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| Iraq |
| Nasiriya: POW rescued |
| 2003-04-02 |
| 02-04-2003 Glad to have you back, Jessica! US forces have rescued a young female soldier who was held as a prisoner of war in Iraq, reports said. Army supply clerk Jessica Lynch, 19, had been missing since her 507th Maintenance Co. convoy came under attack on March 20. The rescue of Lynch was confirmed by Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at US Central Command in Qatar but refused to provide any further details. "Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a US Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq," he said. "The soldier has been returned to a Coalition-controlled area. More details will be released as soon as possible." The Pentagon confirmed the soldier was private Lynch, of Palestine, West Virginia. The Pentagon has listed seven Americans as captured by Iraq since the outbreak of the war. |
| Posted by:kgb |
| #6 For some unknown reason, the few TV reports I saw about the rescued POW had the odd habit of prefacing the initial mention of her name with "nineteen-year-old", and failing to mention her rank until later, a couple of times not at all. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-04-02 21:15:06 |
| #5 I had to admit that I got a little misty when I heard the news and saw the pictures. God bless those who went in there and got her out. If I'm ever in a bar with you, you will not be able to pay. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-04-02 18:58:34 |
| #4 Great job, guys. I hope the 11 bodies are all iraqi casualties, not executed pow, decoys or political prisonners, but... |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-02 09:36:38 |
| #3 It's nice to see Rangers and Seals working well together. Usually there's a lot of pushing and shoving in the lunch line. I'd wait on the body issue. The best way to make a POW disappear is to put his uniform on a dead body then move him. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-04-02 08:06:36 |
| #2 Update from WP: Eleven bodies - at least some of them believed to be Americans - were found with prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch when she was rescued in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi hospital, a military spokesman said Wednesday.Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said that during the rescue operation, 11 bodies were recovered in and around the hospital. "We have reason to believe some of them were Americans," Thorp said. He said the 11 were not killed during the rescue operation. "We don't yet know the identity of those people," Thorp said. "And forensics will determine that." And how they died. Latest word is Jessica has 2 broken legs and a broken arm. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-02 07:52:54 |
| #1 From the BBC warblog--more detail on the rescue-- Southern Iraq, near Nasiriyah :: Adam Mynott :: 0522GMT The operation to rescue Jessica Lynch looks to have been very sophisticated. The US marines that I'm travelling with set off very shortly after it became dark, in a huge convoy of 30 or 40 vehicles. Their intended target was a suspected Ba'ath party safe house, somewhere just south of the river Euprhates in Nasiriyah - they were also going to take a bridge near by. This was meticulously timed to coincide with an operation in the north of the town to rescue Jessica from the hospital where she was being held. The hope was that action down near the bridge in the south would draw Iraqi militia down to mount a defence, while the Delta forces went north to rescue her. They found her in a fairly bad condition. She had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, but she was whisked out very quickly. We're told she's now being looked after and is in a stable condition. During the course of the last hour news has filtered out - and the Marines have been cheering and punching the air - there's real joy. |
| Posted by: kgb 2003-04-02 02:27:21 |