POW Rescued
Nineteen-year-old Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued from the Saddam Hospital compound in Nasiriya, Iraq, late Tuesday night. She and 14 other members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company were seized on March 23, when their convoy took a wrong turn and were ambushed by an Iraqi force.
Five members of the team are classified as prisoners, two confirmed dead, and eight (including Private Lynch) were classified as missing in action. During the raid, the American forces found 11 bodies, some of whom officials say might be U.S. servicemen.

Critics Denounced as Undermining Iraqi War Effort
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rejected criticism last Tuesday of the war against Iraq, calling such complaints misinformed and harmful to the troops.
Myers attacked the partly anonymous critics, saying the criticisms are “absolutely wrong, they bear no resemblance to the truth, and it’s just harmful to our troops that are out there fighting very bravely, very courageously.”
One critic is retired General Barry McCaffrey, who led a mechanized infantry division during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
He said of Rumsfeld that he resented “theimplication that my voice not have a place at the table and that it shouldn’t be listened to with some deference based on my experience.”
Rumsfeld and Myers, however, denounce the views of many such critics as “snapshots through a soda straw..”

Regret Over Civilian Deaths
American military chiefs expressed regret for this week’s killing of seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint near Najaf. The civilians were killed when their van failed to stop after orders and warning shots by American guards. Two other passengers were wounded and four were unharmed.
General Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was among those who extended his sympathies. “Loss of any innocent life is truly tragic,” he said. “Our policy of doing all we can to spare civilian lives stands in sharp contract to the Iraqi regime’s. … The climate established by the Iraqi regime contributed to this incident.”
General Vince Brooks, deputy director of operations at U.S. Central Command, promised a thorough investigation but nevertheless defended the soldiers’ “inherent right of self-defense.”

Najaf Captured; Troops Welcomed
Hundreds of American troops marched into the southern city of Najaf Wed. and were greeted by cheering residents. The infantry, backed by attack helicopters and bombers, have destroyed several arms caches and occupied a military training facility to serve as their headquarters.
The perimeter of Najaf, near the Euphrates River, was seized Tuesday. Americans do not yet have control over the whole city, and paramilitary forces have allegedly taken 20 civilian hostages in another area of the town. The occupation of this city is strategically important as U.S. forces surround Karbala and march on Baghdad.