I think I sit somewhere between CivicChik and Clickwir. I understand (understand as in "know of" not "have experienced") the shit she had to go through, and I think it's awesome that she made it back alive, and that it was an Iraqi that helped to save her. It is important for us to see that even in as shitty of a situation as we are in, sometimes good stuff still happens.

HOWEVER

Jessica Lynch was not the only person captured and imprisoned after that attack. I firmly believe that she received the media attention that she did, because she is young, *white*, and female. A very large portion of the U.S. population will have their heartstrings *yanked* by that sort of thing, and I'm sure that the folks in charge took that into consideration. This is the first major conflict where we have seen females in combat, so this is kind of a new thing for us. Also, while what happened to her is terrible, I don't believe that a classification as "an American hero" is appropriate. She did nothing heroic, other than tough it out. I know there are plenty of people who did pretty damned heroic things who have never and will never have TV movies made about them. (A point which I will return to) Take any single soldier in a previous war who took it upon himself to throw himself on a grenade to save just a few people standing near him that would probably die later on anyway...someone who sacrificed their own life for their fellow soldiers qualifies as much more of a hero in my book. Again, all she had to do was tough it out. Hell, POW's in Vietnam had it a hell of a lot worse than her, and those guys were publicly criticized when they returned to the states for participating in a war that they OBVIOUSLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH STARTING. Now, I know there can and will be plenty of debate as to what constitutes heroic behavior, so I'm not gonna try and push that point any harder. But, prisoners are a part of war. That's how it is.

Also: The idea of a shitty TV movie about the event, and the books and speeches and stuff...makes me ill. It really does. I mean, how much more could you cheapen the event? What Hallmark did to Christmas is what the news and mass media are doing to Jessica Lynch's story. They're turning it into a marketing ploy. THEY'RE MAKING MONEY OFF OF IT. I think it's apalling. Someone might argue why this is not ok, but Saving Private Ryan is. Well, Saving Private Ryan tells the story of a whole lot of people who did a major thing to turn the tide of the war, and was directed by someone who has RESPECT for the people that were really there.
In short: I'm glad that she's ok. It sucks that things happen the way they do, but this is war, and these things DO happen. Do I think she deserves respect? Yes. Do I think she deserves the attention she's getting while some of our other soldiers aren't even getting medical coverage for chronic illness or debilitating injuries sustained while in combat? HELL NO.

Ok. I'm done now. Flame away. :busts out the Nomex:


(re: the Hallmark/Xmas comment...keep in mind that I just said that as an atheist, so I must think it's REALLY crappy)