Ex-POW McCain visits 'Hanoi Hilton' Vietnam prison

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Sen. John McCain paid a quiet visit to the "Hanoi Hilton" prison where he was held for more than five years during the Vietnam War on Wednesday, making a few deadpan remarks as he made his way through dark corridors and past musty cells.

McCain allowed reporters to follow him while he escorted Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina through the prison.

Vietnam's communist government has turned the facility into a museum. It was originally used by French colonialists to hold Vietnamese revolutionaries, then used by the North Vietnamese after they took power to house Americans captured during the Vietnam War. The prison was called Hoa Lo but was widely known by the nickname "The Hanoi Hilton" among U.S. soldiers.

McCain, the prison's most famous detainee, says he and others were severely tortured during their time there.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jfv4ZsJGiYavWTZsy5DHpl2sTJHgD97E28VO0

[YOY]

1. John McCain was a POW?!?!?!?

Jesus! Why didn't anyone tell me!?!?!?

[babylonsister]

6. ...

:rofl:

[Javaman]

14. You weren't there!!! nt

[Zavulon]

35. He couldn't have been.

If he had, it'd have come out in the campaign. ;)

[Bicoastal]

2. Honestly? Good for him.

I'm stunned that McCain did anything connected to his POW experience "quietly"--but what a difference an election makes...

Hey, wait a minute. Why DIDN'T he do that during the election?

[DS1]

3. McCain. ShamPOW!

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. I can't imagine what that's like, to go back to a place that one spent so much time being tortured

and almost starved to death.

It has to be a bizarre feeling.

[karynnj]

27. He went back in the early 1990s, when he was on Kerry's

POW/MIA committee. Kerry who got permission for him, went with him.

[groundloop]

5. Quietly??? He did allow the media to follow him.

And obviously made sure the media knew about the trip, or they wouldn't have been there.

[tomm2thumbs]

7. ... P R E C I S E L Y

it's a game, but at least it benefits Obama in the long run as he has been a leading force against what was done in Gitmo which was torture by ANY stretch of the imagination.

[Tarc]

8. Honestly, this is not the time for McCain-bashing.

I feel that this is one topic area that should be out-of-bounds for gutter-sniping. Both McCain and Kerry survived that horrid war, and from different sides of the political spectrum, worked together on a lot of important Vietnam issues in the ensuing years.

Mocking a visit to his former prison is just... :thumbsdown:

Sorry if this ruffles the "criticize all Republicans all the time" credo.

[Ian David]

9. What got him through the ordeal was dreaming of being reuinted with his wife...

... so he could immediately divorce her for a younger, wealthier wife.

[ddss75]

10. well said

No matter what your political views are, that man is a true hero that deserves our respect for what he went through.

[watrwefitinfor]

21. And what exactly makes him a "true hero"?

Bombing women and children and other living creatures in the dead of night? Sorry, my heroes were/are of a different (and far higher) caliber.

Wat

[ddss75]

25. not true

Who would you characterize as a hero, David Dellinger or Tom Hayden? By the way,he didnt bomb innocent women and children in the dead of the night. he was shot down trying to bomb a power plant in the middle of the day during the first phase of operation rolling thunder. President Johnson was willing to run that mission during the day, at added risk to the flight crews so the risk of collateral damage would be minimal. There was a lot of things handled wrong in that war, but the bombing campaigns were not.

[watrwefitinfor]

33. "Who would you characterize as a hero, David Dellinger or Tom Hayden?"

Yes, but of course. Both of them tower over McCain.

Wat

[mitchum]

38. Dropping bombs on women and children makes him a hero? Maybe in your fucked up world...

but not mine

[leftynyc]

24. I'm in agreement with you

The jokes are entirely inappropriate. I don't care if he's a republican. He's an American citizen who was tortured. The mockers are making me sick.

[raysr]

26. Any time is a good

time to berate McNuts for his "POW" experience. He lied, gave hours of propaganda tapes to the NVA, and made damn sure that congress never found the records of ALL that he did. He refused to go home when offered because and only because his old man was the most powerful military entity at that time. How would it have looked if he got out no one else did?

I'm not saying he had fun while captured, but the pity he was given for the experience put him where he is today. This isn't the first time he's been back to Hanoi.

http://www.farfromglory.com/john_s_mccain.htm

[LostinVA]

34. All that's missing is for you to put a Purple Band-Aid on your face

[No Elephants]

31. Maybe you should read what other POW's think of him and how he used his status.

[Tarc]

32. Um, I have, and unless you're a protoge of Ted Sampley

you would know that McCain is very highly regarded in POW/MIA circles.

[Hulk]

11. I have to think....

...there were far better men tortured to death in that camp that would have served their country better. No one deserves such treatment...but we deserved someone who would stand for that value after being a victim than this sack of shit.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

12. He's still an asshole

[Egnever]

15. I am starting to think John and Lindsay are sweet on eachother.

lindsay is with John more than Cindy is.

[TerribleLarryDingle]

17. Shivers

:puke:

[acmavm]

16. The old man must have felt he hadn't received his fair share of

attention lately what with all the tacky doings that are being reported daily about his former 'running mate'. Oh, and the guy that royally beat his ass has gotten his share of attention as well.

This is McCain's own special type of ADD (attention deficit disorder). He acts out when he feels he hasn't received his fair share.)

Next, he'll re-inact how he wrecked those 5 planes and set the USS Forrestal on fire.

[hedgehog]

18. I thought he'd returned there at least once before.

[defendandprotect]

19. Presumably to say "sorry" . . . ????

[Mojorabbit]

20. Is he there for some kind of business

for the country? Are we paying for this trip?

[Xithras]

28. He (and others) have been pushing to try and normalize relations between Vietnam and the US

The trip was part of an Asian governmental relations tour and was part of his personal push to try and mend the relationship between our country and Vietnam. The Vietnamese are largely willing nowadays, but there are still many political forces in the U.S. that aren't ready for it.

[Mudoria]

22. Sorry, I disagree with McCain on his politics

but I have nothing bad to say about his military service. Thanks for your service Senator McCain.

[Doremus]

30. You didn't mention them but I will assume you are also grateful for

the other men who were jailed with McCain and were tortured just as badly, if not worse.

Pity they don't ever get the spotlight and cushy government jobs, huh?

[Barack_America]

23. I hope it helped him come to terms with what happened there. nt

[John7714]

29. He seems to be really good friends with his captors

Despite John McCain’s years of painful torture at the hands of the NVA, he has been Hanoi’s strongest advocate in the U.S. Senate. For years, he pushed for the normalization of relations with communist Vietnam, even though that country has never fully cooperated on the issue of American POW’s.

In 1992, John McCain was serving on the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Vietnamese officials began to complain that American POW/MIA activists (mostly family members of the missing men) were causing too many problems and posed a threat to lifting the U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam. Incredibly, Senator and former POW McCain then went on a campaign against the POW/MIA activists and accused them of fraud. McCain once said of the families: “The people who have done these things are not zealots in a good cause. They are criminals and some of the most craven, most cynical, and most despicable human beings to ever run a scam.”

Sen. McCain demanded and received a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the two major POW/MIA activist groups. Of course, no fraud as McCain alleged was ever found. The families were left angry and mystified as to why McCain had betrayed them. McCain succeeded and the trade embargo against communist Vietnam was lifted, and there has never been a full accounting of North Vietnamese atrocities against American POW’s.

In 1992, NVA Col. Bui Tin, who interrogated McCain in the Hanoi Hilton, testified before the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. He told the Senators (including McCain) that Soviet officers regularly interrogated and tortured American POW’s. During a break in the proceedings, Sen. McCain and Col. Tin enjoyed a hug and exchanged the kind of longing looks that a man would usually share with his long-lost father, or perhaps in McCain’s case...His comrade?

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_wasmccainbrainswashed.htm

[Optical.Catalyst]

36. Too bad McCain can't just stay there

[mitchum]

37. "Fellas, I've remembered some things I left out when I was singing here the first time!"

[ConcernedCanuk]

39. Jeezzuuus - the guy fought for his country, POW for half a decade, and came back fucked up

.
.
.

It's shamefully clear why most veterans of the USA's wars are ill-treated

I've seen it personally.

I lived in San Diego in 1979 with a couple of young vets from the Vietnam war,

and also visited one of the Vet hospitals down there.

Fucking disgusting is all I can say about the stories I heard, and all the dismembered bodies I saw - umm - that's LIVING bodies - just shells of human beings left

This was 30 years ago.

with all the wars that are going on today under the umbrella of the USA's War-Machine - I can't imagine what the numbers of injured disillusioned veterans are today - -

Fucking disgusting . . .