Jessica Lynch rescue a fake?

The BBC is reporting Iraqi claims that the rescue of Jessica Lynch - whose capture, torture, and return has made her an icon of the war - was staged.

"There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."

I think we should hold off on this. On the one hand, I don't put this past a media-savvy commander to do. On the other hand, I don't put it past a media-savvy Iraqi politician to plant this story in order to discredit American soldiers, either.