I have so little faith in the BBC's objectivity that I just haven't much to say about their reporting of the Jessica Lynch interview. I suspect that couching it as Jessica Lynch Condemns Pentagon is probably a little far from what the young woman really wanted to convey, and she might even be a bit distressed by the headline.
She said she was grateful to the American special forces team which rescued her but, asked whether the Pentagon's subsequent portrayal of her rescue bothered her, she said: "Yes, it does. They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. It's wrong."
And I wonder if she mightn't be feeling slightly "used" by the BBC right now, to symbolize "all that stuff" that they seem to feel is wrong, like the use of the US military to end Saddam's thrilling career. I don't know, does anyone else think Jessica was intent on "condemning the Pentagon" in her Sawyer interview? I really didn't watch it, which I gather is what she wants, right? I'm glad she got out alive, but I don't really plan to read her book either, for fear I might be contributing to her delinquency, and because... well, I just don't give a damn. But I am thinking about picking up an out-of-print copy of Ernie Pyle's Brave Men, because there's almost an entire chapter about my uncle Reg, who just died a few days ago. He flew a fighter during that nasty business in Italy before I was born. Well, the chapter is mostly about his dog, Tige. He (the dog) was a black lab, who was probably a manifestation of the Supreme Being, or possibly just an angel. He flew almost as many missions as my uncle, and complained a lot less about the food.
Posted by Demosophist at November 8, 2003 12:14 AM | TrackBack