's a vivid illustration of what Jessica Lynch faces, even if she avoids the spotlight as her family desires. My grandmother recently admitted to Becky and me that she was molested at age six...by her own 15 year old half-brother. I've always wondered why she was so bitter toward men, why her marriage failed and she never remarried, even though Grandpa was a good man that loved her. Granny kept her anguish and pain hidden for decades behind a pretty smile. My sister and I were totally stunned...I now know why Granny, a very loving and caring woman never had any use for her half-brothers three children...now I do. Thinking of them made her think of Jack...and what he did to her as a helpless little girl --I know now why my grandmother didn't attend her half-brother's funeral; didn't shed a tear when he died.

Jessica's mom and dad don't care about money or fame...they only want their daughter...they're little girl to get well and take her home, to be left alone. They don't want her spooked by some media hounds heartless question (i.e. "How does it feel to be an American fraud") and sit staring blankly into space the rest of her life....or someday commit suicide because she feels like she let everyone down.

You folks know me, some here have known me a long time...and know I only care about that young lady's welfare. There is no ulterior motive...her family is scared she'll never fully recover if she's harrassed like a pop diva with a sprain (and so am I

God Bless,
Perry

[streetsoldier]

I might add that I regained memory of a single event 24 years later, and subsequently all that had preceded it; and this drove me into the second of two (first attacks surfaced in 1982) depression/anxiety phases, from which I'm still recovering.

How much more devastating Jessica's black-out will be, IF she ever recalls the details, is beyond imagining...and what her reaction will be, as well.

Why the media, and some people, always assume such matters as "personal gain", "cowardice", etc...goes to the heart of who THEY really are...not this young American soldier.

[Lindaloo]

Thanks for those great posts Bill and Jetmaxx. I do not understand why Helen would even doubt what happened to her or why it is so hard for her to comprehend what trauma this young lady had to endure from the enemy!! I do not believe one word CBS says because Dan Rather and others (ABC's Peter Jennings too) are far left wing in their views and it shows in their reporting.

[ColdFront77]

People can easily forget things around the time of a traumatic event. I can see this from my father after he was hospitalized two years ago, last month.

[streetsoldier]

What Perry is trying to say is that Jessica's multiple (and some unreported) injuries are known to the physicians attending her, but have not been made public AT HER FAMILY'S REQUEST...from these, her clinicians can already deduce what was done to her, and to some degree when...but she, herself, is incapable of recall at this time (note that the Army wants the details for war crimes prosecutions, which should say enough about them to you).

As to NBC, CBS or anyone who wants to make a movie or publish a book about her ordeal, the family has already stated quite clearly, "FORGET IT".

It is a certainty that she will never be able to complete her tour of duty (even though she re-enlisted before shipping out), much less make a career in the Army; as to any projected plans for her future, that remains up to her and her family to decide, if ever.

[Lindaloo]

Well that explains the negative reporting by CBS. They are mad because the Lynch family denied their movie requests. It makes MUCH sense now.

[streetsoldier]

Lindaloo, it's also somewhat sad (and funny) that the great CBS would be hawking a story that was published in the UK on 9 April as a "current" item (re: "interviews" with the remaining doctors and staff at the Nazariyah hospital)...yes, it sounds like "sour grapes" to me as well.

[mf_dolphin]

I wrote off CBS a long time ago. Let the young woman recover in peace!

[Lindaloo]

I wrote off CBS a long time ago. Let the young woman recover in peace!

AMEN!!

[Stormsfury]

I wrote off CBS a long time ago. Let the young woman recover in peace!

What? CBS still does the News? ...

[rainstorm]

as long as they are hiding her injuries there is doudt about the story. there is no reason an independant dr cant state her injuries, without saying whether they occured before, during , or after her capture. this is starting to sound like attica, where at first the state of ny said the prison guard hostages were killed by the inmates, which turned out to be false.

[Stephanie]

I don't really think it's anyone's business to know the extent of her injuries, if she doesn't want them reported. If she wants her privacy, then she should be allowed to have it.

[mf_dolphin]

We have no need to know her injuries IMO She was a POW who was rescued. The American public's desire for the gruesome details is an embarrasment. She served her country well, that's enough for me

[streetsoldier]

In any other case like this here IN the US, the name of the victim would have been kept anonymous, even after conviction of the perpetrators...this only differs in that the victim's name (thanks to the Government and media) has become a "household word"; yet her privacy is being placed under scrutiny by every salacious, some might even say "deviant" inquiry (one would have to have something very wrong "upstairs" to REQUIRE those details, IMHO).

I agree, m_f...she needs to be left alone. NO media coverage, no pressure for movies or book "deals"(the very gall of NBC when this "movie" idea was first broadcast staggers me...when asked to cease-and-desist, their answer was, "If the Lynch family wants this to be a factual account, they should have Jessi tell our producers in her own words what happened").

Placing pressure on her to "get an exclusive account" at this time will only serve to drive her further into a "safe place"..from which she may never return. I've seen enough abused people to know whereof I speak...and the "public's right to know" STOPS at the front door of Walter Reed Military Medical Center...or, God willing, at the entrance to her family's property.

Last point....what if it were YOUR daughter, sister, or wife? Think carefully about this before replying.