Posted on 07/20/2015 5:13:39 PM PDT by familyop
A group representing retired military officers called Monday for Donald Trump to apologize to Sen. John McCain and all veterans for his disparaging remarks about the Arizona Republican's military service during the Vietnam War.
"We should acknowledge the facts: John McCain cares deeply about our men and women in uniform, and through his actions, he has made a real difference for our troops. Mr. Trump owes Senator McCain and all veterans an apology," said Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, president and CEO of Military Officers Association of America.
At a Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul and 2016 presidential candidate said in regards to McCain, "He's not a war hero...He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
His remarks, in response to McCain saying Trump had fired up the anti-immigration "crazies" at a recent Phoenix rally, prompted a strong rebuke from Republicans and veterans group, who rallied to McCain's defense.
Trump addressed his remarks in a USA Today op-ed on Sunday, saying that the media had distorted his words and that McCain had "abandoned" veterans.
The group defended McCain's record on helping veterans.
“Senator McCain will not say it, but let me state the obvious: John McCain is a military hero, and most importantly, he has always been a champion for the all-volunteer-force and our nation’s veterans," Ryan said.
"We can disagree with some of Senator McCain’s positions at times, but we can never say he has abandoned the troops," he said.
He noted that under McCain, the Armed Services Committee had a full debate and vote on the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act — which funds the Pentagon and the military — for the first time in three years.
"John McCain has proven his sincerity and passion for the troops. Leadership is about setting an example and not words," he said, adding, "no one has visited our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq more than John McCain."
McCain last visited troops in Afghanistan over the July 4 weekend.
Other veterans groups have rallied to McCain's defense as well.
"Trump’s asinine comments about Sen. John McCain’s service are an insult to everyone who has ever worn the uniform — and to all Americans," wrote Paul Rieckhoff, CEO and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America wrote in a New York Daily News op-ed on Monday.
"He is very capable of defending himself, but a public attack on one veteran’s service is an attack on us all," he added.
And John W. Stroud, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, also bashed Trump.
“For someone who never served a day in uniform to criticize the service and sacrifice of a combat-wounded veteran is despicable," he said, according to the Washington Post.
McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[34][35] McCain fractured both arms and a leg ejecting from the aircraft,[36] and nearly drowned when he parachuted into Trúc Bạch Lake.[34] Some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.[34] McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".[35]
Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to treat his injuries, beating and interrogating him to get information; he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral.[37] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major newspapers.[38][39]
McCain spent six weeks in the hospital while receiving marginal care.[34] By then having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his gray hair turned white as snow,[34] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi[40] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week.[41] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.[42]
In mid-1968, John S. McCain Jr. was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater, and the North Vietnamese offered McCain early release[44] because they wanted to appear merciful for propaganda purposes,[45] and also to show other POWs that elite prisoners were willing to be treated preferentially.[44] McCain turned down the offer; he would only accept repatriation if every man taken in before him was released as well. Such early release was prohibited by the POW's interpretation of the military Code of Conduct: To prevent the enemy from using prisoners for propaganda, officers were to agree to be released in the order in which they were captured.[34]
In August 1968, a program of severe torture began on McCain.[46] He was subjected to rope bindings and repeated beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery.[34][46] Further injuries led to the beginning of a suicide attempt, stopped by guards.[34] Eventually, McCain made an anti-American propaganda "confession".[34] He has always felt that his statement was dishonorable, but as he later wrote, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine."[47][48] Many American POWs were tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions" and propaganda statements;[49] virtually all of them eventually yielded something to their captors.[50] McCain subsequently received two to three beatings weekly because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements.[51]
McCain refused to meet with various anti-war groups seeking peace in Hanoi, wanting to give neither them nor the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory.[52] From late 1969 onward, treatment of McCain and many of the other POWs became more tolerable,[53] while McCain continued actively to resist the camp authorities.[54] McCain and other prisoners cheered the U.S. "Christmas Bombing" campaign of December 1972, viewing it as a forceful measure to push North Vietnam to terms.[48][55]
Altogether, McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. He was released on March 14, 1973.[56] His wartime injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head.[57]
He is DONE and will lose the next Primary
AMERICA FOR AMERICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
US CITIZENS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bttt
WIKIPEDIA”??????????
How much does Walker pay you?
That is the most comprehensive account of McCain’s tenure in the military.
I’ve asked several times why over the years, does the msm regard him a hero only because he was a prisoner. Never once have I heard them, or anyone else, mention his active duty as worthy of hero status.
Now I know exactly why.
Maybe these organizations will demand McInsane apologize for thwarting any attempts to get back the rest of our Vietnam POWs?
Abortion, gay marriage, the persecution of Christians by the Gay Mafia (aided and abetted by state beaurocrats like Oregon’s very own Brad Avakian) are all areas where I am very concerned that Trump would do nothing to help us. I also have my concerns about whether Trump really believes what he says now since many of his current positions are radically different than the ones that he held just a few short years ago. This makes me think that he is more of a loose cannon than a principled conservative.
“I fail to see why so many freepers support Trump a man who has completely reversed himself on most issues in the last five years. He can speak in an un pc way but I see nothing in his history to suggest that he really believes anything that he says.”
Perhaps you are unaware of the money and generosity Trump has extended to veterans over the years, without preening about it on tv.
Thank you.
I would love to see McCain lose his senate seat. I think he has been a disgrace as a politician. I simply think that Trump disgraced himself by belittling John McCains POW status.
Thanks.
Think about the absurdity of claiming Muslim extremists provided this information about McCain to destroy him, as one responder tried to intimate.
John McCain advocated for arming terrorists in Libya and Syria. As for why the Syrian terrorists were, we know they were at least al Qaeda. There’s a real chance they were ISIS as well. This may have helped jump start their efforts. Why would his fellow travelers seek to destroy his credibility?
Honestly, people are just plain nuts.
If simply following orders is ‘heroic’, than nearly every one in the armed forces is a hero by that definition. The label ‘hero’ would be so watered down as to render it meaningless.
I don’t think so.
McCain was sure no champion of the POW/MIA families during the senate hearing of the early ninties. He did everything he could to squash any evidence that there might be men left behind in SE Asia. People familiar with those hearings won't be impresssed with McCain.
I'm not a Trump supporter; however, you've swallowed the connived and cherry-picked MSM/GOP-E false message about what Trump actually said!
IMO, as a military vet, I’m not offended by Trump’s comments about juan mclame.
This veteran doesn’t.
And I consider it blasphemy to smudge the straight-arrow prisoner-of-war record of a man who was near death when he arrived at Hoa Loa prison 1967: both arms broken, left leg broken, left shoulder broken by a civilian with a rifle butt.
He was eventually taken to the same rat-infested hospital room I had occupied two years earlier, and, like me, he had surgery on his leg. By then the Vietnamese had discovered that his father was the ranking admiral in the Pacific Fleet, and he received an offer that, as far as I know, was made to no other American prisoner: immediate release, no strings attached. He refused, thereby sentencing himself to four more years in a cell.
George "Bud" Day and Orson Swindle, fellow POWs, told PolitiFact that POWs sometimes were forced to talk when they were tortured, but they tried to tell lies to mislead their captors.
"We were all tortured and we wrote confessions under the pressure of torture," said Swindle, who was a cellmate with McCain and is active in his campaign. "John McCain never collaborated with the enemy. He, like every one of us, submitted to severe torture. John McCain did nothing dishonorable. He was heroic."
[...]
[On the original fliers slandering McCain:]
Day, a Medal of Honor winner who also is supporting McCain's campaign, said the flyer is "the most outrageous f------ lie I've ever heard."
Thanks for posting that information.
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