The first major battle of the Iraq War, the ambush 10 years ago today of an U.S. support unit, gave rise to one the most woeful moments in recent war correspondence — the Washington Post’s thoroughly inaccurate front-page report about a 19-year-old U.S. Army private named Jessica Lynch.
The Post claimed that Lynch, a waif-like supply clerk who never expected to see combat, had fought fiercely in the ambush at Nasiriyah, firing at attacking Iraqis until her ammunition ran out.
It was an electrifying report, conjuring as it did cinematic images of an improbable female Rambo.
As it turned out, it was one of those remarkably rare news stories that’s spectacularly wrong but reverberates long after its initial publication.
