KUCINICH GIVES 'EM HELL



Say what you will about Dennis Kucinich. Call him the left's Gary Bauer. Slam his spiritual beliefs.

But please, give him credit for having the guts to question the reality of the Jessica Lynch rescue, and being an elected official doing so at that.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Dennis Kucinich called on the Defense Department on Tuesday to release the unedited footage of the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital and to answer questions about her injuries.

"Nothing the administration has said about Private Lynch has been verified by private news reports," Kucinich, D-Ohio, said Tuesday. "It's time to find out the truth."

(snip)

Kucinich, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations, asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a letter to release unedited footage of the rescue and answer the following questions:

• Did U.S. troops encounter any Iraqi forces in the hospital?

• Were U.S. troops fired upon during the rescue operation?

• Did U.S. troops have information suggesting that Iraqi forces had abandoned the hospital?

• Did Lynch sustain any gunshot or knife wounds?

• Did U.S. officials have information suggesting that hospital staff were trying to deliver Lynch to American forces?

• Did U.S. forces fire at ambulances?

But alas -- and are you at all surprised? -- we're not likely to find out anything new from the administration.

A Defense Department official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Tuesday that it's unlikely that the full tape of the rescue would be released.

It was unclear whether the additional questions about the rescue would be answered. Pentagon officials have played down suggestions that Lynch's rescue was staged or that details were exaggerated. They have never claimed there was fighting inside the hospital, but have said U.S. troops were fired on outside the hospital.

Really, really, what did you expect? In this age of media consolidation, we must protect NBC's profits from their upcoming made-for-tv Lynch instamovie.

UPDATE: According to these guys, Kucinich should be "hanged by the balls". That's . . . great. Obviously they get a democracy award of some kind.