Film at 11: The Jessica Lynch Story
Over at Blab-o-rama, Beerzie Boy notes a couple of stories in the British and Canadian press about the news fabrication of the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch during that war we’ve all already forgotten about. (Nothing like my bike ride along the river in 28 °C weather yesterday to make the world’s problems seem a little farther away.)
To its credit, CNN has at least mentioned the idea that the rescue was not all that it seemed — that maybe the production values would make Hollywood blush. Yesterday, they interviewed BBC journalist John Kampfner, who points out that the Pentagon refused to release unedited video of the operation. The Pentagon also refused to confirm or deny basic “facts” of the story, such as whether Lynch “received bullet and stab wounds as a result of the Iraqis,” and whether the Americans came under fire during the rescue.
No one is suggesting that the rescue was completely theatrical — the U.S. had a legitimate concern for her life and well-being, and she was in the arms of “the enemy” (in as much as foreign doctors are “the enemy”). Rather, the evidence at hand, which includes interviews with the doctors at the hospital from which Lynch was rescued, indicates that the U.S. military artificially augmented the drama of the rescue in order to maximize the publicity. And wouldn’t that just be a shocker, if it were true.
Breaking news rarely tells the whole story. The real thing sometimes seeps out eventually, much later, but is anyone paying attention then?
Previously: Chapeaux de camions
Subsequently: Doesn’t It Make You Hungry?
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