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02/24/2004 Archived Entry: "When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A."

Posted by steve @ 06:12 PM EST [Link]

WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?: The Village Voice, of all outlets, has some very serious questions about John Kerry and an alleged cover-up involving American POWs in Vietnam.

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.

The stated purpose of the special Senate committee—which convened in mid 1991 and concluded in January 1993—was to investigate the evidence about prisoners who were never returned and find out what happened to the missing men. Committee chair Kerry's larger and different goal, though never stated publicly, emerged over time: He wanted to clear a path to normalization of relations with Hanoi. In any other context, that would have been an honorable goal. But getting at the truth of the unaccounted for P.O.W.'s and M.I.A.'s (Missing In Action) was the main obstacle to normalization—and therefore in conflict with his real intent and plan of action.

I'm always suspicious about stories involving the cover-up of MIAs/POWs in Vietnam because there's never been any real evidence -- verifiable at any rate -- that the U.S. left men behind but I do find it interesting that the Voice is asking these questions. If, however, Kerry did cover-up real evidence of MIAs/POWs in favour of normalization then I would hope his career -- and self-promotion as a hero -- is over.

Read on.