# BCC suggests Jessica Lynch story greatly exaggerated, if not faked **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 15, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548 "2003-05-15T21:43:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/1 "2003-05-15T21:43:31Z")
I’m putting this in the Pit, since war discussions usually go south. I usually trust the BBC, so I’m finding [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/3028585.stm) story upsetting, and hope to find that there’s a misunderstanding or a hoax somewhere. Not that I automatically believe everything the U.S. press publishes – I try to take everything with a grain of salt. What do you think? Is this story more well-known in the U.K.? ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/2 "2003-05-15T21:44:52Z")
There are two threads in GD about it as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/3 "2003-05-15T22:12:36Z")
I’m buyin’ it… Sam ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/4 "2003-05-15T23:51:27Z")
So this whole “hoax” idea is based off the testimony of a doctor that says he was there. What makes him more credible than the other people that disagree with him, again? There are two doctors who make comments in that article, coupled with two pictures that could’ve come from anywhere. Sorry, but I’d like to see some REAL evidence, BBC. That article looks like it could’ve come from the Onion. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/5 "2003-05-16T00:10:36Z")
> [@](#): > > “It was like a Hollywood film. They cried ‘go, go, go’, with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan.” How the hell does this guy know the soldiers were firing blanks? This whole article stinks to high heaven. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/6 "2003-05-16T00:10:55Z")
From Dr. Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital: > [@](#): > > “It was like a Hollywood film. They cried ‘go, go, go’, with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan.” Hollywood films may get SOME things right. Special Forces do not have a “half-speed” selector switch for a snatch and grab operation. From Maj. UncleBill, USMC, who worked alongside Force Recon. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/7 "2003-05-16T00:19:08Z")
Good old shoe… ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/8 "2003-05-16T01:26:34Z")
prop prop porp-a-ganda. Hell, they made up the reason for the war, why not something like this to sway the hearts? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/9 "2003-05-16T02:50:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*How the hell does this guy know the soldiers were firing blanks? This whole article stinks to high heaven. \*\* A lack of bullett holes might be a good indicator. I haven’t heard anything about this, but that might go toward proving the story true or false. ---
**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/10 "2003-05-16T03:03:21Z")
Nightvision technology has come a long since the Starlight scopes that weighed 10 lbs and made a highpitched sound that would drive anyone nuts if left on more than a few minutes but to try to call that footage “staged” is just too much of a stretch. Where’s the rest of the footage? Hollywood would’ve done much better. The real giveaway was when that guy slipped and almost dropped her when they were loading her on the “46”. He obviously had getting the hell outta Dodge on his mind. I have no doubt on of the higher ups had PR on his mind or the camera wouldn’t have been their but “staged”. What’s up with the Iraqis the Brits and “Blackhawk Down”? Everytime I hear the “Blackhawk Down” bit it automatically discredits the story as “bullshit”. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/11 "2003-05-16T03:13:13Z")
The BBC must have reliable sources, otherwise it wouldn’t have run the story. To be fair, we haven’t seen any hard evidence that this story wasn’t a hoax. We believe everything the TV and newspapers feed us, but unless you were on the ground when it happened, you can’t really say for _certain_ what happened. I’m have an open mind on this… ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/12 "2003-05-16T03:45:15Z")
Since the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wasn’t familiar with a site that Colin Powell had told the UN was a suspected WMD storage area…and… Since Rumsfeld tried to convince us that not much looting was going on and… Since no one has found WMD and… Since “intelligence sources” claimed that the French issued passports to the Iraqi leaders and… Since the US claims that only one civilian was killed with a cluster bomb in Iraq and… Since Jessica Lynch has a problem with “amnesia” about the whole thing… I tend to be a little skeptical about anything that is said by the current administration. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/13 "2003-05-16T04:10:44Z")
“_There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don’t know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury._” …due to road traffic accident? :eek: I don’t know who’s claiming bullet wounds, but since she was checked out in Germany the official word has been no bullet injuries. [http://www.iht.com/articles/92177.html](http://www.iht.com/articles/92177.html) Official word has also been: two broken legs. And one broken foot. The guy pretty much just told us that one leg and one foot we broken while she was in the hospital. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ace\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Ace\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace_Face)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/14 "2003-05-16T05:41:40Z")
Staged? You want staged? Try to find a wide angle shot of that big Saddam statue coming down in Baghdad. Not counting US troops and the press, there were probably less than 100 Iraqis present in that huge plaza. There’s even some (debatable) evidence many were Chalabi loyalists brought in just for the occasion. But it would be hard to know that… instead we were fed lots of carefully framed close-ups. It’s interesting how the media “knows” not to provide such context. (A link for those interested: [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2838.htm](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2838.htm) ) ---
**Author:** ![Mole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/15 "2003-05-16T10:21:40Z")
This is like _Capricorn One_ all over again… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/16 "2003-05-16T10:28:31Z")
> [@](#): > > The BBC must have reliable sources, otherwise it wouldn’t have run the story. [😃](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/08/nbbc08.xml) ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/17 "2003-05-16T10:36:00Z")
Just a question for you all: Why would the Army go in with a camera if there weren’t an embedded journalist crew with the unit? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/18 "2003-05-16T11:12:20Z")
This will be better dealt with after a documentary about it is shown on Sunday on BBC2. Talk to ya Monday 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/19 "2003-05-16T11:50:06Z")
Ooh. I’m gonna watch that one, Yojimbo. What a strange story. I’m reserving final judgment until more evidence comes up either way, but it sure is interesting. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/20 "2003-05-16T11:59:16Z")
FYI: Correspondent BBC2 Sun. 19:15(at least on BBC2 NI you may want to check your listings) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548.md?page=2)