Very good point (ditto Customeron's remark).

In fairness, though, the Guardian piece does exactly that, and right up front:

"Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where she was held for eight days. That much is uncontested."

No-one (least of all me) doubts these soldiers' sense of mission, personal bravery, or willingness to put their own lives on the line -- and that certainly includes those who freed her as well.

That said, the rest of the Guardian's account is worth a read as well, for the bigger issues it addresses. It all came to light when British journalists bothered to actually do a bit if journalism and interview the doctors who treated her.

FWIW: to clarify, the uniformly disparaging assessents I heard from troops about this incident while I was in B'dad in July had less to do with the PR "spin" placed on the rescue, and far more to do with the issue of how/why her vehicle strayed far off course and into harm's way in the first place.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/...,3604,956127,00.html