Anyone have thoughts about this?
Is this is a true story torn apart by conspiracy theorist, or a cleverly woven propaganda?
Discuss.
I know that this is an old story, but I saw recent developments. Half of me wants to believe that the story is true, but recently, there is a lot of commotions, especially from BBC that caused my other half to believe otherwise. I am so torn to what to believe. Anyone heard anything that may be useful to our knowledge?
[Iraq]Lynch's rescue
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FlameBlade
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[Iraq]Lynch's rescue
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Bethyaga
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The new info is that the US military got reliable info on where she was and staged this large cinematic "commando style" raid to rescue her at a time when they were positive there would be no enemy resistance present, therefore creating a huge PR boost for the US.
The flip side of that story is that it makes sense. We found out where a captured soldier was and decided it was possible to save her. We timed it so as to minimize casualties. Makes sense.
I don't believe this was engineered as a PR stunt. I think we were saving a soldier. Once we had her though, I think we exagerated every aspect of it and exploited the hell out of it while it lasted. Is there someone else who wouldn't have in the same situation?
The flip side of that story is that it makes sense. We found out where a captured soldier was and decided it was possible to save her. We timed it so as to minimize casualties. Makes sense.
I don't believe this was engineered as a PR stunt. I think we were saving a soldier. Once we had her though, I think we exagerated every aspect of it and exploited the hell out of it while it lasted. Is there someone else who wouldn't have in the same situation?
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I'll agree we exploited it, sure, but what exactly would you say was exaggerated?Once we had her though, I think we exagerated every aspect of it and exploited the hell out of it while it lasted.
There is then a need to guard against a temptation to overstate the economic evils of our own age, and to ignore the existence of similar, or worse, evils in earlier ages. Even though some exaggeration may, for the time, stimulate others, as well as ourselves, to a more intense resolve that the present evils should no longer exist, but it is not less wrong and generally it is much more foolish to palter with truth for good than for a selfish cause. The pessimistic descriptions of our own age, combined with the romantic exaggeration of the happiness of past ages must tend to setting aside the methods of progress, the work of which, if slow, is yet solid, and lead to the hasty adoption of others of greater promise, but which resemble the potent medicines of a charlatan, and while quickly effecting a little good sow the seeds of widespread and lasting decay. This impatient insincerity is an evil only less great than the moral torpor which can endure, that we with our modern resources and knowledge should look contentedly at the continued destruction of all that is worth having. There is an evil and an extreme impatience as well as an extreme patience with social ills.
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Bethyaga
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The danger of the daring rescue, despite the fact that it was fully armed military special ops forces vs. essentially unarmed civilians. The heroic tale of how Jessica Lynch went down fighting--how this soldier from a maintenance unit refused to surrender and went down bravely fighting, taking out Iraqis until she ran out of ammo. This kind of thing. How much was encouraged by the military and how much was just the press running with whatever sold, I can't say. But I heard a lot of tall tales coming out of the mainstream media at the time.Marius wrote:I'll agree we exploited it, sure, but what exactly would you say was exaggerated?Once we had her though, I think we exagerated every aspect of it and exploited the hell out of it while it lasted.
_Whoever invented that brush that goes next to the toilet is an idiot, cuz that thing hurts.
The latter, I think, was certainly exaggerated, although I only remember seeing it in news sources, and never from a government source.The danger of the daring rescue, despite the fact that it was fully armed military special ops forces vs. essentially unarmed civilians. The heroic tale of how Jessica Lynch went down fighting--how this soldier from a maintenance unit refused to surrender and went down bravely fighting, taking out Iraqis until she ran out of ammo.
The former . . . well shit, I don't think that /was/ exaggerated. This is something that's bothered me since the BBC broke the story that, Oooo! We knew that she wasn't guarded, but we made it look commando style anyway!
Of course we knew she wasn't guarded. If we thought there was a platoon of Republican Guard in the room with her would we have gone after her? (Would /you/ plan a shadowrun that way?) And of course they went in and out like commandos even though they knew there wouldn't be military in the building. They couldn't exactly send a limo. And they /didn't/ know that some asshole in the lobby wouldn't get right on the phone with a basement full of fedayeen half a block a way. So yeah, I don't think the danger was exaggerated. I just think that they got lucky, and in hindsight everyone wants to be scornful.
There is then a need to guard against a temptation to overstate the economic evils of our own age, and to ignore the existence of similar, or worse, evils in earlier ages. Even though some exaggeration may, for the time, stimulate others, as well as ourselves, to a more intense resolve that the present evils should no longer exist, but it is not less wrong and generally it is much more foolish to palter with truth for good than for a selfish cause. The pessimistic descriptions of our own age, combined with the romantic exaggeration of the happiness of past ages must tend to setting aside the methods of progress, the work of which, if slow, is yet solid, and lead to the hasty adoption of others of greater promise, but which resemble the potent medicines of a charlatan, and while quickly effecting a little good sow the seeds of widespread and lasting decay. This impatient insincerity is an evil only less great than the moral torpor which can endure, that we with our modern resources and knowledge should look contentedly at the continued destruction of all that is worth having. There is an evil and an extreme impatience as well as an extreme patience with social ills.
That's funny. I thought her injuries came from a vehicular accident - no gunshot wounds, no stabs, no burns, no torture.
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Anguirel
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The two parts I was curious about were the one just mentioned by ak404 - the lack of wounds from specific sources that were talked about such as torture - and another one: that they (the Iraqis) tried to return her earlier but weren't allowed to do so (in order to allow the raid to happen for the PR boost?). No clear picture of which is correct, but it is one of the common things to do -- print sensationalist story (use lots of probablies and might have beens) in big print on the front page, then print a tiny retraction a few months later once facts are confirmed. It sells papers and it sways public opinion behind the government. Meet the business side of reporting and the propaganda machine. 
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_Patience said: Ang, you are truly a font of varied and useful information.
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_Patience said: Ang, you are truly a font of varied and useful information.
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<Reika> What a glorious way to die.
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That's not propoganda, that's selling newspapers/advertising. There is a difference. I'm not defending the media here, but calling this propoganda is, IMHO, inacurate and removes focus from the issues of news as entertainment and puts the focus on some conspiracy between the media and the government. Printing what the government wants you to say doesn't sell copy, printing what people want to hear does. The former is much less of a problem than the latter.
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