"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."
Nation Institute

That is a LONG article, and I did not read the entire thing......anyone wishing to do so and give the Reader's Digest version, I'd be glad to read that.

I will say this about the portion of the article that I did read, and any other articles like it. We will NEVER know all the facts behind MANY military situations. For all we know, if there are still POW's in Vietnam and whatever information is released, that would/could put the POWs in danger. I accept that, but, that is because I have a better knowledge of the workings of the military than just reading some article on the internet.

Kokoisland, what exactly are you trying to say by posting this article? Not being snarky, I'm just trying to figure out what you are trying to convey here?

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I am with allinaugust on this one. What, exactly, are you getting at? You wrote, "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."
Do you have any idea what the revealing information is? What if it's their personal information? Information on their families? Many of these captors who could possibly today still have POWs could use that info to threaten even more harm to not only the POWs, but to their families as well. Is that what you're railing against?
Honestly, it disgusts me that we who sit here safely in the U.S. and only hear about and see POWs on televisions watched from the safety of our living rooms have the gall to attack McCain on his POW status. Not for ANYTHING would I give up my freedom to sit in the Hanoi Hilton for even a day, not knowing when or if I would see my family again. Do you think this man was thinking all those years ago, "Yeah, I'll do a few years here as a POW and then use it to my advantage when I'm nearly 80 years old and close to death when I run for president."

Allinaugust, bluecharm your responses make no sense in regard to the article. I’m dismayed (well…not quite) that a well documented article written by a respected, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist is dismissed as being too long to read. I guess sound bites, youtube or nice short blogs are the preferable way to "research" the candidates.

For the record, I did not say this I quoted it. If you quote me again please get it correct.

Obviously, he didn't like what The Truth Bill was trying to do, i.e., like give the information out to anyone without authorization from family, etc. So, OP, if you would do your research yourself instead of relying on just copying and pasting something you haven't even read, Sen. McCain introduced another bill called "The McCain Bill" which allows for the release of POW information only with the PERMISSION of the POW's family and only in the Library of Congress. So Sen. McCain IS acting on behalf of the POWs and actually cares about them. Read below and maybe you'll learn something.

"The McCain Bill"
A Brief History

On December 5, 1991, Congress enacted 50 usc §435 Note as Public Law 102-190, commonly referred to as the McCain Bill. The statute requires the Secretary of Defense to make available to the public--in a "library like setting"--all information relating to the treatment, location, and/or condition (T-L-C) of United States personnel who are unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. The facility chosen to receive this information is the Library of Congress (LoC). The Secretary of Defense is named as the "official custodian."

Prior to release of T-L-C information, the Department of Defense is required to obtain written consent from the primary-next-of-kin (PNOK) to release publicly such information. In the case of those unaccounted-for from the Vietnam era, letters were mailed to the 2,266 PNOKs; responses were received from 1,893. Of these, approximately 366 declined consent to release T-L-C information. Another 243 PNOKs were located but failed to respond. Each of these is, therefore, considered a PNOK "no" under the provisions of the statute. Following a reasonable search, 130 PNOKs could not be located. Based upon the pro-release intent of the statute, these 130 PNOKs were considered to have given their consent to release T-L-C information. A database was established reflecting PNOK responses and is updated as cases are resolved. Hard copy lists are provided to all offices of the federal government that deal with this issue. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) continues to receive PNOK consent for release of information on the unaccounted-for.

The McCain Bill has been amended twice since it was originally signed. The first amendment was in the FY95 National Defense Authorization Act. This amendment incorporated the Korean Conflict and Cold War unaccounted-for under similar provisions as the Vietnam War unaccounted-for. However, the statute established the National Archives as the "library like setting" for this material and made the Archivist of the United States the "official custodian."

The second amendment was in the FY96 National Defense Authorization Act. This amendment established a 90-day period to locate and gain permission from the PNOK to release information regarding T-L-C of those unaccounted-for from the Korean Conflict and Cold War. (Note: The 90-day rule applies only to Korea Conflict and Cold War.)

The McCain Bill does not specifically direct declassification. Its "pro-release" intent does, however, imply such action to make the information available to the public.




DPMO PRIVACY STATEMENT
Neither the Department of Defense nor this web site endorses information, products, or services contained on any external links, including, but not limited to the Adobe web site. This web site is a member of the Department of Defense computer network and does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at any location other than this site ( Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office )

Again, I ask you, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY WITH THIS POST???? Can you answer that question??

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.