McCain and the POW Cover-Up

John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn’t return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

Almost as striking is the manner in which the mainstream press has shied from reporting the POW story and McCain’s role in it, even as the Republican Party has made McCain’s military service the focus of his presidential campaign. Reporters who had covered the Vietnam War turned their heads and walked in other directions. McCain doesn’t talk about the missing men, and the press never asks him about them.

The sum of the secrets McCain has sought to hide is not small. There exists a telling mass of official documents, radio intercepts, witness depositions, satellite photos of rescue symbols that pilots were trained to use, electronic messages from the ground containing the individual code numbers given to airmen, a rescue mission by a special forces unit that was aborted twice by Washington—and even sworn testimony by two Defense secretaries that “men were left behind.” This imposing body of evidence suggests that a large number—the documents indicate probably hundreds—of the U.S. prisoners held by Vietnam were not returned when the peace treaty was signed in January 1973 and Hanoi released 591 men, among them Navy combat pilot John S. McCain.

Can’t begin to go through everything that’s wrong here. This charge was brought and answered 20 years ago. While it’s absolutely vital to military trust to hold Vietnam accountable for every MIA/POW, the reality is that there’s no way, even with the utmost cooperation and motivation of the holding country, to locate living Americans or MIA remains. What the author doesn’t mention, among other facts, is that the return ratio of Americans missing or captured in Southeast Asia was greater than in any other American involvement, despite the fact that SEA’s flora was more likely to hide bodies than nearly any other land theatre where US forces were deployed, the exception being Pacific islands.

But there are far worse exaggerations/untruths in the article. For instance:

“In the transcript, General Quang told the Hanoi politburo that 1,205 U.S. prisoners were being held. Quang said that many of the prisoners would be held back from Washington after the accords as bargaining chips for war reparations. General Quang’s report added: “This is a big number. Officially, until now, we published a list of only 368 prisoners of war. The rest we have not revealed. The government of the USA knows this well, but it does not know the exact number ... and can only make guesses based on its losses. That is why we are keeping the number of prisoners of war secret, in accordance with the politburo’s instructions.” The report then went on to explain in clear and specific language that a large number would be kept back to ensure reparations.”

This statement had to have been made just before the final Kissinger negotiations (Jan. 1973), not, as is implied, after the return of prisoners because some 1600-plus (1643?) Americans were returned in early ‘73. The original “list,” referred to by Quang was released by Olaf Palme, then-PM of Sweden, in 1970 and contained 334 names. By the time Teddy Kennedy obtained “the list” in 1971, it contained somewhat more names (339, I think). These were the names of ONLY those held in North Vietnam by the DRV, and even so, some of the names on the list were already dead (3? just can’t remember). POWs held by the Viet Cong and the Pathet Lao weren’t named until February ‘73 during final negotiations, yet many returned—some 1250-plus of them, who weren’t “kept back.” The author’s deliberate misuse of Gen. Quang’s statement, all by itself, is enough to discredit the other “facts” he puts forth.

The names of POWs who entered the North Vietnam prison-system were memorized and circulated by “memory banks” within the prison system. Any man killed in prison was known, and there were a few. Because the VC had no central holding area, names couldn’t be circulated as accurately. And even tho the VC were answerable to the DRV and part of the Paris negotiations, it would be difficult indeed to hold this organization accountable for anything once the country “unified.”

I know of not a single POW who believes that living troops were left behind. But that doesn’t mean that our foreign policy did or should admit that belief. And it doesn’t mean that credible, timely evidence of living, enslaved Americans in Vietnam wouldn’t be acted on.

Admiral’s son or not, JSM didn’t and doesn’t set POW policy; and as a mid-ranking officer in Vietnam, he was not in any position to conspire with the Nixon or any other administration to hide facts. His superiors in the 4th Allied POW Wing would have outed him immediately. Ted Guy was only one of a huge majority of POWs who found the 90’s Vietnam policy abhorrent and voiced concern that any POLICY never absolve the Vietnamese of the responsibility to return living POWs, to account for or return the remains of MIAs, and to be open to investigations of sightings. And, needless to say, the involvement in the process of a 4-month vet who saw all troops as war-criminals did nothing to moderate their views.

Yep, I started to reverse the order and didn't change the first name. On a Select Committee the ranking minority menber is usually referred to a co-chair because they are supposedly bipartisan. Bob Smiff used the term for himself, as does this article. McCain had turned it down.

With the Smiff, I was obviously poking fun of you truffers like you. Smiff, the

(A)Republican/Constitution/Republican/Libertarian/Republican nutball.

(B) None of the above today.

Psssst. Wanna buy some Florida real estate.

Of course everyone had floor statements, it was a Select Committee, and then everyone signed off on the final report. Except Bob Smiff tried to renege some months later when he was a

(A)Republican/Constitution/Republican/Libertarian/Republican nutball

(B) None of the above today.

Al Gore declined to be on the Committee.

Yep, dats what I said.

Bob Kerrey said "Nobody wanted to be on that committee" because it was such a loser. Robb and Brown and McCain and Kerry and Kerrey did it out of a sense of obligation. Smiff was already involved.

The Association of Families was smearing McCain daily as well as leaking confidential and classified information. McCain was pissed as I would be. It took Kerry to calm him down.

The League of Families was working closely with the dark and mysterious forces in the Government and Pentagon (Dick Cheney and Gates) and were generally satisfied with the investigations. Alford and that bunch would not be satisfied with anything.

Helms was a member in equal standing with McCain. If there was conclusive proof that even one serviceman was still in captivity he would have stood up and said so. He did not.

If you believe this garbage, you are an idiot.

You are more than welcome to check my credentials as much as you want. If you need documentations, please ask. I will be returning to my home in Thailand in July after three years in China. I did work at the Stony Beach office in Bangkok and was charged with setting up the office at JUSMAGTHAI when we moved out of the Embassy complex. I worked directly with information we were receiving every day from sources throughout Asia. I worked a project along with a retired CMSGT to interview every refugee coming out of Vietnam on their way to the US.

Since I retired in 1994 and the office was still in existence, what makes you say the issue was “settled?” This statement tells me all I need to know about you and your conspiracy crap. I met JTFFA guys when I was living in Cambodia in 1996 when they were working some cases there. Got caught up on what was going on. The issue was still not closed as you claim.

I see that you are a true believer because the first thing you did was attack my credibility. If I do not hold the same views that you and the other true believers do, then I automatically become part of the conspiracy. I interviewed hundreds if not thousands of refugees, Thais with contacts in Laos and native Laotians inside laos. Maybe, just maybe, I might be right. I readily admit that POWs could have been left behind and at the time I was involved, still alive. I did not see any evidence of it. I did not read about any credible evidence and I did not see any blatant coverups. I worked five years in DIA in DC before being assigned to Bangkok and, although I found it to be rather incompetent, I did not see any “Resident Evil” in DIA as you seem to think exists.

The millions of dollars that was offered for a live POW was a huge farce and caused so many problems along the Mekong River area that even you would be able to see it if you were doing what my colleagues and I were assigned to do.

To the typical SE Asian’s mind, if a live POW was worth a million or more dollars then how much would a piece of a dead one be worth. There was a huge industry set up to deal in bones and remains of alleged POWs and MIAs. Every day we go some poor farmer from the Northeast coming in with remains wanting money. They had paid money to their Lao relatives who had been told money was to be had if they took the remains to the US Embassy. We got bones from chickens, monkeys and all kinds of animals. Tell me how you would feel. We also got thousands of dog tags which were totally bogus. Scam after scam after scam based on the mistaken idea that there was big bucks to be had. Every scrap of information we got had to be reported in detail back to DC. Every single incident logged and reported. And here you are questioning my integrity. How can I respect your nonsense after putting up with this crap for two years and shedding any amount of tears over the issue?

Imagine yourself a newly minted Major being assigned to POW/MIA office after working five years at DIA, serving in the intel community for over twenty years, starting out as an enlisted linguist and then becoming an officer in the same field. Would you cover up information that shows that there were POWs left behind? Don’t you think that we in the military working the issue would be totally dedicated to finding every last POW if they existed? You and your ilk of true believers insult every military person involved with the process by your allegations and your conspiracy theories. Have you been in the field looking and interviewing the people who claim to have live-sightings? I did not see your name anywhere involved officially in this issue. Hendon lived and worked in DC. He did not work in the field. You did not work in the field. How many interviews have you done relating to the issues?

I went to your website as well and dismissed it and you as nutjobs. I spent five years as a Hebrew linguist in the Middle East. Want to question that bit of resume as well? Have you ever been to Israel or the Middle East or are you one of those couch cowboys who read one side of the issue and make up your mind from the “evidence” that meets your preconceived notions.

I will eventually get the book you refer to. Have you read Kiss The Boys Goodbye? How about Scott Barnes BOHICA. There are lots of books out there that support your theory. The ones I have are pure garbage. Kiss The Boys Goodbye, for example, accused us Stony Beach guys of selling drugs to support the ongoing wars in SE Asia.

As I said before, there are a lot of true believers but that does not necessarily make what they believe true. Walk a mile in my shoes before you try to palm your theories off on me. Been there, done that.

Again, feel free to question my integrity all you want. A Zionist conspiracy you say?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.