You’d think a Hollywood screenwriter scripted the “Saving Private Jessica Lynch” spectacle the Pentagon produced last year. But that five-sided propaganda factory, with its battalions of well-trained deceivers, came up with this particular fairy tale – about how a Special Ops unit snatched a beautiful blond American heroine from Iraqi fiends – all on its own.

Why? In late March of ’03, the invasion wasn’t going according to plan. Guerrillas were popping out of the desert like sand flies, gumming up the U.S. attack, and Gen. Tommy Franks — having gone in far too light and without the right force mix — was in trouble. So the spinners came up with a scheme to distract an easily gulled American press corps and divert public attention.