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The Battalion
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Saving private Lynch
Rescue of Jessica Lynch was not staged, despite BBC documentary's assertions
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ie Battalion
he spirit of the Salem witch
trials is alive and well in 21st
century America. But instead
of striking down a handful of dis
liked and suspicious villagers, mali
cious journalists are needlessly seek
ing to put a petite, young blonde on the stake of their
own cynical world view.
On April 1, a joint operation of elite soldiers
stormed an Iraqi hospital and rescued Pvt. Jessica
Lynch, the first prisoner of war rescued since World
War II and the first woman war captive ever rescued
inU.S. military history. Held by Iraqi forces for nine
days and suffering multiple injuries, she was quickly
hailed as an American hero.
Recently, however, many journalists have sought to
discredit that title. They call into question what The
Washington Post initially reported about Lynch being
a teenager shipped off into the desert who, upon hav
ing her unit ambushed, “fought fiercely, was stabbed
and shot multiple times, and killed several of her
assailants” before being captured.
After that, the American people watched the news
intently as their fragile hero returned home to begin
her recovery. Sadly, not everyone was happy to
rejoice in hearing about the bravery and courage a fel
low citizen exhibited while serving her country.
Instead, certain journalists embarked on a witch hunt
to discredit Lynch as an American hero.
There’s a saying in the journalism business: “If the
story seems too good to be true, get more sources.”
This skepticism is a symptom of a pessimistic view of
life where there could be no true heroes because the
person uttering such a phrase isn’t one and doesn’t
associate with any. Employees of The Washington Post
later followed such bleak advice and interviewed Iraqi
medical and civilian eyewitnesses of Lynch’s capture,
captivity and rescue.
The “revised” story now suggests Lynch
suffered her injuries due to a vehicle acci
dent, her weapon jammed before she could
kill any enemy soldiers and she was not
mistreated by them. What exactly qualifies
these scornful eyewitnesses as more reliable
sources? When one man claims that the enemy sol
diers struck Jessica in the face, another is quoted as
saying it “never happened” and is only “Hollywood
crap you'd tell the Americans.” The Washington Post
would now have people believe the “new” version of
what happened is more believable because it’s more
negative.
To those who believe in the existence of the excep
tional nature of humanity, such pessimism is disgust
ing, but is nothing compared to the recent allegations
of a BBC documentary. They claim the rescue was
staged to raise public opinion about a sluggishly
advancing war; that the soldiers stormed a hospital
they knew contained no enemy soldiers and carried
guns filled with blanks, jumping and shouting in front
of a film crew for dramatic effect. They even suggest
that the Iraqis offered to hand over Lynch via ambu
lance days earlier but the Americans turned it away so
that they could proceed with their “fictional assault.”
Pentagon spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan
called the BBC’s allegations “ludicrous and insult
ing,” and rightly so. Such tripe belongs in a time slot
wedged between documentaries about a faked moon
landing and alien hostages from the 1950s kept in the
American desert.
“The thing that is most insulting is the suggestion
that we would put U.S. service members at risk to
stage such an event. This was a real rescue under a
combat situation,” Lapan told Reuters.
For those who hold a more positive outlook on
human nature, the details of Lynch’s story are not
important — it’s what she represents. We live in a
country full of heroes who are willing to stand up for
what they believe in, even if it means leaving their
lives back home to fight a war against evil on for
eign soil. Jessica Lynch — Miss Congeniality at
her county fair and the smallest member of her
high school basketball team — chose to leave her
peaceful life to fight an evil dictator halfway
across the world.
Now she undergoes a daily routine of physical
therapy, spending hours each day learning to walk
again while she heals physical and mental wounds.
Heroism is found not just on the battlefield, but
in the choices an individual freely makes to fight
adversity against heavy odds. No amount of dirt dig
ging by a few surly journalists will ever change that
fact that the 20-year-old war veteran learning to walk
again embodies the honor and courage that is the
American hero.
Rebuilding America’s ties with Mexico
Congressional elections show Mexican citizens' support for Fox is waning
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L ast week, Mexico experi
enced an event it had not
seen in more than 70 years.
The country held midterm con
gressional elections that signaled
change, marking the first time the
president’s ruling party has not
controlled the majority of seats in Mexico’s
Congress.
The elections held high hopes for Mexican
President Vicente Fox’s National Action Party
and for leftist parties, both hoping to increase
their representation at the expense of the PRI,
the former ruling party of Mexico. But the PRI
actually increased its holdings by 15 seats, and
although the leftist parties made gains, Fox’s
PAN suffered a defeat, losing 50 seats. This
erosion of support for Fox’s somewhat U.S.-
friendly party should alarm the State
Department and the Bush administration about
Fox’s political future in 2006. In a time of ris
ing instability and more left-leaning regimes
across Latin America, America cannot afford
to lose another ally in the region. The United
States must work to repair its fragile relation
ship with Mexico before it faces a government
significantly less sympathetic to U.S. needs
than Fox’s.
The election results clearly signal dissatis
faction with Fox’s presidency. Fox was quoted
in The Houston Chronicle before the election
DAVID SHOEMAKER
as saying that Mexico was now a
“better and different country,”
and that he would continue “ful
filling the mandate for change”
he was given in the 2000 elec
tion. But the
results of the most
recent election seem to reflect a
revocation of that mandate.
In his tenure. Fox has made
many efforts to reform
Mexico’s internal administra
tion, but they’ve been met with
limited success. His agenda will
now suffer, because his party
cannot control Congress, further
hampering his initiatives. On
the foreign policy front, Fox
started well but slipped. Before
Sept. 11, he was negotiating
with Bush for an immigration
solution. But following the Bush administra
tion’s foreign policy changes, borders tight
ened and issues related to Mexico languished.
Considering disputes with the United States
over water along the Rio Grande and the war
in Iraq, relations with Mexico seem to have hit
a low point. Add Mexico’s stalled economy,
and it looks like Fox has few concrete success
es to point to. A Chronicle political analyst
even said that “the ineptitude of the Fox
In his tenure, Fox
has made many
efforts to reform
Mexico's internal
administration,
but they've been
met with limited
success.
Government... has led to the desperation and
disappointment of today.” But, some of Fox’s
perceived ineptitude stems from being ignored
by the United States on important issues. The
Bush administration, even though currently
busy with crises elsewhere,
shouldn’t ignore problems brew
ing in Mexico.
The administration must
work to repair Mexican relations
through compromise. One area
where the Bush administration
agrees with Fox is Cuba.
Traditionally, Mexico — under
the PRI — had been close with
Cuba and had not supported
U.S. policy regarding the coun
try. But shortly after his elec
tion, Fox cooled Cuban ties
pleasing America. Although
T Cuba is not currently a hot-but-
ton issue, working with Fox’s government in
dealing with Cuba will strengthen relations.
Another area where Bush and Fox could
reap political gains is immigration, particularly
illegal immigration. The Bush administration
should jump-start dialogue in this area by
offering a plan, if for no other reason than to
get meaningful talks underway again. This
would help both leaders’ appearances domesti
cally, because even if they do not reach a solu-
tion, they will at least appear to be working for
their constituents’ needs. Other issues such as
water rights on the Rio Grande and Colorado
rivers are pressing, but will prove more diffi
cult to solve, making them less than ideal ways
to improve Mexican relations.
The Bush team must beware of ignoring
Mexico. America, in areas such as immigration
and the economy, directly affects certain prob
lems in Mexico. Unless the United States
shows it is working with Fox to help solve
these problems, Fox will be perceived as weak
and ineffective, especially by his own people.
As PRI Secretary General Elba Esther Gordillo
was quoted in The Chronicle as saying, “In
2006, citizens will vote for those who make
public policy responsibly.”
The PRI has many savvy politicians who
sense Fox’s weaknesses and seek his job in
2006. The 70 years in which the PRI ruled
Mexico brought about a lukewarm relationship
between the United States and Mexico, and
despite setbacks. Fox and his party have
worked hard to change this. It is no time for
the Bush administration to forget its work.
David Shoemaker is a junior
management major.
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MAIL CALL
Students left out in cold'
by loss of department
How can you turn a university into
one of the top 10 colleges in the
nation? Kill the journalism department.
At least that's what Texas A&M is doing.
Under the mantra of "Vision 2020," a
program designed to elevate A&M into
the nation's elite class of universities, I
received a letter over the weekend
telling me that A&M had decided to
cancel my degree program.
They tell me not to worry about the
worth of my degree in the future. They
say that I'll be able to graduate in
December with a degree in journalism
as planned. They tell me that it's not
the kind of degree that's important, it's
only that it says "Texas A&M" across the
top that matters.
Sorry. No dice.
Their attempts to assuage my fears
have done little to restore any faith in
what I've worked so hard to achieve
over the last four years. Still, A&M
insists *that it remain dedicated to its
journalism students.
Can someone explain to me why I
feel left out in the cold?
A&M, I understand that it's too late to
save my department. I hope in the
future you'll understand that you'll
never become a top university by ostra
cizing those bold enough to choose the
educational road less traveled.
Marcus White
Class of 2003
Graduates alienated by
journalism closure
Dr. Johnson,
I'd like to be counted as one of the
many graduates who have been
instantly alienated by your seemingly
reckless recommendation to close the
journalism department with no imme
diate plans for its reincarnation.
It is absolutely incomprehensible to
think that a University with such high
aspirations for itself may no longer have
a mass communications program.
I am disappointed that this program,
its faculty, students and graduates are
not seen as something of inherent
value to Texas A&M. I suppose that the
next time an A&M cause falls out of
public favor the value of loyal graduates
in a position to influence content will
be realized.
Each and every journalism graduate
deserves an apology for this startling
display of treason. There are other
options available, and I find your chosen
course of action entirely unimpressive.
A 'Dell McCleskey
Class of 2001
journalism department
needed to be axed
I, for one, applaud Dr. Charles
Johnson's decision to ax the A&M jour
nalism program. This is a move that has
been long overdue to a department
which has become an insult to aca
demic excellence.
It has become apparent through vari
ous sources - The Battalion being a
prominent one - that Aggieland's jour
nalism program simply wasn't produc
ing graduates capable of fulfilling a
competent or competitive journalistic
role. The Battalion's editor and some
mail call contributors have spoken of
the closure as an "insult;" the only insult
I have seen with reference to this
department was, and is, having to read
painful and clumsy prose written by stu
dents who should know better and
whom are normally within just a year or
two of graduating with a degree.
Good riddance to it.
Daren Swanick