Former POW Lynch used as Iraq war 'symbol'

I Wonder Where the Media was for these lost souls



Top left, Sgt. Donald Walters, Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, Spc. James Kiehl, Pvt. Brandon Sloan. Bottom left, Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Mata, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, and Sgt. George Buggs, were members the 507th Maintenance Company who were ambushed March 23 near Nasiriyah, Iraq. All eight were killed in action after nine bodies were found during the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch. A ninth body remains unidentified. Associated Press Photo




Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch, whose capture and rescue in the early days of the Iraq war turned her into a US icon, says the United States Government used her as an upbeat symbol in the conflict.

"I think I provided a way to boost everybody's confidence about the war," Lynch said in an interview with Time magazine.

"I was used as a symbol. They could show the war was going great because 'we rescued this person'. It doesn't bother me anymore. It used to."

Lynch, who has previously criticised the official US Government portrayal of her rescue, said her book I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, written by Rick Bragg, allowed her to "set the record straight" about her March 23, 2003 capture and rescue nine days later.

Lynch, 22, who still uses a cane as she recovers from the injuries sustained during her capture, will attend West Virginia University.

The tuition is being paid by her home state of West Virginia.

-AFP

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