Post by Bennett D. Ebberly on Nov 6, 2003 11:52:33 GMT -5
Reports: Lynch Book Says She Was Raped
NEW YORK (AP) - The authorized biography of former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch reportedly says she was raped by her Iraqi captors.
``I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story'' is being released by Knopf publishing Tuesday, which is Veterans Day. Reporter Rick Bragg, who wrote the book, tells Lynch's story. Medical records cited in the book indicate that she was raped, the Daily News of New York said. Officials have said she has no memory of her ordeal.
``Jessi lost three hours. 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,'' writes Bragg, according to a report in Thursday's Daily News, which obtained a copy of the book.
``The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead,'' Bragg continues.
Separately, ABC's ``Good Morning America'' host Diane Sawyer confirmed Thursday on the air that the book says Lynch was raped.
``The book does indeed cite some intelligence reports that she was treated brutally and a medical record that says, in the book, that she was a victim of a sodomizing rape,'' Sawyer said.
``I talked to both her and her parents about this, asked them about the decision to put it in the book, and they told me it was a decision to tell the reality, not selective parts of a story of going to war,'' Sawyer said.
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards would not elaborate on the reports, telling The Associated Press that it was ``just one chapter in a vivid story of a soldier's life.''
Bragg declined to comment to the AP.
Sawyer's interview with Lynch will air Tuesday in a special edition of ABC's ``Primetime.''
Sawyer also addressed reports that Lynch's book casts doubt on the claim of an Iraqi lawyer, Muhammad al-Rehaief, that he helped U.S. Marines rescue Lynch.
``She says that he may indeed have helped her,'' Sawyer said. ``If he did, she's grateful, but she simply does not remember him and she remembers most everybody that she spent time with during her hospital captivity.''
Lynch, 20, was shipped to Kuwait in January with the 507th Maintenance Company. She was captured March 23 after her convoy was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. She was rescued from an Iraqi hospital April 1 by U.S. forces.
She plans to marry Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras in June.
Bragg has written several books, including the memoir ``All Over but the Shoutin','' and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 while at The New York Times. He resigned from the Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.
11/06/03 10:07
Please see this link:
cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20031106/100800877.htm&photoid=20031027NY114
NEW YORK (AP) - The authorized biography of former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch reportedly says she was raped by her Iraqi captors.
``I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story'' is being released by Knopf publishing Tuesday, which is Veterans Day. Reporter Rick Bragg, who wrote the book, tells Lynch's story. Medical records cited in the book indicate that she was raped, the Daily News of New York said. Officials have said she has no memory of her ordeal.
``Jessi lost three hours. 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,'' writes Bragg, according to a report in Thursday's Daily News, which obtained a copy of the book.
``The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead,'' Bragg continues.
Separately, ABC's ``Good Morning America'' host Diane Sawyer confirmed Thursday on the air that the book says Lynch was raped.
``The book does indeed cite some intelligence reports that she was treated brutally and a medical record that says, in the book, that she was a victim of a sodomizing rape,'' Sawyer said.
``I talked to both her and her parents about this, asked them about the decision to put it in the book, and they told me it was a decision to tell the reality, not selective parts of a story of going to war,'' Sawyer said.
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards would not elaborate on the reports, telling The Associated Press that it was ``just one chapter in a vivid story of a soldier's life.''
Bragg declined to comment to the AP.
Sawyer's interview with Lynch will air Tuesday in a special edition of ABC's ``Primetime.''
Sawyer also addressed reports that Lynch's book casts doubt on the claim of an Iraqi lawyer, Muhammad al-Rehaief, that he helped U.S. Marines rescue Lynch.
``She says that he may indeed have helped her,'' Sawyer said. ``If he did, she's grateful, but she simply does not remember him and she remembers most everybody that she spent time with during her hospital captivity.''
Lynch, 20, was shipped to Kuwait in January with the 507th Maintenance Company. She was captured March 23 after her convoy was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. She was rescued from an Iraqi hospital April 1 by U.S. forces.
She plans to marry Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras in June.
Bragg has written several books, including the memoir ``All Over but the Shoutin','' and won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 while at The New York Times. He resigned from the Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.
11/06/03 10:07
Please see this link:
cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20031106/100800877.htm&photoid=20031027NY114