Here's a bit of good news. I think we can all agree on that.

                ASSOCIATED PRESS

                WASHINGTON (AP) -

                American troops on Tuesday rescued Army Pfc. Jessica
                Lynch, who had been held as a prisoner of war in Iraq
                since she and other members of her unit were ambushed
                March 23, the Defense Department announced.

                Lynch, 19, of Palestine, W.Va., had been missing with 11
                other U.S. soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company.
                The unit was ambushed near Nasiriyah after making a
                wrong turn during early fighting in the invasion of Iraq. Five
                other members of her unit were later shown on Iraqi
                television answering questions from their Iraqi captors.

                U.S. troops rescued Lynch near where her unit was
                ambushed, said Jean Offutt, a spokeswoman for Fort
                Bliss, Texas. The 507th Maintenance is based at Fort
                Bliss.

                Lynch had been listed as missing in action but was
                identified by the Pentagon Tuesday as a POW. She was
                not among the seven U.S. soldiers - including the five
                from the 507th shown on television - formally listed as
                prisoners of war.

                Offutt said she did not know whether Lynch had been
                wounded or when she might return to the United States.

                The rescued soldier's hometown erupted in celebration at
                the news.

                "They said it was going to be the biggest party this road
                had ever seen," Lynch's cousin Sherri McFee said as fire
                and police sirens blared in the background.

                "Everybody was really worried ... but we all remained
                hopeful and knew she would be home," McFee said.

                Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at Central Command
                headquarters in Qatar announced that a U.S. POW had
                been rescued but refused to provide any further details.

                In a brief statement, Brooks said: "Coalition forces have
                conducted a successful rescue mission of a U.S. Army
                prisoner of war held captive in Iraq. The soldier has been
                returned to a coalition-controlled area."

                Central Command officials in Qatar, speaking on
                condition of anonymity, said Lynch was rescued from a
                hospital in Iraq.

                Fifteen other Americans are formally listed as missing.
                The other POWs include two Army Apache helicopter
                pilots captured March 24 after their helicopter went down.

                The 507th Maintenance was attacked during some of the
                first fighting in Nasiriyah, a Euphrates River-crossing city
                where sporadic battles have raged since U.S. troops first
                reached it. Troops and military officials have said much of
                the fighting there has involved members of the Fedayeen
                Saddam and other Iraqi paramilitaries who have dressed
                as civilians and ambushed Americans.

                Lynch, an aspiring teacher, joined the Army to get an
                education and take advantage of a rare opportunity in a
                farming community with an unemployment rate of 15
                percent - one of the highest in West Virginia.

                She was also following in the footsteps of her older
                brother Gregory, a National Guard member based in Fort
                Bragg, N.C. Jessica enlisted through the Army's
                delayed-entry program before graduating from Wirt
                County High School in Elizabeth.

                "You would not believe the joys, cries, bawling, hugging,
                screaming, carrying on," said Lynch's cousin, Pam
                Nicolais, when asked Tuesday about the rescue. "You just
                have to be here."

                Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called the rescue a
                miracle.

                "God watched over Jessica and her family," Rockefeller
                said through a spokesman in Washington. "All of West
                Virginia is rejoicing. This is an amazing tribute to the skill
                and courage of our military."

                Central Command spokesman Jim Wilkinson said: "We
                also have others, other POWs we are just as worried
                about. This is good news today but we need a lot more
                good news."

                "America doesn't leave its heroes behind," Wilkinson
                added. "Never has. Never will."

                troll