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In March 2003, Iraqi soldiers captured Pfc. Jessica Lynch, and one week later, American soldiers rescued her in a dramatic, filmed operation. From the moment of her capture, both the American government and the media used Lynch's story as a template for narratives that went far beyond the life of an American soldier to engage questions about war, race, gender, and nation. Journalists debated such issues as women in the military and Lynch as a feminist icon and even revisited the Great Society programs of the 1960s to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of government intervention in Appalachia, Lynch's region of origin. The spinning and counter-spinning of Lynch's story moved the traditional captivity narrative into a new form of imperial myth making, obliterating hierarchies of race, gender, and class at home, while setting Lynch in a foreign land where she was threatened by male, Arabic soldiers. This narrative sought to contain political opposition to the war, resolve the systemic blocking of opportunity in Appalachia, and bring Iraq fully into the orbit of American Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]