18
The irony is that the Iraqi doctors worked hard to save her life, but when they
attempted to deliver Jessica to a U.S. outpost the day before the raid, the Americans fired
on the ambulance driver, making it impossible to proceed. Following the CentCom
briefing, the Washington Post (4-3-03) headlined that She was Fighting to the Death
and had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, adding that Jessica was later stabbed by Iraqi
forces. The Los Angeles Times (5-20-03) would later report that, “It has since emerged
that Lynch was neither shot nor stabbed, but rather suffered accident injuries when her
vehicle overturned. A medical checkup by US doctors confirmed the account told by the
Iraqi doctors, who said they had carefully tended her injuries, a broken arm and thigh and
a dislocated ankle, in contrast to the US media reports that doctors had ignored Lynch.”
The story helped buoy homefront morale at a time when the war’s bad news
threatened to overtake media coverage. In the longer narrative that was the 23-day war,
the incident provided the heroism, patriotism and indignation needed just in time to boost
public support for the war. As with the baby incubator story of the first Gulf War,
revelations of the story’s invention in the war’s aftermath had little effect. Details of the
CentCom briefing and the considerable amplification of the unverified account in the
media were rarely reported as prominently as the original, leaving its effects intact. And
of course, now that the war is over its purpose has been served. Many understand this
point. Times of London military correspondent, Richard Lloyd Parry notes, “Whatever
further embarrassment the loss of credibility the coalition experiences now as a result of
the truth coming out, the benefits they reaped at the time far surpass that. So on balance,
from their point of view, they did the right thing” (Eviatar 2003, 20).
Convention