Lying Is the Most Fun You Can Have

The propaganda machine set up by the Bush administration channeled many lies concerning the story of Jessica Lynch. The media, in turn, played and replayed her story to excess. These numerous lies were then published in an article by the Washington Post, on which Krakauer remarks that:

Thanks largely to details first revealed in this article, as well as dramatic video of the rescue distributed to the media by the Army, Jessica Lynch dominated the news for weeks. The details of the incident provided by military public affairs officers made for an absolutely riveting story that television, radio, and print journalists found irresistible: a petite blond supply clerk from a flea-speck burg in West Virginia is ambushed in Iraq and fearlessly mows down masked Fedayeen terrorists with her M16 until she runs out of ammo, whereupon she is shot, stabbed, captured, tortured, and raped before finally being snatched from her barbaric Iraqi captors during a daring raid by American commandos. (207-208)

Krakauer admits that the article expresses there had been no verification of the details relating to Jessica Lynch's story, but this was largely ignored (208). It seems as though the administration was as good at covering their asses as they were at manipulating the public at large. This can be seen in the disclaimer in the article by the Washington Post. The article states that “Pentagon officials said they had heard “rumors” of Lynch's heroics but had no confirmation”(qtd. in Krakauer 208). They knew that truth about Jessica Lynch would eventually come through, and as long as the lies had their desired effect; they didn't care.

The real story of what happened to Jessica Lynch is much less extreme. As Krakauer emphasize...

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...t provided support for the war in Iraq and kept our troops there, the better. As illustrated by Krakauer, “Bin Laden regarded the invasion of Iraq as a tremendous gift from President Bush―a 'rare and essentially valuable' opportunity to spread jihad” and that “the American occupation was fueling Muslim rage even more than the invasion of Afghanistan had, inspiring throngs of Arab men to join the ranks for al-Qaeda” (255).

The Bush administration's treatment and spinning of the stories of these heroic soldiers into a vehicle of propaganda for their own ends was abhorrent. I feel disgusted at their using of people and lies to maintain their unjust war, and their war must be indeed have been unjust if they had to go to such extremes to support it. It is tragic that the people of the United States and other countries have been subjected to this kind of betrayal.