I think you're right. Too bad nobody has really been able to penetrate, especially, that trackless swamp known as the VietNam MIA/POW issue. There are enough open questions attached to that one to keep even you busy researching and documenting for the next 2 years. I understand that McCain had something to do with the fact that most of the DoD data that would have been declassified by now is in fact still classified and, of that actually released, it has been redacted to shreds.
Years ago, I read through many of the FBI files on the leftist group "Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam" (COLIFAM) that operated in the 60s and 70s. It was filled with communists and traitors -- all the usual suspects. Unfortunately, the remnants of this group were also active about the time that John Kerry and John McCain were pushing for trade normalization in Vietnam (with Kerry's cousin setting up to make some very big bucks). In trying to research the evidence data that is available on McCain, et al... it becomes difficult to distinguish the truth because there is so much propaganda thrown into the mix. Now that we see such blatant use of "think tanks" and groups like The Reform Institute being used to push their cause du-jour, I'm afraid it will be a long time before the whole truth is laid out for all to see--or sadly, it may never happen.
There is a wealth of info in this post. Here is an excerpt of just one article:
Here are few more FR posts. The latter was produced by Ed Asner--take that for what it is worth.A column carried by the Scripps Howard News Service on January 2nd, "Home-front Problems for Clinton on Vietnam," by Jack R. Payton, foreign editor of the St. Petersburg Times, is typical of the coverage given to the shameful Senate measure, which passed 62-38:
[T]he two men pushing the resolution were John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz. Both are Vietnam veterans. Kerry was wounded three times fighting the Vietnamese Communists and won a Silver Star. McCain, a fighter pilot and also a Silver Star winner, was captured and held prisoner for almost six years. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., another senator supporting the resolution, lost a leg and won a Medal of Honor in Vietnam. Nobody can accuse any of these men of being unpatriotic or soft on communism [emphasis added].
Obstructionist Senators
Nobody except those who are familiar with their careers, that is. Senators Kerry and McCain have been key obstructers of the investigations into POW/MIA matters and have been hell-bent, it seems, to sweep aside all delays to normalization of relations with Vietnam. As chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, the suave Kerry, aided by the irascible McCain, did everything possible to debunk the evidence and witnesses brought forward to show that live POWs remained in Southeast Asia after Operation Homecoming, the official return of our POWs in 1973. As Al Santoli, journalist, author, Vietnam veteran, and noted POW-MIA investigator, reported in a January 24, 1994 column in the Washington Times, "Sen. John Kerry had 120 boxes of potentially explosive National Security Agency files reclassified before Senate [POW/MIA] investigators could study them."
When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A.: Senator Covered Up Evidence of P.O.W.'s Left Behind
Village Voice ^ | February 25 - March 2, 2004 | Sydney H. Schanberg
Posted on 02/24/2004 10:37:29 AM PST by dead
Senator John Kerry, a decorated battle veteran, was courageous as a navy lieutenant in the Vietnam War. But he was not so courageous more than two decades later, when he covered up voluminous evidence that a significant number of live American prisoners—perhaps hundreds—were never acknowledged or returned after the war-ending treaty was signed in January 1973.
The Massachusetts senator, now seeking the presidency, carried out this subterfuge a little over a decade ago— shredding documents, suppressing testimony, and sanitizing the committee's final report—when he was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on P.O.W./ M.I.A. Affairs.
Over the years, an abundance of evidence had come to light that the North Vietnamese, while returning 591 U.S. prisoners of war after the treaty signing, had held back many others as future bargaining chips for the $4 billion or more in war reparations that the Nixon administration had pledged. Hanoi didn't trust Washington to fulfill its pro-mise without pressure. Similarly, Washington didn't trust Hanoi to return all the prisoners and carry out all the treaty provisions. The mistrust on both sides was merited. Hanoi held back prisoners and the U.S. provided no reconstruction funds.
The stated purpose of the special Senate committee—which convened in mid 1991 and concluded in January 1993—was to investigate the evidence about prisoners who were never returned and find out what happened to the missing men. Committee chair Kerry's larger and different goal, though never stated publicly, emerged over time: He wanted to clear a path to normalization of relations with Hanoi. In any other context, that would have been an honorable goal. But getting at the truth of the unaccounted for P.O.W.'s and M.I.A.'s (Missing In Action) was the main obstacle to normalization—and therefore in conflict with his real intent and plan of action.Award Winning Documentary Shows Allegations Of McCain's Efforts To Block POW Investigations, Reports
eworldonline ^ | January 18, 2008 | Staff
Posted on 01/19/2008 4:38:35 AM PST by america4vrThe award-winning documentary film, "Missing, Presumed Dead: The Search For America's POWs" narrated by Ed Asner backs up allegations that John McCain repeatedly thwarted attempts by U.S. Senate investigators to examine the abandonment of American POWs in Southeast Asia and North Korea.
"Missing Presumed Dead," which won two film festival "Best Documentary" awards, explores McCain's successful attempt to pass a stealth bill in the Senate which effectively keeps his POW records sealed in perpituity and provides insight into why he does not want these records ever to be made public - including the revelation of the many propaganda radio broadcasts he delivered for the North Vietnamese. The film also explains why McCain's refusal of early release from a North Vietnamese POW camp had a less than honorable motive.
The charges against McCain are revealed in the documentary by such political luminaries as former New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith; Jesse Helms' chief of staff, Dr. James Lusier; former Congressman Bob Dornan; U.S. Senate lead investigator, Tracy Usery; and author, Dr. Joseph Douglass, Jr. ("Betrayed").