es. Her gun jammed and she did not fire, nor was she shot. She was hurt in an accident which could have happened on US 280 in rush hour any day of the week. The US military tried to use her to whip up support for the military invasion of Iraq, and the US media cooperated fully.

Now a book has been ghost written under her name by Rick Bragg, the disgraced unethical writer fired by the New York Times. Bragg, an unethical journalist, cannot be trusted to tell the truth about anything. Bragg, without any corroboration, claims that Ms Lynch was raped while in captivity - she has no recollection of this, medical testimony says that no evidence was found for this, and doctor who treated her deny it.

It appears that Ms. Lynch was captured by Iraqis, taken to the hospital in Al Nasiriyah and treated for her wounds. She received drugs reserved for Iraqis. She was sung to by a nurse. In and out of consciousness, she remembers little of this time.

However, it seems that the Iraqi military withdrew the next day from the city, and the hospital put Ms. Lynch in an ambulance and tried to take her to a checkpoint to return her to the American military. Strangely, illegally and dangerously, the ambulance was fired on by US forces and forced to return her to the hospital. It is a war crime to fire on an ambulance. At this point, she had been nearly killed twice by the US military.

When it was found by our military that she was in the hospital there, they arranged a fake rescue, charging into the hospital with blanks and grabbing her. This was obediently ballyhooed by the American media, which was in the business of support for the military invasion, not in business of telling the truth to the American people. The US media and the US military made headlines with the fake rescue, shoring up support for the war. It was all false.

We need to support Ms. Lynch and all victims of Bush's war against Iraq. However, we need to call to justice our media and our military - the Military/Media Complex. Both have brought shame on themselves and our nation.

And even more we need to ask, "who was Jessica Lynch's good Samaritan." Was it the US military who sent her into battle? Was it the US manufacturer of a vehicle which is unsafe at any speed, breaks down regularly, and turns over easily, as hers did? Was it the US military which supplied a worthless weapon to her? Was it the US military that fired on the ambulance when she was being returned? Was it the US military which used her in a staged fake rescue? Was it the media which exploited her to propagandize the war?

Or was it the Iraqis who assisted her, took her to the hospital, treated her, tried to return her, sang to her? Were they the "good Samaritan?"

I think we all owe a gift of gratitude to the Iraqis who saved her life, and cared for someone who they could have treated as an enemy. Good Samaritans still live.

Jack Zylman 1321 16th Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35205 205-821-0650

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