AP: More POW claimants than actual POWs

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

Prisoners of war suffer in ways most veterans don't, enduring humiliating forced marches, torture or other trauma that may haunt them long afterward. In partial recompense, the government extends them special benefits, from free parking and tax breaks to priority in medical treatment.

Trouble is, some of the much-admired recipients of these benefits apparently don't deserve them.

There are only 21 surviving POWs from the first Gulf War in 1991, the Department of Defense says. Yet the Department of Veterans Affairs is paying disability benefits to 286 service members it says were taken prisoner during that conflict, according to data released by VA to The Associated Press.

A similar discrepancy arises with Vietnam POWs. Only 661 officially recognized prisoners returned from that war alive — and about 100 of those have since died, according to Defense figures. But 966 purported Vietnam POWs are getting disability payments, the VA told AP.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30168352/

[Ian David]

1. Maybe they were held prisoner by Blackwater? n/t

[monmouth]

2. It's amazing since our people have gotten into these departments,

the lack of checks and balances that have been allowed to exist is coming to the surface. I'm not saying anyone was being outright deceitful or lying here, but new eyes and some detail work and elbow-grease housecleaning brings a lot of stuff to the surface.

[DCKit]

3. But it's happening on O's watch, so it's all his fault.

The M$M is gonna eat this up.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

8. I pretty sure the Vietnam Veterans occurred on someone else's watch.

[RedCloud]

4. We pay their bosses tons of money

The least those fuckers could do with all their mega salaries is track where the troops are.

[Historic NY]

5. How hard was it to check? Its time to prosecute the phonies.

[rgbecker]

6. Could be we don't have any records as they were part of the CIA rendition program.

Who knows who's being held where....I'm surprised anyone bothers to keep any records at all....why bother...?

http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf

[EFerrari]

7. If we're using Pentagon numbers, the numbers are probably wrong

not the claimants!

[Doremus]

9. Phonies, maybe. Or maybe the POW records are fucked up.

I prefer to give vets the benefit of the doubt, so I choose to think it's the VA pencil-pushers who got the numbers wrong. :shrug:

[Historic NY]

10. It took me 2 minutes to get to the database...

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/pmsea_returnee.pdf (Vietnam)

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/files.htm (MIA)

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/gulfwar/IRAQI05B.pdf (GulfWar)

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/coldwar/pmcold_name.pdf (Cold War)


And then there is..

http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies19.htm