19 Year Old Soldier Fighting To The Death

[HDPM]

Interesting article on the 19 year old soldier girl taken prisoner and liberated by the special forces operation. web page (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14879-2003Apr2.html)

This is a great story. This girl runs out of ammo killing Iraqis while iraqis surrender to journalists. I would lay odds she was tortured, I guess that will come out later. The accounts of what the Iraqis did to POW's in the last war were bad enough. Maybe they didn't, but when a "hospital" has a torture chamber and is a military installation you naturally suspect stuff. On TV they showed the room where the soldier's bloody uniform was found. It was not a hospital room.

Anyway, when the Iraqi regime is dumped, I would make a movie of this story and show it on Iraqi television for propaganda.

[brad]

well it sounds a little propagandy to me but hey shes gonna live so thats good.

btw that means the iraqis must have given her medical attention because otherwise shed be dead by now guaranteed.

[IrishHand]

People are WAYYY too accepting when it comes to "official" stories from any military involved in action. Haven't you noticed that every side involved in basically every conflict reports stories that revolve either around (a) the wonderful victories they've acheived in combat lately, or (b) the phenomenal heroism of their soldiers when they didn't win in combat. I do agree though with your basic premise...

This is a great story.

[Bill Murphy]

Silver Star, Purple Heart, & POW Ribbon are givens, I'd imagine. Don't forget the part about her being surrounded by comrades' bodies while she was firing... Pretty heavy 'fruit salad' fae a 19 year old, let alone a girl. 'Course, 19 y.o.'s always do a lot of the grunt work in wars... /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

Latest news says she was NOT shot or stabbed; broken legs(no feeling in her feet?) & arm; back(!) operated on w/more surgery to come; in good spirits but not talking about what went on to family or flight crew to Germany. I'm fairly sure that she was "brutalized" during confinement, but even more sure that there were Iraqis that prevented her death and/or more serious injury.

She's certainly going to become quite famous....

[Cyrus]

Fighting against superior forces is the true mark of bravery and that soldier, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, certainly looks like she was. A medal would be most appropriate.

As of course, were thousands of Iraqis who have thrown themselves against highly superior forces, in both technology and numbers, with predictable results. Like that "old man" with the "poor clothes", in the last piece dispatched by now-dead reporter Michael Kelly.

Those people are not fighting to save Saddam's neck or because they are "Baath hardliners", they are just people fighting off an invader. No damn medals for them.

Across the Euphrates (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15806-2003Apr2.html)