Getting to Know John McCain [MUST READ!]

The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 30, 2008 | Karl Rove

[2ndDivisionVet]

It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

As we ate near the Days' home in Florida recently, I heard things about Sen. McCain that were deeply moving and politically troubling. Moving because they told me things about him the American people need to know. And troubling because it is clear that Mr. McCain is one of the most private individuals to run for president in history.

When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to know more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know about character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain, that means they will want to know more about him personally than he has been willing to reveal.

Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."

[eyedigress]

I don’t agree with his stands but I understand them. I will not sit idly by and let someone like Obama take over the United States.

[Mr. Silverback]

I think you should have more than a stray thought or two before you accuse a guy of treasonous activities, OK?

[1035rep]

I’ll second that.

[philetus]

I think you should have more than a stray thought or two before you accuse a guy of treasonous activities, OK?

What if I was A POW? Would it be OK then?

Two Former POWs Say They Doubt McCain Was Physically Abused

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.
Home

Phung Van Chung, 70, who was a Communist Party official at the time, claims McCain was quickly singled out for softer treatment, adding: “I found out he was the son of an American admiral, so the top people wanted to keep him as a live witness so they could use him for negotiations.”

“Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I [McCain] did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.” Page 193-194, Faith of My Fathers by John McCain.

[1035rep]

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.”

Really?

Submitted statement from Ted Guy to the POW-MIA Committee.

The night after the Sontay raid, all POWs from "Camp Farnsworth" were transferred back to Hanoi and the camp known as "The Plantation". I was returned to the same cell -- still in solitary -- that I had occupied from April 1968 -- December 1969.

The widely reported change in treatment towards the POWs that occurred after Ho Chi Minh's death in 1969 did not occur in our camp, e.g., those of us captured in Laos and South Vietnam. Harsh treatment, near starvation diet, isolation, and beatings remained in effect until the summer of 1972. Tolerable conditions prevailed after the resumption of the bombing in North Vietnam and the mining of Hyphong Harbor. In July 1971 six others captured in Laos were transferred from "The Hilton" to the "Plantation", among them was Ernie Brace. They were amazed at our treatment and informed me that it was much better in other camps.

It appeared to me that the Vietnamese were systematically grouping their POWs. All those captured in the North were at the "Hilton" while those captured in Laos and South Vietnam were at the "Plantation." There were no departures from the "Plantation" to other camps, only incoming Loas and South Vietnam POWs.

http://www.aiipowmia.com/testimony/guytst.html

[1035rep]

The punishment finally worked, McCain said. “Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.”

Recalling how he gave up military information to his interrogators, McCain said: “I regret very much having done so. The information was of no real use to the Vietnamese, but the Code of Conduct for American Prisoners of War orders us to refrain from providing any information beyond our names, rank and serial number.”

The episode wasn’t the only instance when McCain broke under physical pressure.

Just after his release in May 1973, he detailed his experience as a P.O.W. in a lengthy account in U.S. News & World Report.

He described the day Hanoi Hilton guards beat him “from pillar to post, kicking and laughing and scratching. After a few hours of that, ropes were put on me and I sat that night bound with ropes.”

“For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different guards . . . Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5 1/2 years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope.”

McCain was taken to an interrogation room and ordered to sign a document confessing to war crimes. “I signed it,” he recalled. “It was in their language, and spoke about black crimes, and other generalities.”

“I had learned what we all learned over there,” McCain said. “Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.”

[Mr. Silverback]

Nicely done, 1035.