Posted on 05/30/2007 5:12:16 AM PDT by kellynla
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, An Enormous Crime brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since.
Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act. Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters “USA” and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters “USA” appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw.
Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots and along trails in both Laos and Vietnam.
An Enormous Crime is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern history: ugly, harrowing, and true.
From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with An Enormous Crime we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America’s leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders.
— Publishers Weekly, week of April 9, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A sprawling indictment of eight U.S. administrations. Hendon and Stewart…appear nonpartisan in their disdain for governmental inaction and double-dealing. A convincing, urgent argument.
— Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2007
I’ve always suspected this.
And we were impressed with Henry Kissinger exactly why?
BUMP
I heard this during the night on the radio. That bottom item is the “Walking K” and is known to be a signal that it is indeed a pilot waiting to be rescued.
I demand a complete investigation!
I don't care if we find that Ronald Reagan himself is partly to blame. I want my government held accountable. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!
According to the book and the evidence, there are between 650 and 850 POWs still alive and being held, or at least there were.
John McCain and John Kerry refused to accept any of the evidence presented. In fact, McCain claims that the ultra
secret code “Walking K” in the rice paddy was done by a child
in Laos.
Right, John! How much did you tell the North Vietnamese while you were getting preferential treatment?
I listen to coasttocoast on my way to work on this subject. You the author?
ping
You the author?
no
This is another reason to detest McCain and Kerry.
Ask John Kerry and John McCain where those prisoners are.
They headed a Congressional task force to find them. They ended up destroying all the records of sightings ,but they came home with a trade deal for Kerry’s cousin.
What is frightening is that both these men have run for President after the way they stabbed POW,and MIA’s in the back. John McCain is now giving away our country to Mexicans while holding hands with the murderer of Mary Jo Kopechne. If the Amnesty bill is passed this killer and this slime will stand next to the President while he signs the give away bill and they will all 3 be grinning like skunks eating crap.
I have disliked (to say the least) McCain ever since this sell out. IIRC many documents that had been used to research missing POW/MIA's were destroyed as part of their agreement, so we could get a fresh start with Vietnam (a Communist dictatorship), or some such ridiculous reason.
Preferential treatment? They tried to release McCain and he wouldn't go. He told them he would not leave until everyone imprisoned before him was released. I don't much care for McCain, but it took enormous courage to voluntarily stay in prison and be tortured more.
Funny thing, even while his committee under John Kerry as chairman, McCain refused to accept the evidence of other POWs left behind. There are witnesses who saw them shredding the evidence.
What they didn't count on was an investigator coming forward now with mounds of evidence.
Not having read further, so not knowing what was written, I can relate my own experiences in the late eighties, on this matter.
Back then I worked at the Pentagon with a close friend, a senior Marine officer, who was trying to help the families of the POW’s. From him, I heard the stories, at the time, hugely politically incorrect, about 312 POW’s known to be left behind and alive and in a camp. He understood the lives of these had been negotiated away at the bargaining table by Kissinger, but was trying to break through the barriers to get some sunlight on the issue.
But it was not to be. Every step of the way, he was thwarted by an unseen hand at times and by one in a key position to smother any such rebellion, Richard Armitage. Sound familiar?? As I recall either he or another friend also thought the same was operating out of the embassy in Thailand earlier and was blocking investigations back then.
I guess sources available now could confirm or deny the accuracy of these stories.
My friend who is a faithful and practicing Christian and fine family man was finally just shoved aside, left the Pentagon, and that was that.
I just renewed my faded POW flag. The black bleaches out fairly quickly in the weather. God bless and help those poor souls.
8mm
The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database
This database contains 145,954 records.
Last Update: April 2007
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pow/powhome.html
Biographies on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action
[POW/MIA]
from the Vietnam Conflict
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios.htm
ping
Former U.S. Rep. Billy Hendon,(R-NC), served two terms on the U.S. House POW/MIA Task Force (1981-1982, 1985-1986); as Consultant on POW/MIA Affairs with an office in the Pentagon (1983); and as a full time intelligence investigator assigned to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1991-1992). He has traveled to South and Southeast Asia 33 times on behalf of America’s POWs and MIAs. Hendon is considered the nation's foremost authority on intelligence relating to American POWs held after Operation Homecoming and an expert on the Vietnamese and Laotian prison systems. He lives in Washington, DC.
Elizabeth Stewart's father, Col. Peter J. Stewart, (USAF), is missing in action in North Vietnam. His name appears on Panel 6E, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Ms. Stewart has spent over two decades researching intelligence relating to American POWs and MIAs. Her efforts have taken her from Capitol Hill to Cambodia, to the South China Sea, to the Presidential Palace in Hanoi and to the most remote regions of northern Vietnam. An attorney, she lives in central Florida.
It appears that our traitorous government has already forgotten them. Where would one start now?
Carolyn
“Where would one start now?”
By you & everyone contacting your congressmen/women, senators & POTUS and DEMANDING a full accounting.
The Vietnamese Commies are enjoying trade relations with us so there is your carrot.
Take away the carrot and see how fast the Commies come up with an accounting.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Perhaps if they had spelled out “OIL” instead of “USA” we would have paid attention.
While I am no McCain fan, I dont think his stay in Viet Nam was preferential by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps he got the best view in the Hilton, but I wouldnt call that “preferential.”
One of the finest men I have ever known is Harley Hall. He was the last Naval Aviator shot down in Viet Nam, on 1-27-1973, the day the Paris Peace Accords were signed. His back seater was released during Operation Homecomming but not Harley. He was left behind. Read the very sad truth:
http://www.tailhook.org/HallSu99.htm
Please, lets not take our eyes off the issue.
The issue is not about McCain or Kerry; it is about the approximately 700 POW’s who are unaccounted for as I have posted here; there is photographic evidence as late as 1988 that there is at least one who is still ALIVE!
We need to contact our congressmen/women, senators & POTUS and DEMAND a full accounting of ALL POW’s & MIA’s!
You need to read more about the record of Senator John McCain in pursuing the interests of the men left behind. He has been a real self-serving snake. There is hardly any plausible explanation for his actions and attitudes toward MIA/POWs, other than he is genuinely emotionally unstable or a Manchurian candidate with skeletons in his past POW closet to hide.
I agree totally. However, in reality -- as long as Dick Cheney is the Vice President, and John Kerry and John McCain are in office, this will continue to be swept under the rugs in Washington, D.C.
This scandal tracks back to the Nixon White House, when Watergate forced him to abandon the rescue and recovery of the POWs. It continued under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and the senior George Bush, with Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense. If it is aired out now, what would it do to the stability of our own government?
please read my post 29
Yep and mccain and kerry think they are presidential material. Pfttt
I am dead serious when I say we should go after all of them, toss them all out of office and kick them to the curb. Start over with a clean slate of people who will at least represent the American people, not foreigners.
the Army had about 1700 men who deserted “in country”....it is believed that some made their way home thru Europe....it was also believed that many stayed, married Viet women and disappeared into the criminal underworld in Saigon....(think:Christopher Walken/Deer Hunter)...it is said that those elements were liquidated by the Communists after the fall of South V.N....
I don’t pretend to know all the answers but we sure as hell can start with the present representatives and maybe those running for office in 2008. Maybe Fred Thompson? I don’t know...Hey, Fred, are you paying attention to this?
But we sure as hell owe it to the families of those who are missing and/or unaccounted for!
Either that or we can just throw away the POW/MIA flags and the “Never Forget” bumper stickers, ‘cause they don’t mean squat!!!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
I agree with you. We cannot let this go unnoticed. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops. Since Republicans are responsible for much of this, you would think the MSM would be all over it.
Incidentally, President Bush was personally given a copy of this book on Sunday by a group of veterans during a Memorial Day ceremony. GWB promised them that he would read the book!
Kerry and McCain were instrumental in the POW coverup.
“GWB promised them that he would read the book!”
well “reading” about the war is as close as he ever got.
what we need is some ACTION!
Viet Nam has normal trade relations with the United States thanks to GWB and congress...how ‘bout it?
Can we get an accounting of these men or what, President Bush!!!
“Kerry and McCain were instrumental in the POW coverup.”
whatever...I am trying to get public awareness of the issue of POW’s and MIA’s who have never been accounted for and an ACCOUNTING NOW!
I remember these hearings well. The title of this book perfectly describes what took place and continues to take place.
That is indeed a troubling read.
“you would think the MSM would be all over it.”
don’t forget that the “MSM” is full of draft dodgers and anti-war slime who couldn’t care less about POW’s...
Remember the Viet Nam war was lost in America not Viet Nam.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
True, but these days they would do almost anything to embarrass the GOP leadership. I'm surprised this hasn't been done yet. Of course this is a new book, and the story just broke on "Coast to Coast" this weekend. We'll see.
Your point being? Contact our elected representatives?
Senator John McCain? Senator Kerry?
Should the public not be kept aware of the great damage and obstruction men like these have done to campaigns just like the one you are suggesting? Good Luck with your suggestion to rise above it all. Nothing much will happen until we get a better set of elected reps.
hey look, I didn’t post this thread to get in a pissing contest with you or anyone else, thank you...I posted it so folks would know that there is a very good possibility that there are STILL POW’S ALIVE in southeast! And raise awareness in hopes that people will contact their representatives and DEMAND an accounting!
gezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....if you have a problem with what I have done here, then go elsewhere!
And as a SEA veteran and former intel type, I am well aware that POW’s/MIA have suffered and may continue to do so.
I feel like people need to be aware which elected reps in our govt have failed and betrayed these men, obstructed efforts like you are trying to spearhead, and virtually successfully buried these men alive.
So please no more spamming or hectoring.
Buh Bye.
good bye
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