"AN ENORMOUS CRIME" THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF AMERICAN POWS ABANDONED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

enormouscrime.com ^

[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.

[unkus]

I hope I am behind a politician on Judgement Day so the Lord will be so tired he will just say “Come on in”. Most of these politician bastards are going to answer for a lot.

[U S Army EOD]

I am not going to very popular here on FreeRepublic when I say this. I am sure that there may have been some isolated incidents of some POW’s left behind but I don’t think there were that many. I think most of the sightings after the war were American deserters.

I was in Saigon when the cease fire was signed and immediately hundreds of deserters were lined up in the streets of Saigon trying to get on American installations. I saw the front of the line and could not see the back of the line.

The vast majority of Americans left there, were these people. When the communists took over two years later, they got what they deserved.

[kellynla]

“The vast majority of Americans left there, were these people?”

I have neither the time or the inclination to educate you on the hundreds of unaccounted for POW’s & MIA’s in Southeast Asia. The 700 I’m talking about were P O W’s...not deserters! Many of whom were fliers who crashed in North Viet Nam...not Saigon. I’ll just direct your attention to the picture posted on post 2 which was taken in 1988 in Laos. And suggest you read the book reference in this thread.

Finally, as I have repeatedly said, Viet Nam should have been required to account for ALL POW’s before being given normal trade relations with the USA!

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[DuncanWaring]

There were 600 guys who disappeared in Laos and Cambodia; not a single one of them was repatriated. One former POW (Col. Ted Guy?) stated that from the time he was taken into captivity until he finally arrived in Hanoi, it was obvious he was "expected" at every stop along the way, and that there is no way every single one of those 600 could have disappeared without a trace.

Here is a list of 324 who were shot down, for whom there are reasonable indications that they reached the ground alive and in reasonably good condition.

What happened to them?

[LucyJo]

POW Prayer Bump. Amen. God bless them, and their families.

I cannot express the anguish I feel for these true heroes, and their families, and the anger I feel toward those in our gov’t who are responsible for not doing all in their power to fight for them as they fought for us.

I’m hearing a lot about respect, and compassion, these days. How about showing a little respect and compassion for these American heroes, and their families?!

[U S Army EOD]

I am sure we are both right. All I can tell you is what I personally saw.

[U S Army EOD]

I suspect most of them were killed shortly after they were captured, especially in Laos.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

MIAs.

[LucyJo]

I hope you are right about those who were left behind.

[U S Army EOD]

See also post 35. I had not read this before I made my post. I am sure some men were captured but killed shortly afterwards if they were in the hands of local units.

Read “Five Years to Freedom” by James Rowe sometime.

[LucyJo]

Thank you.

[brazzaville]

Good afternoon.
“I have disliked (to say the least) McCain ever since this sell out.”

I’ve never much cared for McCain, but his sellout of the POW/MIA’s and their families with john kerry was the last straw for me.

In my opinion, neither will see the inside of the White House except as guests.

Michael Frazier

[STONEWALLS]

Yes, I agree....men who I knew that did cross-border recon held little hope if they were captured....the Pathet Lao were particularly ruthless....it was felt that a man had a better chance if he were in the hands of a regular NVA unit....the political officers attatched to those formations saw value in American prisoners.

[DJ MacWoW]

This was posted on another thread by calcowgirl

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0408,schanberg,51276,1.html

When John Kerry’s Courage Went M.I.A.
Senator covered up evidence of P.O.W.’s left behind
February 24th, 2004

Senator John Kerry, a decorated battle veteran, was courageous as a navy lieutenant in the Vietnam War. But he was not so courageous more than two decades later, when he covered up voluminous evidence that a significant number of live American prisoners—perhaps hundreds—were never acknowledged or returned after the war-ending treaty was signed in January 1973.

The Massachusetts senator, now seeking the presidency, carried out this subterfuge a little over a decade ago— shredding documents, suppressing testimony, and sanitizing the committee’s final report—when he was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on P.O.W./ M.I.A. Affairs.

Over the years, an abundance of evidence had come to light that the North Vietnamese, while returning 591 U.S. prisoners of war after the treaty signing, had held back many others as future bargaining chips for the $4 billion or more in war reparations that the Nixon administration had pledged. Hanoi didn’t trust Washington to fulfill its pro-mise without pressure. Similarly, Washington didn’t trust Hanoi to return all the prisoners and carry out all the treaty provisions. The mistrust on both sides was merited. Hanoi held back prisoners and the U.S. provided no reconstruction funds.

[DJ MacWoW]

The Authentication Of the Quang 1205 Document

What we have here folks is a General of the Vietnamese Army made a report to the Vietnamese Central Committee, a closed session of that Committe and he was reporting on, in part, the fact that in September, 1972 the Vietnamese were holding 1,205 Americans as Prisoner of War. As we know only 591 came home.

[joessoft]

http://www.eaglesnest-2.net

Look under forums:

John McCain
McCain has said again and again that he has seen no "credible" evidence that more than a tiny handful of men might have been alive in captivity after the official prison return in 1973, yet all deny any were left behind. Col. Guy was branded a loony for braking rank after he did his homework and discovered we had in fact "abandoned" live PoW's in SEA.

Hanoi John Kerry
Kerry now slides past all the radio messages, satellite photos, live sightings, and boxes of intelligence documents—all the evidence. In his comments for this piece, this candidate for the presidency said: "No nation has gone to the lengths that we did to account for their dead. None—ever in history." Of the so-called "possibility" of a "small number" of men left behind, the committee report went on to say that if this did happen, the men were not "knowingly abandoned," just "shunted aside." How do you put that on a gravestone?

PoW/MIA All Era's
Were POWs Abandoned?
by: SRO Ted Guy

Until 1990, I believed that all the POWs were released during Operation Homecoming in 1973. I maintained this belief until 1990. In fact, I gave many, many talks around the country about the POW issue. My closing remarks were always the same: "All the POWs are home that are coming home and the rest (MIAs) are dead".

You see, I firmly believed that my government would not lie to me. In early 1990, after talking to many family members of POWs and MIAs, I began having doubts. What followed was a thorough re-examination of the whole issue. The more I listened instead of talking, the more I read, then the more the odds swung towards the fact that YES, there were POWs left behind (abandoned) and YES, there was evidence that some might still be alive. Since that time I have spoken repeatedly of the need to learn the truth and my position has been published and/or quoted by the media.

Hello fellow Internet surfer and welcome to The Hanoi Hilton. I'm very glad that you made it this far . . . and I hope that you'll stick around long enough to get to know just a little bit more about the prison camps and some POW's confined within. These days, acquaintances that begin in cyberspace are often the most real, vivid, and long-lasting - and maybe that will be true of us.

I am a retired Air Force fighter jock, with over two hundred and fifty combat missions, both in Korea and Vietnam. On March 20, 1968, while on a mission in Southern Laos, I was zapped by the North Vietnamese Communists and became their guest in the various resorts in Laos and in and around Hanoi, North Vietnam. Apparently, I complained too much about the service, or lack thereof, and spent almost four of the next five years in solitary confinement. During this time, I had the honor of being the commander (Senior Ranking Officer) of those captured in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In our group we had State Department employees, members of all service branches, and even two West German nurses, one of which was a lovely young lady named Monika. You must admit, this was a very unusual and diverse group, but let me say it was the finest command I ever had in my 26 years of service. We were known as "Hawk's Heros."

After your tour here visit my homepage at: Col. Ted W. Guy, 4-18-29 to 4-23-99 - Never Forgotten

http://www.soft-vision.com/we-remember
http://www.soft-vision.com/hanoi

McCain Brainwashed?
http://eagles.soft-vision.com/node/161

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

'Was John McCain Brainwashed By His North Vietnamese Captors To Destroy This Nation?' By Dave Gibson on May 22, 07

It is amazing that a combat veteran who has claimed to be a conservative Senator is now leading the fight to reward with amnesty, the millions of Mexican and Central American criminals who have invaded our nation. While the betrayal of the American people on behalf of foreign invaders by Sen. John McCain may be puzzling to most, the former POW has a history betraying his fellow citizens in favor of a foreign enemy. In light of the looming vote to turn this country into a Third World nation, the question of McCain’s true motives should be examined.

On October 26, 1967, U.S. Navy Lt. John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam by a Soviet-made surface-to-air missile. As a result of ejecting from his plane, McCain suffered two broken arms and a broken leg. He was immediately captured by an angry mob and turned over to NVA soldiers, who broke his shoulder with a rifle butt and stabbed his foot with a bayonet. He was then taken to the infamous ‘ Hanoi Hilton.’

Once in a cell, he was beaten and interrogated daily. Still being refused medical treatment and in severe pain, McCain agreed to talk in exchange for medical treatment. He was then taken to a nearby hospital. McCain described the events in his 1999 book Faith of My Fathers, in which he said: “Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate any medical treatment if I did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.”

Kill Political Speech

Maximizing prosperity requires sound government policies. When the government strays from these policies, citizens must be free to exercise their constitutional rights to petition and criticize those policies and the politicians responsible for them.

Nowhere is Senator McCain's record on pro-growth issues more appalling than on the important issue of protecting political speech. Senator McCain was the driving force behind the ultimate passage of the McCain-Feingold Act, a bill that imposed grossly unconstitutional restrictions on citizen participation in the political process. (Roll Call #54, 03/20/02)

Over the ten-plus years since Senator McCain first introduced campaign finance reform legislation, he has pursued his trampling of the First Amendment with a vengeance. On a April 28, 2006 taping of The Don Imus Show, McCain cavalierly admitted as much: "He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgment of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform . . . I know that money corrupts . . . I would rather have a clean government than one where "quote" First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government." (The Don Imus Show, 04/28/06)

In defense of the provision banning issue advocacy ads that mention a candidate 60 days before an election, McCain said, "These ads are almost always negative attack ads, and do little to further beneficial debate and healthy political dialogue." In his brief to the Supreme Court, Senator McCain continued along the same lines: "These ads are direct, blatant attacks on the candidates. We don't think that's right." (Reason, December 2005)

Thus, Senator McCain and his partner in crime, Senator Russ Feingold, have anointed themselves the arbiters of appropriate political speech, worthy of deciphering which speech is "right" and which should be permitted in American political debate. To this day, Senator McCain remains responsible for the greatest modern infringement of political free speech. While bestowing significant advantages upon incumbent office holders, this feat has created neither a less corrupt political domain nor a more democratic one.

[Peter Lloyd]

I am reading this extremely interesting old topic in Sam Neua, in Laos, the capital of the province where that USA Walking K sign was photographed in 1988. It took me ten hours of rough, uncomfortable travel to reach here today, and the whole journey was over jungle-clad mountains, with only one road in and out.

We might have passed only twenty villages en route. It is that remote.

It is possibly the most remote place I have ever been to, and it is close to the border with North Vietnam.

I am here doing some research into POWs/MIAs in Laos for a novel I’m writing, and just nosing around both here and down South in the tri-border area, near Attapeu.

I think it is beyond doubt that people were left behind here after 1973, and not just a handful. I have been told that many times by Laos people, who also believe the POWs were taken off to North Vietnam, and than none now remain in Laos.

Who knows, but it strikes me as an awful way to end ones’ life after fighting for your country, to be turned into an agricultural slave, to be forgotten about then quietly killed in the jungle years later.