THE OTHER HAND:

'She Was Fighting to the Death': Details Emerging of W. Va. Soldier's Capture and Rescue (Susan Schmidt and Vernon Loeb, April 3, 2003, Washington Post)

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, 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, U.S. officials said yesterday.

Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die around her in fighting March 23, one official said. The ambush took place after a 507th convoy, supporting the advancing 3rd Infantry Division, took a wrong turn near the southern city of Nasiriyah.

"She was fighting to the death," the official said. "She did not want to be taken alive."

Lynch was also stabbed when Iraqi forces closed in on her position, the official said, noting that initial intelligence reports indicated that she had been stabbed to death. No official gave any indication yesterday, however, that Lynch's wounds had been life-threatening.

Several officials cautioned that the precise sequence of events is still being determined, and that further information will emerge as Lynch is debriefed. Reports thus far are based on battlefield intelligence, they said, which comes from monitored communications and from Iraqi sources in Nasiriyah whose reliability has yet to be assessed. Pentagon officials said they had heard "rumors" of Lynch's heroics but had no confirmation.

It would be gratifying if true, but even if it's disinformation, it's obviously worthwhile planting the idea in the minds of the notoriously misogynistic Islamicists that even our 19 year old women are capable of kicking their butts. When Ataturk set about reforming Turkey he warned that one of their great problems was that by oppressing women they were effectively competing against the West with one hand tied behind their back. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 3, 2003 1:32 PM