We need brave women in the military, but no one's daughter should have to suffer an ordeal comparable to that experienced by Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Not in the name of other women's careers, military necessity, or anything else.
After months of secrecy and media diversion, a book authorized by the former POW reveals the blunt truth. American medical records indicate that she was "a victim of anal sexual assault. The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead."
Experts in the field have noted that female captives, unlike their male counterparts, are almost always violated sexually, and that prisoners of war are in greatest peril during the first three or four hours after capture. Lynch has no memory of that period, but the book reflects news reports at from the time of her captivity, quoting embedded MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders. MSNBC reported that Pfc. Lynch was originally held at a nearby military "hospital" building that was also a headquarters for Fedayeen soldiers.
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