It's hard to tell as there are doubts about McCain's claims of torture. It hardly makes sense as McCain admits he voluntarily gave what military information he had in exchange for medical treatment. The NVN saw McCain as a propaganda tool and torture would be inconsistent with that.
"1999 - March 25, 1999, The Phoenix New Times: Ted Guy and Gordon "Swede" Larson, two former POWs, who were McCain's senior ranking officers (SRO's), at the time McCain says he was tortured in solitary confinement, told the New Times that while they could not guarantee that McCain was not physically harmed, they doubted it.
"Between the two of us, it's our belief, and to the best of our knowledge, that no prisoner was beaten or harmed physically in that camp [known as "The Plantation"]," Larson says. ". . . My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at The Plantation, to the best of my knowledge and Ted's knowledge, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp. It was the camp that people were released from."
In 1993, during one of his many trips back to Hanoi, McCain asked the Vietnamese not to make public the records they hold pertaining to returned U.S. POWs."
"In 1993, during one of his many trips back to Hanoi, McCain asked the Vietnamese not to make public the records they hold pertaining to returned U.S. POWs"
For certain people I suppose a line like that could suggest skullduggery. My question would be: "What good do records written by the enemy -- which could be held up to public scrutiny from here on out --do for these soldiers?"
They should be allowed to go home and live their lives in dignity.