Propaganda’s pretty face

They fought in the same unit in the same war. Both saw nine peers die when their company took a wrong turn outside of Nasiriya and were ambushed. Both received debilitating wounds to their bodies.

But Jessica Lynch and Shoshanna Johnson had very different homecomings.

Jessica Lynch became a household name even before she was returned to the United States. Her arrival was met with cover stories in top news magazines, flashing the well known photograph of Lynch in her Army fatigues. For those who didn’t get enough of her story, an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, a made-for-TV docudrama and a biography was released on Veteran’s Day.

But her story, as presented to the public, a well-crafted propaganda stunt by the Pentagon.

Undoubtedly Lynch’s ordeal is one that many soldiers could relate to and is a horrendous experience that will take much physical and emotion rebuilding. The images and information given to the United States at the onset of her hospitalization and “rescue” eight days later resembles that of a Hollywood dramatization used to increase patriotism.

This comes at a point in the U.S. occupation of Iraq that was seeing more and more fatalities and subsequent public outcry. A stunt like this only dishonors her efforts in Iraq and exploits her experience all in the name of making a good showing in opinion polls.

What else was the Pentagon to do but exaggerate the circumstances and lie if they must to paint America the picture of the ideal hero – an individual’s survival to justify the deaths of Americans and Iraqis?

Two versions to the story have now surfaced.

The first version had Lynch in a hospital controlled by anti-American Fedayeen, Saddam Hussein’s troops. The Pentagon reported she had stab and gun shot wounds that were received after a heroic fight to the finish against Iraqi forces. It was said she kept fighting until all her ammunition was gone.

At the hospital she was slapped, interrogated and possibly even sexually assaulted. The night of the rescue, more heroes that, as Gen. Vincent Brooks said, remained loyal of the creed to “leaving no one behind,” rescued Lynch while under enemy fire from inside and outside the hospital.

Much of this was refuted by BBC reports with the Iraqi doctors and nurses who treated Lynch, and from her own accounts. Lynch told “Primetime” that she did not fire at all after the crash because her gun was jammed. Doctors said that no gunshot or stab wounds were found on Lynch. Her injuries were sustained from the crash. Reportedly, Lynch was well-cared for at the hospital. The staff even supplied their own blood for her transfusions. On “Primetime”, Lynch said that one nurse even sang to her and she was given the only bed available that would serve her needs.

Days before Lynch was “rescued,” hospital personnel tried to smuggle Lynch to her American friends only to come under fire from U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint that assumed the ambulance was a car bomb.

The Fedayeen were reportedly long gone by the time U.S. special forces charged through the hospital, acting, as witnesses told BBC reporters, like something out of a Hollywood movie, shooting blanks and yelling “Go, Go, Go!”

The Pentagon has given no indication that the troops encountered resistance warranting this kind of aggressive action. The Pentagon used edited versions of embedded reporters’ footage of the event to feed the masses back home. But requests to see the raw footage have been denied.

A lot of time has gone into trying to set the facts straight. Lynch herself even criticized the release of false information and the use of the film footage from the rescue calling it propaganda.

Little time, if any, is being given to the story of Johnson, the 30-year-old single mother who was released April 13, 14 days after Lynch.

If asked, most people would not know who she is or be able to identify her picture. She has been shuffled off as one of the masses and not the portrait of a hero in the eyes of the Pentagon and the military. Johnson is black. Lynch is white.

Johnson was shot in both legs and is still rehabilitating, not able to stand for long without support. Her family said that she still has trouble sleeping and her mental state is not what it used to be. Just like Lynch, Johnson is being honorably discharged from the army.

But unlike Lynch, she will receive 30 percent disability benefits compared to Lynch’s 80 percent, $600 to $700 less each month, according to the Washington Post.

But if the Pentagon has it their way, no one would know about the implications a war has on races, ethnicities and social classes. Maybe it’s because it would be easy for more Americans to see that the war on terrorism is more complicated than a scripted “happy” ending.

When Lynch collects royalties for her public appearances, book deal and the disability payments, where will Johnson be?

Our hearts go out to Lynch, but lets not forget that for every Jessica Lynch, there are others like Johnson.