According to the Iraqi doctors who first examined her, Jessica Lynch had no shot or stab wounds.

Her life was saved by the brave medical staff of an Iraqi hospital -- whose members even donated their own blood when there was none on hand.

The military staged the whole "rescue" to give the cameras something to look at.

As far as the Shrub Administration is concerned, if all goes well, this rescue of Jessica Lynch was just the first of many "episodes" of these kinds of wars -- coming soon to a TV channel near you.

Ripping yarns: how they 'saved' Private Lynch

Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war in Iraq. The story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US Special Forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.

Her rescue, however, will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.

But the American media tactics, culminating in the Lynch episode, infuriated the British, who were supposed to be working alongside them in Doha, Qatar. Tonight in Britain, the BBC's Correspondent program reveals the inside story of the rescue that may not have been as heroic as portrayed, and of divisions at the heart of the allies' media operation...

One story, two versions. The doctors in Nassiriya say they provided the best treatment they could for Lynch in the midst of war. She was assigned the only specialist bed in the hospital, and one of only two nurses on the floor. "I was like a mother to her and she was like a daughter,"says Khalida Shinah.

"We gave her three bottles of blood, two of them from the medical staff because there was no blood at this time,"said Dr Harith al-Houssona, who looked after her throughout her ordeal. "I examined her, I saw she had a broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle. Then I did another examination. There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only RTA, road traffic accident," he recalled. "They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

The doctors said that the day before the special forces swooped on the hospital the Iraqi military had fled. Hassam Hamoud, a waiter at a local restaurant, said he saw the American advance party land in the town. He said the team's Arabic interpreter asked him where the hospital was. "He asked: 'Are there any fedayeen over there?' and I said, 'No."' All the same, the next day "America's finest warriors" descended on the building.

"We heard the noise of helicopters," says Dr Anmar Uday. He says that they must have known there would be no resistance. "We were surprised. Why do
this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, 'Go, go, go', with guns and blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show - an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors." All the time with the camera rolling. The Americans took no chances, restraining doctors and a patient who was handcuffed to a bed frame.

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica (pictured left) to the Americans in an ambulance. "I told her I will try and help you escape to the American army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my life." He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire.

They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch...

None of the details that the doctors provided Correspondent with made it to the video or to any subsequent explanations or clarifications by US authorities. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, declined to release the full tape of the rescue, rather than its edited version. He would not talk about what kind of Iraqi resistance the American forces faced. Nor would he comment on the injuries Lynch actually sustained. "I understand there is some conflicting information out there and in due time the full story will be told, I'm sure," he said...

He acknowledged that the events surrounding the Lynch "rescue" had become a matter of "conjecture". But "either way, it was not the main news of the day. This was just one soldier, this was an add-on: human interest stuff".-"

The American strategy was to concentrate on the visuals and to get a broad message out. The key was to ensure the right television footage. The embedded reporters could do some of that. On other missions, the military used their own cameras, editing the film themselves and presenting it to broadcasters as ready-to-go packages. The Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably Black Hawk Down.

In 2001, the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer, had visited the
Pentagon to pitch an idea. Bruckheimer and fellow producer Bertram van Munster, who masterminded the reality show Cops, suggested Profiles from the Front Line, a primetime television series following US forces in Afghanistan. They were after human stories told through the eyes of the soldiers. Van Munster's aim was to get close and personal.

It was perfect reality TV, made with the co-operation of Donald Rumsfeld and aired just before the Iraqi war. The Pentagon liked what it saw. "What Profiles does is give another, in-depth, look at what forces are doing from the ground," says Whitman. That approach was developed in Iraq.

The Pentagon has none of the British misgivings about its media operation. It is convinced that what worked with Jessica Lynch and with other episodes of this war will work even better in the future.

Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/18/1053196461618.html

Ripping yarns: how they 'saved' Private Lynch

May 17 2003

Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war in Iraq. The story of her capture
by the Iraqis and her rescue by US Special Forces became one of the great
patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more
crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a
victory too slow in coming.

Her rescue, however, will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of
news management conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real
influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has
produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.

But the American media tactics, culminating in the Lynch episode,
infuriated the British, who were supposed to be working alongside them in
Doha, Qatar. Tonight in Britain, the BBC's Correspondent program reveals
the inside story of the rescue that may not have been as heroic as
portrayed, and of divisions at the heart of the allies' media operation.

"In reality we had two different styles of news media management," says
Group Captain Al Lockwood, the British army spokesman at central command.
"I feel fortunate to have been part of the UK one."

In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned to
Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. Jim Wilkinson,
from the White House, had stayed up all night. "We had a situation where
there was a lot of hot news," he recalls. "The President had been briefed,
as had the Secretary of Defence."

The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam Hussein had been captured. The
story they were told instead has entered American folklore. Private Lynch,
a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was a member of the US
Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company that took a wrong turning near
Nassiriya and was ambushed.

Nine of her comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to a hospital,
which was swarming with fedayeen, where she was held for eight days. That
much is uncontested.

Releasing its five-minute film to the networks, the Pentagon claimed that
Lynch had stab and bullet wounds, and that she had been slapped about on
her hospital bed and interrogated. It was only thanks to a courageous Iraqi
lawyer, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, that she was saved. According to the
Pentagon, al-Rehaief risked his life to alert the Americans that Lynch was
being held.

Just after midnight, Army Rangers and Navy Seals stormed the Nassiriya
hospital. Their "daring" assault on enemy territory was captured by the
military's night-vision camera. They were said to have come under fire, but
they made it to Lynch and whisked her away by helicopter. That was the
message beamed back to viewers within hours of the rescue.

Al-Rehaief was granted asylum barely two weeks after arriving in the US. He
is now the toast of Washington, with a $500,000 book deal. Rescue in
Nassiriya will be published in October. As for Lynch, her status as cult
hero is stronger than ever. Internet auction sites have listed at least 10
Jessica Lynch items, ranging from an oil painting with an opening bid of
$200 to a $5 "America Loves Jessica Lynch" fridge magnet. Trouble is that
doctors now say she has no recollection of the episode and probably never
will. Her memory loss means that "researchers" have been called in to fill
in the gaps.

One story, two versions. The doctors in Nassiriya say they provided the
best treatment they could for Lynch in the midst of war. She was assigned
the only specialist bed in the hospital, and one of only two nurses on the
floor. "I was like a mother to her and she was like a daughter,"says
Khalida Shinah.

"We gave her three bottles of blood, two of them from the medical staff
because there was no blood at this time,"said Dr Harith al-Houssona, who
looked after her throughout her ordeal. "I examined her, I saw she had a
broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle. Then I did another
examination. There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no
stab wound - only RTA, road traffic accident," he recalled. "They want to
distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in
saying she has a bullet injury."

The doctors said that the day before the special forces swooped on the
hospital the Iraqi military had fled. Hassam Hamoud, a waiter at a local
restaurant, said he saw the American advance party land in the town. He
said the team's Arabic interpreter asked him where the hospital was. "He
asked: 'Are there any fedayeen over there?' and I said, 'No."' All the
same, the next day "America's finest warriors" descended on the building.

"We heard the noise of helicopters," says Dr Anmar Uday. He says that they
must have known there would be no resistance. "We were surprised. Why do
this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, 'Go, go, go', with guns and
blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show - an action movie like
Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down
doors." All the time with the camera rolling. The Americans took no
chances, restraining doctors and a patient who was handcuffed to a bed frame.

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived,
Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica (pictured left) to the
Americans in an ambulance. "I told her I will try and help you escape to
the American army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my
life." He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the
American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire.
They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost
killed their prize catch.

A military cameraman had shot footage of the rescue. It was a race against
time for the video to be edited. The video presentation was ready a few
hours after the first brief announcement. When it was shown, General
Vincent Brooks, the US spokesman in Doha, declared: "Some brave souls put
their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they
know that they'll never leave a fallen comrade."

None of the details that the doctors provided Correspondent with made it to
the video or to any subsequent explanations or clarifications by US
authorities. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, declined to
release the full tape of the rescue, rather than its edited version. He
would not talk about what kind of Iraqi resistance the American forces
faced. Nor would he comment on the injuries Lynch actually sustained. "I
understand there is some conflicting information out there and in due time
the full story will be told, I'm sure," he said.

That American approach - to skim over the details - focusing instead on the
broad message, led to tension behind the scenes with the British. Downing
Street's man in Doha, Simon Wren, was furious that on the first few days of
the war the Americans refused to give any information at Centcom. The
British were put in the difficult position of having to fill in the gaps,
off the record.

Towards the end of the conflict, Wren wrote to Tony Blair's adviser
Alastair Campbell complaining that the American briefers weren't up to the
job. He described the Lynch presentation as embarrassing.

Wren last week described the Lynch incident as "hugely overblown" and
symptomatic of a bigger problem. "The Americans never got out there and
explained what was going on in the war," he said. "All they needed to be
was open and honest. They were too vague, too scared of engaging with the
media." He said US journalists "did not put them under pressure".

Wren, who had been seconded to the British Ministry of Defence, said he
tried on several occasions to persuade Wilkinson and Brooks to change tack.
In London, Campbell did the same with the White House, to no avail. "The
American media didn't put them under pressure so they were allowed to get
away with it," Wren said. "They didn't feel they needed to change."

He acknowledged that the events surrounding the Lynch "rescue" had become a
matter of "conjecture". But "either way, it was not the main news of the
day. This was just one soldier, this was an add-on: human interest stuff".-"

The American strategy was to concentrate on the visuals and to get a broad
message out. The key was to ensure the right television footage. The
embedded reporters could do some of that. On other missions, the military
used their own cameras, editing the film themselves and presenting it to
broadcasters as ready-to-go packages. The Pentagon had been influenced by
Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably Black Hawk Down.

In 2001, the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer, had visited the
Pentagon to pitch an idea. Bruckheimer and fellow producer Bertram van
Munster, who masterminded the reality show Cops, suggested Profiles from
the Front Line, a primetime television series following US forces in
Afghanistan. They were after human stories told through the eyes of the
soldiers. Van Munster's aim was to get close and personal.

It was perfect reality TV, made with the co-operation of Donald Rumsfeld
and aired just before the Iraqi war. The Pentagon liked what it saw. "What
Profiles does is give another, in-depth, look at what forces are doing from
the ground," says Whitman. That approach was developed in Iraq.

The Pentagon has none of the British misgivings about its media operation.
It is convinced that what worked with Jessica Lynch and with other episodes
of this war will work even better in the future.

The Guardian