Article V of the Code of Conduct is very specific in declaring that U.S. military personnel are required to avoid answering questions to the utmost of their ability and to make no oral or written statements disloyal to the United States and its allies or harmful to their cause. Any violation of this code is considered collaborating with the enemy.
And there are stories by fellow POWs in the Hanoi Hilton who were stuck in 4’ x 6’ bamboo cages while McCain was pampered and given special treatment. McCain is ripe for a royal Swift Boating by the DemonRATs. Then McCain’s hero status will drop like a lead balloon as HillBillary or Ossama Obama takes the White House.
Jon let me explain about McCain...Think of this: When John McCain’s plane went down he broke two arms..The Vietnamese people caught him and beat him so severely that his shoulder was crushed..No medical care was given and he was thrown into prison..It took a month for the North Vietnamese to realize that his father was a Rear Admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet. Then, they gave him some medical care- very inadequate- in a Chinese Hospital..NcCain was a fearless leader while in prison. Even when offered freedom in a prisoner exchange he refused saying he wanted all the men released, so he stayed in prison. He was beaten and tortured constantly but still the N Vietnamese could not break him...Finally after one more torture session he said he could not take it anymore and signed the ‘confession’ but he used their language to show that it was not his own thinking when he signed it..
If the North Vietnamese used his words then so be it...No one could have stopped them. As for the bitter veterans who were angry at him, all they had to do was stop and think this guy has been in a North Vietnamese hell-hole of a prison for years and it is understandable that he was beaten and tortured and signed a false confession...That in no way lowers him to a Jane Fonda Status...John was a hero to his fellow prisoners and was awarded the Navy Cross when he returned hime...
For further reading on this, read his biography at Wikipedia..it is very enlightening...
Also want to add that being in combat and being in a P.O.W. prison can shape a man’s thinking for the rest of his life..It doesn’t mean he goes crazy, but it shows up in many ‘sane’ ways...For example- as that Wikipedia article points oput- John always disliked authority and authoritarian figures...he rebelled against them, from the Naval Academy days, and probbly to the present day in part..He prefers to do his own thinking, for better or worse..He will do well to work with friends and colleagues, vs taking orders on how to campaign or what to say on the campaign trail...John McCain is an authentic American hero, his political views notwithstanding...