# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/101 "2003-05-21T05:14:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*Not true. there is abundant evidence of lying (she was shot etc). The question is _who_ lied. Was it the Pentagon or the media. \*\* Those stories didn’t come from the Pentagon. The military didn’t put out any specific information on her medical condition. In fact, I have read that it would have violated privacy laws for them to have done so. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/102 "2003-05-21T07:25:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*Not true. there is abundant evidence of lying (she was shot etc). The question is _who_ lied. Was it the Pentagon or the media. \*\* Sorry - my point was that the US army does not appear to have lied on this issue. I’ve not seen specific reporting and claims by US newspapers, so have no idea if they’ve lied or not. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/103 "2003-05-21T10:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by december \* > \*\*Those stories didn’t come from the Pentagon. The military didn’t put out any specific information on her medical condition. In fact, I have read that it would have violated privacy laws for them to have done so. \*\* Well december, I rather suspect that the stories **did** come from the Pentagon or military sources, through that wonderful route of plausible deniability, the lunch/dinner/beer with the journo. I’ve seen it done quite a lot over here. Doesn’t mean, of course, “_The Pentagon_” planted the story, might very well be a case of misunderstanding/over eager press officer/ garbled story to an Attache etc. So, on one hand I might not want to issue sweeping condemnations of the Pentagon on this, but I very much doubt the stories self-generated or are purely journo inventions… ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/104 "2003-05-21T11:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \* > \*\*I very much doubt the stories self-generated or are purely journo inventions… \*\* Heaven only knows where the stories came from. However, journalistic errors are not evidence of government conspiracy. The Jayson Blair/ New York Times scandal shows that even the best of newspapers are capable of falling into error without a push from behind. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/105 "2003-05-21T11:44:56Z")
[The culprit is found!](http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2003/April/05/LNspot.htm)Dateline April 5th, 2003, Associated Press > [@](#): > > PALESTINE, W.Va. – Former POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch suffered gunshot wounds when her convoy was attacked in Iraq, her family said Friday night. > > The family of the 19-year-old supply clerk spoke Friday with doctors who treated Lynch at a hospital in Germany. > > Word that Lynch suffered two entry and exit wounds contrasted the commander of the hospital, Col. David Rubenstein, who had said she was not shot or stabbed. > > The wounds were found during treatment of her left leg and right arm for fractures and were “consistent with low-velocity, small-caliber rounds,” such as a small rifle or handgun, said Dan Little, Lynch cousin. > > “It’s not a machine gun. It’s not a large caliber-rifle. It’s nothing like that,” he said. So, it seems the **FAMILY** may have started this story, one that the Military doctor had already denied. Will the BBC be doing an expose on the Lynch family? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/106 "2003-05-21T12:14:38Z")
And her family were told my Army doctors. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/107 "2003-05-21T13:05:27Z")
Or the cousin wanted his name in the papers and misunderstood, misinterpreted, or just plain lied. Note the line > [@](#): > > Word that Lynch suffered two entry and exit wounds contrasted the commander of the hospital, Col. David Rubenstein, who had said she was not shot or stabbed. from the military doctor on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/108 "2003-05-21T13:49:27Z")
That matches the article I linked to on page 1. No bullet wounds or stabbings. I was in the car listening to Jessica’s father talk to the press after she was rescued. Until that day the family had no idea she was a POW, all they knew was that she was MIA. So they were elated, naturally, and then someone asked how he felt that she was the only one out of 10 or so found alive…they weren’t aware of that either, the father couldn’t go on talking after that point. The family obviously was not any source of information. The Post, CNN, et al were given bad information from the usual “highly placed sources”, who’ll remain unnamed, and they ran with it. Business as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/109 "2003-05-21T14:19:20Z")
Tee: Who would these “highly placed sources” be? Are you suggesting that there was a campaign of disinformation planned by military intelligence to suggest Lynch had been shot for propaganda value? That would be quite a conclusion to jump to. It seems more likely to me that what actually occurs with something like this is that you get a lot of excitement. You have reporters looking and working very hard to get information. Rumors fly and some of them stick when they’re really nothing more than speculation. I see no reason to posit a conspiracy when excitement and rumor explain the issue succinctly. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/110 "2003-05-21T14:28:45Z")
If anyone can find a source quoted (named or unnamed) in the media other than Dan Little, cousin of Jessica Lynch, regarding this false report of gunshot wounds, I’d be interested to see it, kind of as a post-mortem on rampant media speculation and lies. As for Dan’s story above, he (apparently) said that falsehood to the media, alleging he heard it from the docs. It may or may not have been said to him, and he may or may not have been aware of its accuracy. I am not a lawyer, but wouldn’t his statement saying he heard it from the docs be considered hearsay? The only hard source of that story I have found was him. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/111 "2003-05-21T14:45:30Z")
[http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2003041919/](http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2003041919/) An article relaying reporting in the Times of London, saying she was brought in with a Gunshot wound. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/112 "2003-05-21T15:38:23Z")
Thanks, **Twisty**. They didn’t name a source for that tidbit, although the reader is left to assume it is “Dr. Harith al-Houssona, a 24-year-old junior resident at the hospital”, since he is the only source quoted in the story. A [blog site](http://www.patiopundit.com/archives/002781.html) has uncited quotes, apparently c&p’ed > [@](#): > > The hospital also confirmed the possibility that gunshots may have caused fractures to the upper right arm and lower left leg. The hospital commander, Col. David Rubenstein, previously said no entry or exit wounds consistent with gunshot wounds had been found. > > ``The medical staff says, after more closely examining those wounds, there is a possibility they were caused by a low velocity, small caliber weapon,’’ the a statement said, stressing treatment would have been the same no matter what the cause. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/113 "2003-05-21T17:28:31Z")
A blog as a cite? Are you trying to emulate your hero **december**? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548/114 "2003-05-21T17:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*Tee: > > Who would these “highly placed sources” be? > > Are you suggesting that there was a campaign of disinformation planned by military intelligence to suggest Lynch had been shot for propaganda value? > > That would be quite a conclusion to jump to.\*\* I’m not the one jumping there. No, I don’t think there was any misinformation campaign at all, just rumor or heresay from anoymous sources reported as fact, and I think the whole “propaganda value” thing is a non-story. This John Kampfner wanted to raise questions about the integrity of the operation (via the Guardian and the BBC) and is now [clarifying](http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/19/cnna.kampener.lynch/index.html) what he meant - that he doesn’t believed anything was faked. All he was trying to say was that there was no need for all the fuss and special operations - anyone could have driven up and gotten her. I don’t believe a word of it, of course, but he’s entitled to say whatever he thinks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bcc-suggests-jessica-lynch-story-greatly-exaggerated-if-not-faked/175548.md?page=5)