US military officials described yesterday how special forces commandos launched a daring midnight raid to rescue a young American soldier missing in Iraq for 10 days. Jessica Lynch (19) was found badly wounded in a bed at the Saddam hospital in Nassiriya, in southern Iraq, and was airlifted out in a Black Hawk helicopter. It was the first prisoner rescue operation of the war.
Last night she was in a stable condition at a field hospital, preparing to make her first phone call home to her family in Palestine, West Virginia.
The bodies of at least two of her fellow soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company were found in the same hospital and were retrieved in the raid on Tuesday night.
Graphic military combat video footage shot in darkness through a night-vision lens showed Private Lynch being carried from the back of the Black Hawk helicopter by five heavily armed commandos. She was wrapped in a blanket and awake but appeared shaken by her ordeal. A stars and stripes flag was draped over her stretcher.
Eleven bodies were found at the hospital: nine were buried in shallow graves outside and two were lying in the morgue. Some of the bodies were American and some were Iraqis, US military officials said yesterday. They were still trying to identify the remains.
Tuesday’s operation was led by the Rangers and the Seals, the US military’s elite special forces units, who were backed up by US marines and attack helicopters. They operated in total darkness, relying on night-vision goggles.
”Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen,” said US Brigadier General Vince Brooks, a senior official at Central Command in Qatar. ”They are loyal to a creed that they know they will never leave a fallen comrade and never embarrass their country.”
When he heard the news of the rescue, President George Bush said simply: ”That’s great.”
General Tommy Franks, the US commander in Iraq, gave personal orders to the commando units to launch the operation after an intelligence lead, reportedly from the CIA, indicated Pte Lynch was in the hospital.
Minutes before the operation began, heavily armoured troops led by a British officer launched a decoy attack near a bridge over the river Euphrates in Nassiriya.
British Royal Marine Major Mike Tanner, who was on attachment with the US forces, led the decoy force, while on the other side of the town, operating in total darkness, a Black Hawk helicopter loaded with special forces commandos flew in and landed next to the Saddam hospital. They came under fire from Iraqi soldiers but fought their way into the hospital unhurt.
Once they were inside, a member of staff led them to Pte Lynch, who was suffering from gunshot wounds and had broken legs. It was the first time the US military knew for certain she was alive. Until then she had been listed as Dust-One: ”duty status whereabouts unknown.”
The hospital staff member also directed the troops to the bodies in the morgue and those buried outside. Major Tanner said the retrieval operation took six minutes, then he heard over the radio: ”We have the girl. Success.”
Pte Lynch went missing on Sunday March 23 with 11 colleagues from the 507th Maintenance Company, based in Fort Bliss, Texas. Their supply convoy was ambushed near Nassiriya when their commander took a wrong turning as a vast wave of US forces advanced north.
Five of the soldiers later appeared on al-Jazeera, the Arab television network, giving their names as they were interviewed. ”I just fix broke stuff,” one of the men said to the camera at the time.
Other footage broadcast by al-Jazeera also showed several dead soldiers on the floor, at least two of whom appeared to have been executed with shots to the head. The Nassiriya hospital appeared to be an Iraqi military base, and the commandos found ammunition, mortars, maps and a terrain model in the basement. ”That makes it quite clear it was being used as a military command post,” Gen Brooks said. Military officials in Qatar said they believed other American prisoners were being held at the hospital but had been moved before the raid. Some of those captured are still thought to be alive. ”We hope and expect these soldiers continue to be alive,” said Navy Captain Frank Thorp, a representative at Central Command in Qatar.
Military officials said Pte Lynch was in a stable condition in hospital and may be flown out to the US Comfort, a hospital ship in the Gulf. At the family home, her father, Greg Lynch, said: ”We’re just real proud they risked their lives to go in and save our daughter. We hope all the rest of the troops come home safely.”
Pte Lynch had served two years in the military and before she flew to the Middle East three weeks ago had never been outside the US. – Guardian Unlimited Â