What actually happened to Pfc. Jessica Lynch?
The capture and subsequent rescue of Private Lynch is one of the most famous stories of the war. But initial accounts have been contradicted by new reports, including one from the BBC that has become immensely controversial. The conventional wisdom regarding Lynch’s capture was established by an April 3 story in the Washington Post. According to “U.S. officials” interviewed by the Post, Lynch “fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army’s 507th Ordnance Maintenance company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition.” According to one official, Lynch “continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die… ‘She was fighting to the death,’ the official said. ‘She did not want to be taken alive.'”. While the Post noted that other officials described the details of the incident as sketchy, the image of Lynch valiantly trying to fight off her captors became iconic.
