IRAQ: PROPAGANDA WATCH

Washington Post: Iraqis Say Lynch Raid Faced No Resistance
NASIRIYAH, Iraq, April 14 -- Accounts of the U.S. military's dramatic rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from Saddam Hospital here two weeks ago read like the stuff of a Hollywood script. For Iraqi doctors working in the hospital that night, it was exactly that -- Hollywood dazzle, with little need for real action.

"They made a big show," said Haitham Gizzy, a physician at the public hospital here who treated Lynch for her injuries. "It was just a drama," he said. "A big, dramatic show."

Gizzy and other doctors said no Iraqi soldiers or militiamen were at the hospital that night, April 1, when the U.S. Special Operations forces came in helicopters to carry out the midnight rescue. Most of the Saddam's Fedayeen fighters, and the entire Baath Party leadership, including the governor of the province, had come to the hospital earlier in the day, changed into civilian clothes and fled, the doctors said.

"They brought their civilian wear with them," said Mokhdad Abd Hassan, who was on duty that day and evening. He pointed to green army uniforms still piled on the lawn. "You can see their military suits," he said. "They all ran away, the same day."

"It was all the leadership," Gizzy said. "Even the governor and the director general of the Baath Party. . . . They left walking, barefoot, in civilian wear."

"Die 19 Jährige Kriegsgefangene Lynch die laut Ari Fleischer Heldenhaft Hollywoodmässig von Amerikanischen Spezialeinehiten gerettet wurde lag unbewacht in einem Krankenhaus und hätte dort auch einfach so abgeholt werden können. Laut Ari Fleischer wurde Sie bei der Gefangennahme angeschossen und abgestochen. Ihr Vater aber sagt Sie hätte keine Stich- und Schusswunden erlitten was sich mit der Aussage von Irakischer Seite deckt. Die Guten Amerikanischen Helden kamen nicht in einen Hinterhalt sondern hatten schlicht und einfach einen Autounfall. White House- The Propaganda you should believe"