Posted on 07/01/2002 8:08:55 AM PDT by JDoutrider
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story...
Monday, July 1, 2002 9:15 AM EST
Reagan Admitted Hundreds of POW's Left Behind
A top aide to President Reagan who is today a member of Congress told NewsMax that Reagan admitted to him that hundreds of American POWs were left behind in Vietnam and were still alive as late as 1988.
The former Reagan aide recounted to NewsMax his last private meeting with the president in the Oval Office.
When the aide said he was concerned about the possibility that American GIs were left behind after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, Reagan responded: "We know that there are hundreds of POWs still alive. But these guys are leading very different lives, they have local wives, and we just don't want to shed light on them at this point."
The former aide said he was shocked by Reagan's comments, and it was clear to him that Reagan had been snookered by aides who had convinced him that for some reason the POWs didn't want to return to the U.S.
The congressman said it is widely believed that Vietnam keeps dozens, if not hundreds, of American POWs as leverage to insure that the U.S. lives up to pledges it made.
At the conclusion of the war in Vietnam, the U.S. agreed to pay billions in aid to North Vietnam to rebuild.
The money was never paid because Vietnam re-started hostilities, but the Vietnamese still have made claim to the money.
I don't know if secrets like this can be kept for so long. In your story, there are at least 3 people who "know the truth" but who don't want it told. They would not be alone. There must be hundreds of people over the past 25-30 years who "knew the truth" but remained silent. I'm not sure I believe this.
Also, we have to believe that many career soldiers would rather maintain this secret than free their fellow soldiers. Really?
How about the politicians. We just had 8 years of Clinton (who was capable of anything). But when W came in, would all hell break loose? Or would it make Clinton look bad, and W look good? Why not reveal the truth? Who would pay the price? Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush?
The truth could come out and people in power today could avoid blame. The fact that the people who "know the truth" are silent makes me think that it's not the truth.
Has he denied this yet?
We are supposed to take the word of ONE unnamed source?!?! When Reagan is not mentally fit to defend himself? Get real.
WHAT did the President Know, and WHEN did he FORGET it!!
No, J, can't say that I ever saw that pic -- where/when was it taken?
A few years ago I read a study, that tried to determine how many Vets could have been left behind. They took the US Governments figure of 2,000 MIA’s and studied the stories of the MIA. Most MIA’s are listed as such because there is no dead body. If a jet full of fuel explodes and the pilot is vaporized there is no body so he is listed as a MIA. The study concluded that realistically, the most that cannot be accounted for is less than 50 men. The majority of these were foot soldiers who’s reason for disappearance could not be determined. It is highly un-likely that this men would have any value as hostages to the Viet-Nam government.
As most lies, 30 years after the war and there is still no proof that anyone was left behind. Yet, some how it is a Government conspiracy that keeps the truth from the American people.
" However, on February 12 the Chief of the Special Office for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) resigned. Colonel Millard A. Peck, a man who had accepted the position with high motives and a sense of deep dedication, felt that he could no longer fulfill the demands of duty, honor, and integrity under the policies which he was asked to implement. ....Colonel Peck confirmed that a "cover-up" has been in progress. ... He said that there was no effort to pursue "live sightings". He stated that "any soldier left in Vietnam, even inadvertently, was, in fact, abandoned years ago".
(snip)
"On the Communist side, the regimes denied holding U.S. prisoners, contrary to many credible reports, while in fact they were holding U.S. POW/MIAs as slave laborers and as reserve bargaining chips to get diplomatic recognition and financial assistance. "On the U.S. side, our government downplayed or denied the reports of POW/MAIs and failed to take adequate steps to prove or disprove the reports, while elements in our government pursued policies intended to make diplomatic recognition and financial support of the revolutionary regimes possible.
(snip)
"I find this evidence convincing; doubters should examine the cables and classified momoranda cited in Part I which tell the full story.
(snip)
Under heading "The Second Indochina War"
Page 5-2 "U.S. sources believe that a substantial number of missing [in Laos] -- perhaps as many as 100 -- still may be alive"
Page 9-4
"Five years after the South Koreans were captured - in 1980 - the Vietnamese repatriated the two prisoners to South Korea. Still, after their release, the Vietnamese government denied that it ever held the men." (much snipped throughout)
----------------------------------------------------
Do I believe there are still Americans alive in captivity in Vietnam, probably not any longer. Do I believe that the U.S. government knowingly left people alive, in captivity in Vietnam, absolutely. Do I believe that this is the biggest shame that a nation can bring upon itself, to knowingly leave live soldiers behind, your damned right I do.
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
We recently learned that over 5000 GIs freed by the Russians from nazi prison camps were sent to the soviet gulags at the end of WW2. It was first protested, and then hushed up, so as not to "make waves". Their lives weren't important enough, in the grand scheme of things.
So this is nothing new. May all the politicians and bureaucrats who have a hand in these evil dealings, who throw away American lives in secret for "convenience", meet up in a very special part of hell that would make a NVA prison camp look like a Girl Scout picnic.
Has he denied this yet?
That would clinch it. ;-)
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
my dad is retired from us army and served in vietnam. He told me the army had concluded circa 1973 that at least 100 of our people were identified as being alive and well in POW camps in north vietnam by other americans who personally knew them and that these men simply weren't returned.
When you fight a war you expect to pay a price.
We've even heard what seems like credible reports that said some of our men captured in vietnam were held in Russia.
I read 1 report in National Review in early 1980's that came from a vietnamese immigrant to america, a 'boat person'. The immigrant said that when in Vietnam approximately 1978, north of Saigon, they were on a bus. The bus was accosted by soldiers. These soldiers were anti-communist rebels. All of them were south vietnamese except 1 who was american. He spoke vietnamese. He was telling them all his name and his hometown and to tell people in america that he was there. The immigrant didn't remember the guy's name or hometown, but she remembered what happened. The soldiers didn't rob the people on thebus, they just wanted to communicate that an american was still there.
I don't believe this story.
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