Scurrilous lies about McCain debunked

Modern Conservative ^

[connell]

A few days ago, an article came to our attention claiming that there was evidence that John McCain collaborated with the communists during his captivity. The article was detailed and specific...and it appears to have been a complete fabrication and libel.

When the article came to our attention, we noted that it was terrible, be it were true or not. A terrible slur if untrue, and obviously nightmarishly terrible if it were true. We would not believe something like this a priori, and any a posteriori belief would be predicated on there being TONS of corroboration. We noted that it is not normally our style to even mention these sorts of things without that level of corroboration, but that in a situation of such importance, we hoped that by making a brief post on it, we could receive information (hopefully) debunking it or (please God no!) supporting it. In fact, we specifically requested that we be contacted with such information.

A reader, friend, and colleague just contacted us with information mercifully debunking the article. It is not a direct, point-for-point refutation, but it is from one of McCain's fellow prisoners, and by God, that is good enough.

Of the top-tier GOP candidates, McCain has not been---as is well-known to many of you---my first choice. But Wheeler's article has no place in civilized discourse. It is a slur on an American hero, and while we may take issue with his positions or even his temperament as regards his candidacy, we cannot allow slurs of American heros to go unchallenged. For reasons of temperament and issues, I urge a vote for Mitt Romney tomorrow. For reasons of patriotism and decency, I urge you all to spread the word that Dr. Wheeler's article is a pack of lies.

In our post on this, we also said that if this article were untrue, its author, Dr. Jack Wheeler, should be shunned from public discourse. Well, it's untrue.

Unless he has a damn good explanation for why he wrote this...or he is completely and abjectly apologetic, he really should never be taken seriously ever again.


Here is the article by JAMES H. WARNER, McCain's fellow P.O.W.:


Recently, I have seen several allegations that condemn Senator John McCain for his behavior as a prisoner of war. I believe that these allegations are false. I am in a better position than the Senator’s accusers to know the truth since I was a prisoner with him, having been captured a little over a month before him. I have contacted hundreds of my comrades on our e-mail list and not one of them can confirm anything that has been alleged against McCain. Let me tell you what they have told me and what I saw myself, and answer some of the charges.

First, I should say that I have great respect for Senator McCain, even though I am at odds with him on many issues and have remained distant from his campaign. I say this up front because I think that a defense mounted by one of his supporters would be less credible.

The first allegation is that the Soviets directed our interrogations and that John McCain gave up valuable intelligence during his interrogations. We doubt this. The Communists were not very skilled at keeping secrets from us and to my knowledge only one man saw someone whom he could identify as a Russian in any camp – a female “journalist’ who claimed to have been wounded as a tank commander in WWII. When the prisoner she was interviewing demanded that she show him her scars she knocked him off of his stool.

Everyone, when interrogated under torture, lied to the interrogators. Surely Soviet intelligence knew, as should any intelligent being, that there are no swimming pools on the decks of American aircraft carriers. Yet this lie was told and believed. One man was beaten for refusing to tell where the Navy keeps pigs and chickens on an aircraft carrier. Surely Soviet military intelligence knew that our ships have refrigeration and do not need to carry livestock. There are countless other such stories which cast doubt on the participation of the Soviets.

In any case, McCain was only a pilot. I cannot think of any tactical information which a Navy pilot could have which would be of any value to an enemy who lacked the capacity to attack an aircraft carrier. Nor can I think of much strategic information which any sensible person would give to a pilot who might be shot down and captured.

There are exceptions to this, of course. In any military or naval hierarchy, it is sometimes necessary, for day to day operations under unusual circumstances, for some men to be trained in various skills which may become useful should those circumstances arise. Even the existence of such skills should remain a secret as closely held as possible.

A few men in the camps had such a secret. Had it been disclosed by anyone, we would have known it instantly. It never was.

Someone has circulated a transcript of a radio broadcast made on June 2, 1969, in which McCain says that he received medical treatment and that we were being well treated. If it is authentic, it reads like a statement that he might have made when first captured. It did not take long for men to learn that they could manipulate language when tortured to make statements. Thus, at the Stockholm “War Crimes Tribunal,” the Vietnamese Communist government offered a statement from an American who confessed that Clark Kent (Superman’s alter ego) and Ben Casey (a character in a television show) ordered him to do terrible things. The Vietnamese only realized that they had been snookered when they saw Soviet journalists laughing at the joke the American had played on them. To John McCain’s critics I promise that I can get you, too, to make a statement on any subject I wish.

We have no evidence that Sen. McCain received special treatment. Since he was as thin as the rest of us, if he did, it was not in the form of decent food. It is alleged that he was taken into Hanoi and put up in a hotel with prostitutes. This is an improvement on the allegation spread during the 2000 campaign that he was given a Vietnamese woman to live with him in his cell, an allegation that led me to ask why, if he was my friend, didn’t he ask if she had a sister? Even when he was in solitary confinement, he was constantly in contact with others. Further, we always knew about movements within the camps because the Communists simply were not competent at preventing us from gaining intelligence. Men who were in the camps with him agree that they are not aware of a single night that he spent out of his cell.

A friend, whom I know to be reliable, was across the hall and one door down, from McCain’s cell when McCain was first captured. He has told me that he saw Communist officers enter the cell where the wounded John McCain lay, incapacitated. He heard them offer McCain early release and heard John answer that he would go home when we all go home. He heard the voices of the officers rising until they were shouting angrily at McCain and threatening him. This was followed by screams of agony from John McCain, and a stream of obscenities from him. He could not see what they did to him and I never heard from John McCain what it was. This does not sound like a collaborator.

In the spring of 1971 I personally witnessed evidence of John McCain’s loyalty. After the attempted rescue of POWs at the camp at Son Tay, in November of 1970, almost all Americans were moved to Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi, the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” The Communists felt so threatened by the raid that, for the first time, they concentrated us in large cells with as many as sixty men in a cell.

One of the first things we did was to institute regular religious services in our cells. On January 1, 1971, we were told that all religious activity was forbidden. This led to a long series of increasingly hostile confrontations which someone has labeled “the Church Riots.” I was in a cell next to John McCain’s cell. In early March, the four senior men in his cell were removed and for some time we lost contact with them. Then the four senior men in my cell were removed, and we lost contact with them, also. The confrontations rapidly escalated.

My recollection is that John McCain was now the senior man in his cell. In any case, I know that he was deeply involved with what followed. The senior men in our two cells kept us under tight control, but carefully staged demonstrations of our anger over the religious ban and the removal of our cell mates. On March 19, St. Joseph’s Day, I remember the men in McCain’s room singing, at the top of their lungs, first “the Battle Hymn of the Republic,” then “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

We knew that this could not go on. The night before, when men from our cell went out to wash dishes, the largest men in the cell, me included, were sent out and told the stand a few inches in front of each guard, cross our arms, and stare angrily into their eyes. The guards were nervous. After ten minutes the one I was staring at began crying and ran away. Shortly thereafter a platoon of armed guards returned with him. A Vietnamese officer nervously ordered us to return to our cell. We stood fast. Finally, after we had repeatedly disobeyed the orders of the Vietnamese officer, the senior man in our cell stepped out and quietly told us to go inside.

The Communists were thoroughly frightened. Given the history of Communism, we had no illusions as to what might come from this. They had killed 100 million people to maintain their control. What would a few American pilots mean to people like that? For much of our incarceration they had threatened to execute some of us.

John McCain was involved in planning and carrying out these confrontations in order to gain the right to worship in our cells. He knew what we were risking. At sundown, on March 19, they came, first to McCain’s cell, then to ours. A total of thirty six of us were taken, at gunpoint, out of the cells. Outside our hands were tied, then our elbows tied behind our back, and we were blindfolded. We did not know what was about to happen but I am certain that none of us thought we were being taken to a hotel to have a party with Vietnamese girls. To our relief, we were taken to a camp where we were put in solitary confinement for the next seven months.

I may not agree with John McCain on some policies. However, I will go to my grave remembering the American officer who helped organize men to defy an enemy who wish to deprive us of religious observance. Even today I cannot hear the Battle Hymn of the Republic without tears as I am still moved by the courage of the singers and the leadership of John McCain.

James H. Warner is a retired attorney. He served as a domestic policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan from 1985 until 1989.


More information on Warner here.

[Vigilanteman]

Exactly. Nobody should dispute that John McCain was a genuine war hero and even a fine congressman and senator for the first part of his career. He was a worthy sucessor to Barry Goldwater.

Something changed about the time of the Keating 5 and when he got more interested in normalizing relations with Viet Nam than in accounting for his fellow POWs. This coincided very closely with his craving for media acclaim.

[Tarpon]

# McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform attack on the 1st amendment

# McCain-Kennedy Amnest bill attack on our national soveriegnty

# McCain-Lieberman GLobal Warming Sham and attack on our American life-style and economy

# Giving terrorists and enemy combatants US legal rights.

# Voting against Bush's tax cuts and using liberal, class-warfare language to do so.

More than enough to work for me. Liberal through and through. I never had much respect for "it's his turn Dole. Nothing personal, but he ran a pathetic campaign.

[Jeff Head]

Who knows what all went on. It seems particularly in the Senate, that a long term there tends to errode far too many conservatives. I do not know if they get bought off...black mailed...if they just rub soldiers with the other side so much they forget that those people have positions diametrically opposed to the interests of this nation...or what. Hatch went a similar route IMHO.

Anyhow, I will bump you to a thread I posted today about my own difficult decision on who to support in this election for President.

[AuH2ORepublican]

“Recently, I have seen several allegations that condemn Senator John McCain for his behavior as a prisoner of war. I believe that these allegations are false.”

“Check out the difference between “I believe” and “I know.””

---

Please read the article before claiming that Jim Warner knows not of what he speaks. This is someone with very specific information regarding McCain’s years as a POW, and it is Warner’s humility that leads him to say “I believe” instead of “I know.”

If you don’t like McCain, feel free to attack his issue positions, fitness for office or even his character, but you’re making a fool of yourself if you attack his patriotism or loyalty during his years in Vietnamese POW camps.

[Swiss]

**Everyone, when interrogated under torture, lied to the interrogators.**

What is wrong with that statement. “Everyone?”, it was reported that islamic terrorists broke the captured CIA head of Beriut within days by torture back in the 1980’s. There is plenty of accounts of people talking when the Nazis tortured them. Torture does work, that is why it has been around thousands of years.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

In the end, he showed poor judgement

You are excusing and minimizing his involvement - relegating him to hero status. As a society, we have lost our shame. McCain belongs in the gutter heap of history.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Don’t really care if he collaborated with the communists many moons ago ... because it is without a doubt that he collaborates with the communist sympathizers in the democrat party currently. He will never receive a vote from me ... NEVER. And, he doesn’t seem to mind a bit.

[oldenuff2no]

I am not a McCain supporter. I am a disabled combat vet and I will stand and pay honorable tribute to each and every one of the POW’s!!! That includes McCain.
The traitor who wrote these lies should be held accountable for his lies. I’m not sure how we legally do that in our society but it should be done,

[RedMonqey]

I wish I were half the man John McCain is.

I wish I was half the man John McCain thinks he is

[RedMonqey]

I wish I were half the man John McCain is.

I wish I was half the man John McCain thinks he is/sarc.

[hinckley buzzard]

I think it's safe to say he's a hero.

I think it's safe to say he's a survivor. He did what he had to do like most anyone would. Heroism goes to another level.

[Teacher317]

It almost makes me want to vote for him. I think it's safe to say he's a hero.

So was Bob Dole... that didn't make him a good candidate for Persident.

[Pining_4_TX]

Thanks. I’ve been looking for these links. Not that I needed this info to know I would never vote for McCain, but it’s good to have.

[aruanan]

If you don’t like McCain, feel free to attack his issue positions, fitness for office or even his character, but you’re making a fool of yourself if you attack his patriotism or loyalty during his years in Vietnamese POW camps.

Yes, one is a fool to attack patriotism or loyalty of long ago years for the same reason that one is a fool to draw attention to scurrilous acts of long ago to discredit someone in the present. He may have sincerely repented of his debauchery long since. However, in McCain's case, appealing to both the former loyalty and patriotism is meaningless because, since then, he has, by his actions as a senator right up to the present, completely repudiated them.

It's sort of like that passage from Ezekiel 3:

"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die.

The righteous things he did will not be remembered....

[TBall]

Highlight an untruth to dismiss numerous truths? No doubt it will be done.

[TigersEye]

You’re welcome.

[Main Street]

When pressed to answer a question about illegal immigrants in his home state, Sen. McCain refuses to answer, while his supporters tell a woman who wants him to answer the question to shut up and she is thrown out of the town hall meeting. See the video here:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1073039/dont_ask_mccain/

McCain’s voting record:

Voted YES on establishing a Guest Worker program. (May 2006)

Voted YES on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security. (May 2006)

Voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship. (May 2006)

Voted YES on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work. (Jul 1998)

Supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. (May 2007)

Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Apr 2007)

Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

Voted NO on ending special funding for minority & women-owned business. (Oct 1997)

1st Amendment - Freedom of Speech not a shield for hate groups. (Aug 1999)

NAFTA has had unambiguously positive impact on US. (Mar 1999)

Pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-MFN, pro-Fast Track. (Jul 1998)

Voted YES on implementing CAFTA for Central America free-trade. (Jul 2005)

Rated 100% by CATO, indicating a pro-free trade voting record. (Dec 2002)

Supports ban on certain assault weapons. (Aug 1999)

Guns are a problem, but so are violent web sites & videos. (Aug 1999)

Punish criminals who abuse 2nd Amendment rights. (May 1999)

Voted YES on more penalties for gun & drug violations. (May 1999)

Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. (Mar 2006)

Voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act’s wiretap provision. (Dec 2005)

[R. Scott]

By all reports, including from a man who was held there in Hanoi with him, McCain was offered an early release...

And if he had taken the early release he would have been liable for courts martial. It would have been a violation of both the Code of Conduct and the UCMJ.
I'm starting to tire of people proclaiming him a hero for doing what he was required to do.

[R. Scott]

McCain did what he was required to do, nothing more.

Code of Conduct
1. I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.
2. I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
3. If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
4. If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.
5. When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
6. I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

[Vermont Lt]

You are completely missing my point.

I was making more of a comment on people that make statements that are not supported by an explanation. I am not relegating him to any status—simply that his involvement was NOT a serious enough matter to even get his hand slapped—not getting tossed into jail.

I am not suggesting that anyone vote for McCain. I haven’t decided to vote for him yet either (I better get on that....) I AM suggesting that people not make knee jerk statements without being able to support them with facts.