# Re J. Lynch's anal rape - Author claims medical evidence - Her Iraqi Docs say BS **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951 "2003-11-07T19:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/1 "2003-11-07T19:07:05Z")
How diagnostically, can you tell that someone was anally raped from evidence eight days after the fact? I ask because the Iraqi docs in charge of her are saying this claim is nonsense. [Medical checks reveal Lynch’s rape hell](http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7792360%255E401,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/2 "2003-11-07T19:15:03Z")
Tearing and scar tissue from an anal rape is absolutely visible to an exam weeks after the event. There are plenty of people that have been prosecuted with such evidence. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/3 "2003-11-07T19:41:45Z")
I forgot to put in the link for the Iraqi doctor’s statements [JESSICA LYNCH RAPE CLAIM CHALLENGED BY DOCTORS WHO SAVED HER LIFE -](http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm) > [@](#): > > Iraqi doctors who treated Jessica Lynch dispute claims made in her biography that she was raped. > > Dr. Mahdi Khafazji, who performed surgery on Lynch’s fractured femur said he found no signs of sexual assault. Khafazji said he examined her extensively and would have noticed signs of rape, and said the examination turned up no semen. “She was injured at about 7 in the morning,” Khafazji said. “What kind of animal would do it to a person suffering from multiple injuries?” > > Dr. Jamal al-Saeidi, head of the orthopedic department at the now closed Military Hospital, recounts: “When she was brought there she was fighting for her life. She was in shock because of the severity of her injury… Her clothes were not torn, buttons had not come off, her pants were zipped up.” > > Al-Saeidi also said he found no evidence of rape during an examination – though he said he was not looking for evidence of a sexual assault. “We had a few minutes, golden minutes to save her,” he said. > > “Why are they saying such things?” the hospital’s deputy director Dr. Khodheir al-Hazbar said. “We were good to her.” ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/4 "2003-11-07T19:50:34Z")
> [@](#): > > JESSICA Lynch was brutally raped by her Iraqi captors. > That is the shocking revelation in I Am a Soldier, Too, the much-anticipated biography of the former POW. First couple lines of article. > [@](#): > > “Jessi lost three hours,” Bragg wrote. “She lost them in the snapping bones, in the crash of the Humvee, in the torment her enemies inflicted on her after she was pulled from it.” A paragraph down. Now IIRC, it was a doctor who saved her _and_ protected her. She blacked out from crash to wake up, so who is saying she was raped? This cinematic author I’m sure has movie rights…this looks like a massive distortion from the truth. I watched J.LYNCH speak to Diane Sawyer in an exclusive and I can not recall this being mentioned or eluded to. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/5 "2003-11-07T20:05:00Z")
So far, in combat with Iraqi forces, there have been three American women taken alive as prisoners of war. It is an indisputed fact that two of these women were sexually assaulted by Iraqi soldiers. Why is it such a stretch to believe that the third one was as well? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/6 "2003-11-07T20:19:26Z")
I wasn’t able to find any cite of the other rapes of American soldiers with a couple cursory Google News searches, **Mr. Moto.** Can you provide one? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/7 "2003-11-07T20:25:23Z")
I wasn’t able to find any cite of the other rapes of American soldiers with a couple cursory Google News searches, **Mr. Moto.** Can you provide one? ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/8 "2003-11-07T20:52:59Z")
I know that there were sexual abuses, not rapes per se. I recently saw an interview with one of the women taken prisoner in the Gulf War, and she was fondled. I don’t recall rape though. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/9 "2003-11-07T21:21:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Moto \* > Why is it such a stretch to believe that the third one was as well? That is not the question being asked. The question is not “could it have happened?” but “did it, in fact, happen?” ---
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/10 "2003-11-07T21:22:02Z")
[http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/11/07/lynch.interview/](http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/11/07/lynch.interview/) A few tidbits: > [@](#): > > “It does [bother me] that they used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff,” she said. "It’s wrong. > > “I don’t know why they filmed it, or why they say the things they say, you know. … All I know was that I was in that hospital hurting. … I needed help. I wanted out of there. It didn’t matter to me if they would have come in shirts and blank guns; it wouldn’t have mattered to me. I wanted out of there.” > [@](#): > > In her ABC interview, Lynch also responded to the revelation in a new book about her ordeal that she may have been sexually assaulted during her captivity. > > She told ABC’s Diane Sawyer that she does not remember being raped and “even just the thinking about that, that’s too painful.” She also said that she was not beaten during her captivity and that one nurse in the hospital even sang to her. > > The book, “I Am A Soldier, Too,” an authorized biography written by Rick Bragg, cites a medical report that shows Lynch was sexually assaulted. > > Army officials would not comment on the account. A spokesman said that federal privacy laws prevent the military from discussing hospital records that would contain such details. > > Bragg resigned as a national correspondent for The New York Times in May after the newspaper determined he had written a story for publication under his byline that had largely been reported by an unpaid, uncredited freelancer. Bragg insisted that he was following newspaper policy and did nothing wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/11 "2003-11-07T21:31:01Z")
Do we know that the injuries definately occurred before the alleged rape? Could she have been raped first and then beaten to the point of broken bones? They asked “who would do this to someone with multiple injuries?” Well, maybe they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/12 "2003-11-07T21:42:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Do we know that the injuries definately occurred before the alleged rape? Could she have been raped first and then beaten to the point of broken bones? Or for that matter, been raped by an American GI some time before the crash? Or just had some crazy rough sex? An ugly case altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/13 "2003-11-07T21:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Moto \* > **So far, in combat with Iraqi forces, there have been three American women taken alive as prisoners of war.** I can’t find three American women taken alive as Iraqi POWs. I can only find Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Johnson. Lori Piestewa was killed in the same action that saw Lynch and Johnson captured. Is there another woman? > [@](#): > > **It is an indisputed fact that two of these women were sexually assaulted by Iraqi soldiers.** Well, unless Google and I are missing something really huge here, it is not an “undisputed fact”, since Lynch’s rape appears to be in question, and I can’t find anything that suggests that Johnson was raped. So, cite? > [@](#): > > \*\*Why is it such a stretch to believe that the third one was as well? \*\* Because…the first two may not have been? Maybe you’ve got the wrong war? [Rhonda Cornum](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html) suffered “sexual indecencies” while she was a prisoner during the Gulf War. But [Melissa Rathbun-Nealy](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/25/wpow225.xml)says she was well-treated during her captivity. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/14 "2003-11-07T22:04:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by edwino \* > I recently saw an interview with one of the women taken prisoner in the Gulf War, and she was fondled. That was undoubtedly Col. Rhonda Cornum, a flight surgeon who suffered two broken arms after her helocopter was shot down, then got kissed and had her breasts fondled by an Iraqi soldier during transfer. She’s relatively dismissive of the incident, saying “I just was amazed that he would want to do that … That was my first thought really. Just amazed. And that was really my biggest concern. I mean, a lot of people make a big deal about getting molested, and I’m … sure it’s a … it’s a big deal. …But in the heirarchy of things that were going wrong, that was pretty low on my list.” That interview is [here](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html). If you examine [a list of Gulf War I POWs](http://www.nationalalliance.org/gulf/returnees.htm), you will only find one other female POW. That was Melissa Rathburn-Nealy (now Coleman), who says that [she was not sexually abused](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/Primetime/iraq_POWs030323.html). From Dubya Dubya II, I believe the only other female POW was Spc. Shoshana Johnson, captured in the same attack as Lynch. As far as I can determine, she has never reported any sexual abuse from her captivity. There you have it: One woman with fondled breasts, and two with no sexual abuse at all. So much for **Mr. Moto** ’s “undisputed fact.” More like “unsupported nonsense.” As for Lynch, the evidence of rape is very weak, and is directly contradicted by the attending physicians. In the absence of additional evidence, I believe Ms. Lynch and her co-author are mistaken in their conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/15 "2003-11-07T22:14:46Z")
And if we’re talking about what was ‘likely’ to have happened… why would a male rapist choose anal rape over vaginal rape of a female victim? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/16 "2003-11-07T22:46:57Z")
Because it inflicts more pain and is seen as more humiliating? Maybe his only purpose wasn’t to get off. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/17 "2003-11-07T23:28:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Do we know that the injuries definately occurred before the alleged rape? Could she have been raped first and then beaten to the point of broken bones? > > They asked “who would do this to someone with multiple injuries?” Well, maybe they didn’t. \*\* The injuries were from the Humvee crash, not from beating. I am not aware that there is any dispute over that point. Hence, if she was raped before the injuries, she was raped by a fellow soldier. Which, I suppose, is possible, but hardly likely. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/18 "2003-11-08T00:03:05Z")
Thanks **Gorsnak**. Let me clarify that the scenario I was postulating was one in which she might have been captured, raped and beaten to the point of amnesia by the Iraquis, not by her fellow troops just prior to, or as they travelled into, combat. God, that’s a disturbing thought I hadn’t even considered and, probably like most, doubt that she’d ever be able to forget. I don’t personally have or know anyone with experience in these matters but from what I understand sometimes there can be some memory recall years or longer after the fact. Maybe someday that’ll clear up some questions although, for Jessica’s sake, I’m not so sure that we’d like to see that happen. ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/19 "2003-11-08T00:12:14Z")
Just seems like she is still being used to me, first as a propaganda device and now sensationalism to sell a book. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951/20 "2003-11-08T02:29:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > In the absence of additional evidence, I believe Ms. Lynch and her co-author are mistaken in their conclusion. It seems she does not say she was raped and it was some creative writing on the part of the writer who has a history of that too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-j-lynchs-anal-rape-author-claims-medical-evidence-her-iraqi-docs-say-bs/211951.md?page=2)