theamericanconservative | None of this compelling evidence in the committee’s full report
dislodged McCain from his contention that the whole POW issue was a
concoction by deluded purveyors of a “conspiracy theory.” But an honest
review of the full report, combined with the other documentary evidence,
tells the story of a frustrated and angry president, and his national
security adviser, furious at being thwarted at the peace table by a
small, much less powerful country that refused to bow to Washington’s
terms. That president seems to have swallowed hard and accepted a treaty
that left probably hundreds of American prisoners in Hanoi’s hands, to
be used as bargaining chips for reparations.
Maybe Nixon and Kissinger told themselves that they could get the
prisoners home after some time had passed. But perhaps it proved too
hard to undo a lie as big as this one. Washington said no prisoners were
left behind, and Hanoi swore it had returned all of them. How could
either side later admit it had lied? Time went by and as neither side
budged, telling the truth became even more difficult and remote. The
public would realize that Washington knew of the abandoned men all
along. The truth, after men had been languishing in foul prison cells,
could get people impeached or thrown in jail.
Which brings us to today, when the Republican candidate for president
is the contemporary politician most responsible for keeping the truth
about this matter hidden. Yet he says he’s the right man to be the
commander in chief, and his credibility in making this claim is largely
based on his image as a POW hero.
On page 468 of the 1,221-page report, McCain parsed his POW position
oddly, “We found no compelling evidence to prove that Americans are
alive in captivity today. There is some evidence—though no proof—to
suggest only the possibility that a few Americans may have been kept
behind after the end of America’s military involvement in Vietnam.”
“Evidence though no proof.” Clearly, no one could meet McCain’s
standard of proof as long as he is leading a government crusade to keep
the truth buried.
To this reporter, this sounds like a significant story and a long
overdue opportunity for the press to finally dig into the archives to
set the historical record straight—and even pose some direct questions
to the candidate.
democraticunderground | McCain screams "POW" as his major qualification for office and his
mantra for silencing every embarrasing policy question. If the FACTS
are different from what McCain says every day, why should he get a "free
ride" from all Obama supporters as well as from the media?
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