I get forwarded a lot of "just sayin’" or "mebbe it’s true" emails about Barrack Obama and his past associations (or not) – most of which are pretty blatant lies – but do go around the Internet over and over. It seems though, that Mrs. Palin is reciting the old saw about William Ayers, who was involved with the Weathermen when Obama was eight years old and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (you’d think the FBI would pick him up if he was a terrorist). One might contrast the Ayer’s-Obama association with the Palin-Palin association, her husband being a participating member of a pro-secessionist party. But, if we were to want to study events back during the Vietnam era, it may be fair to have a look at the history and conduct of the other candidate and his main claim to fame. There is still a small but dedicated bunch of families in America that have a less-than-fond view of former POW McCain and his efforts to shut down POW investigations. --more after the jump--
From Global Research at http://www.globalresearch.ca/... .
Again, McCain in 1996 attached a crippling amendment to the Missing Service Personnel Act that pulled its enforcement teeth, its criminal penalties, and reduced "the obligations of commanders in the field to speedily search for missing men and report the incidents to the Pentagon," Schanberg said. McCain is the most pivotal member of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs—a committee that has become "part of the (Pentagon) debunking machine," the author says. Schanberg goes on to say "very few Americans are aware of McCain’s role not only in keeping the subject out of public view but in denying the existence of abandoned POWs." He explained, "The Arizona senator has actually been following the lead of every White House since Richard Nixon’s and thus of every CIA director, Pentagon chief and National Security Adviser, among many others (including Dick Cheney, who was George H.W. Bush’s defense secretary."
A more complete wrap-up from the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the book that inspired The Killing Fields includes documents and extensive references about McCain’s efforts to shut down POW investigations here: http://www.nationinstitute.org/...
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 US 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.
One might think it odd that McCain, who often cites his own POW internment as an answer to everything from his adulterous conduct to his lack of an economic rescue plan, would chase every lead to "the gates of hell", as he described his effort to capture Usama Bin Laden; would work harder to shut down inquiry than to investigate it. Could it be, as the obviously obsessed Ted Sampley believes, that he wants to make sure his confessions and recorded propaganda messages never come to public attention in America? From http://www.usvetdsp.com/...
June 1969 - "Reds Say PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral. . . Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of United States Commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner." New York Daily News, June 5, 1969 "The English-Language broadcast beamed at South Vietnam was one of a series using American prisoners. It was in response to a plea by Defense Secretary Melvin S. Laird, May 19, that North Vietnam treat prisoners according to the humanitarian standards set forth by the Geneva Convention." The Washington Post In December, McCain was moved out of "The Plantation" and into a "one man cell" in the "Hanoi Hilton.". On Christmas Eve, McCain chatted with the Cat. They talked about McCain refusing early release. --The Nightingale's Song "There was pressure to see American antiwar delegations, which seemed to increase as the time went on. But, there wasn't any torture.
While even Schanberg considers that probably no POW still survives, there is enough reason to wonder why McCain was so adamant in shutting investigations and inquiries. Was it simply because he didn’t want to muddy the political waters for someone willing to "go there" like the team of swiftboaters he’s hired now? That would interfere with his own desire to become President, as he stated in his 2002 book "Worth the Fighting For":
"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political forms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president."
Or were, and are there other reasons? He sure gets mad enough at the families of POWs, as reported by McClatchy here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Back in Washington, families of POW_MIAs said they have seen McCain's wrath repeatedly. Some families charged that McCain hadn't been aggressive enough about pursuing their lost relatives and has been reluctant to release relevant documents. McCain himself was a prisoner of war for five-and-a-half years during the Vietnam War. In 1992, McCain sparred with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing. McCain's prosecutor-like questioning of Alfond — available on YouTube — left her in tears. Four years later, at her group's Washington conference, about 25 members went to a Senate office building, hoping to meet with McCain. As they stood in the hall, McCain and an aide walked by. Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall. As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain. "McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.
I’m just sayin’...
