Friday, May 30, 2003

Lagniappe - Hugh Dellios and E.A. Torriero, of the Chicago Tribune, present the most detailed report on the Jessica Lynch rescue that I have read to date. It paints quite a different picture of what actually took place than what we were initially fed by the media as well as the official U.S. government/military information sources. I can't say that any of the initial story was intentionally fabricated, because I can easily understand how details and perceptions in an uncertain and tense environment can get exaggerated and distorted and how the story could have morphed into a bit of mythology in the transmission of it from one source to the next. My feeling is that there was an over-eager News Media craving the mythical hero story, and willing to report it as such; but I also think that there was some unsubstantiated and careless story-telling by the soldiers and their command leadership. Is this acceptable given the circumstances of the moment? I think so. But what's not tolerable is to hold on to an obviously exaggerated and misleading representation of the reality when the dust settles and better, more clear-sighted information about the actual event becomes known.

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