Jessica Lynch criticises Pentagon
Jessica Lynch, the US soldier who became famous after being taken prisoner in Iraq, has accused the Pentagon of using her as a propaganda pawn.
The US military had released a video of Lynch being rescued at the height of the war, but in a television interview Lynch insisted the film should not have been made.
Lynch said she was upset by the way the Defence Department had portrayed the episode.
Her criticism is certain to stoke the ongoing debate over the veracity of the official account of the “rescue mission” as well as the wider issue of the “spin” the US government continuously gave to the Iraq war.
Many had earlier disputed Pentagon claims of the rescue, saying it was far less heroic than it was being made out to be.
For one, US soldiers did not have to fight their way in and out during the mission as the US military portrayed it.
Troubled
Asked by ABC News if the official portrayal of her rescue troubled her, Lynch said it did.
“Yeah, it does. It does that they used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff. I mean, yeah, it’s wrong…I don’t know what they had…or why they filmed it,” she said.
Extracts of the interview to be shown next Tuesday have been released in advance.
Lynch said she did not think her rescuers had to engage in a fire fight.
“I don’t think it quite happened like that,” she said.
Tight-lipped
The Pentagon offered no immediate comments on Lynch’s interview.
At the height of the war, US television networks repeatedly broadcast images of Lynch being rescued in a green light footage film.
The dramatic images stoked American patriotism and Lynch was transformed into an icon.