On Apr 20, 3:41=A0pm, babeejm <jmtsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Apr 20, 12:53 pm, Thaddeus Stevens <thaddeussteph...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
> > CounterPunch Diary
> > "Hero" John McCain asPhonyand Collaborator: What Really Happened When
He=
Was a POW?
>
> > By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
>
> > John McCain=92s been getting kid-glove treatment from the press for
year=
s, ever since he wriggled
> > free of the Keating scandal and his profitable association =96 another
c=
ollaboration, you might
> > say -- with the nation=92s top bank swindler in the 1980s. But nothing
e=
quals the astounding tact
> > with which his claque on the press bus avoids the topic of McCain=92s
co=
llaborating with his
> > Vietnamese captors after he=92d been shot down.
>
> > How McCain behaved when he was a prisoner is key. McCain is probably
the=
most unstable man ever
> > to have got this close to the White House. He=92s one election away
from=
it. Republican senator
> > Thad Cochrane has openly said he trembles at the thought of an
unstable =
McCain in the Oval
> > Office with his finger on the nuclear trigger.
>
> > What if a private memory of years of collaboration in his prison camp
gn=
aws at McCain, and
> > bursts out in his paroxysms of uncontrollable fury, his rantings about
=
=93gooks=94 and his
> > terrifying commitment to a hundred years ofwarin Iraq. What if =93the
he=
ro=94 knows he=92s aphony?
> > Doug Valentine has written the definitive history of the Phoenix
Program=
in Vietnam. He knows
> > about the POW experience. His dad, an Army man, was captured by the
Japa=
nese and sent to a POW
> > camp in the Philippines for forced labor. Many of his mates died. Doug
w=
rote a marvelous book
> > about it, The Hotel Tacloban.
>
> > Now Valentine has picked up the unexploded bomb lying on McCain=92s
camp=
aign trail this year. As
> > he points out, he=92s not the first. Rumors and charges have long
swirle=
d around McCain=92s conduct
> > as a prisoner. Fellow prisoners have given the lie to McCain=92s
claims.=
But Valentine has
> > assembled the dossier. It=92s devastating. We=92re running it in our
cur=
rent CounterPunch newsletter
> > and we strongly urge you to subscribe.
>
> > Some excerpts from Valentine=92s indictment.
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93Waris one thing, collaborating with the enemy is
another; =
it is a legitimate campaign
> > issue that strikes at the heart of McCain=92s character. . .or lack
ther=
eof. In occupied countries
> > like Iraq, or France in WorldWarII, collaboration to that extent
spells =
an automatic death
> > sentence.. . .The question is: What kind of collaborator was John
McCain=
, the admittedwar
> > criminal who will hate the Vietnamese for the rest of his life?
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93Put it another way: how psychologically twisted is
McCain?=
And what actually happened to
> > him in his POW camp that twisted him? Was it abuse, as he claims, or
was=
it the fact that he
> > collaborated and has to cover up? Covering-up can take a lot of
energy. =
The truth is lurking
> > there in his subconscious, waiting to explode. =94
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93McCain had a unique POW experience. Initially, he was
take=
n to the infamous Hanoi Hilton
> > prison camp, where he was interrogated. By McCain=92s own account,
after=
three or four days he
> > cracked. He promised his Vietnamese captors, =93I=92ll give you
military=
information if you will
> > take me to the hospital ...
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93His Vietnamese captors soon realized their POW, John
Sidne=
y McCain III, came from a
> > well-bred line in the American military elite. . .The Vietnamese
realize=
d, this poor stooge has
> > propaganda value. The admiral=92s boy was used to special treatment,
and=
his captors knew that.
> > They were working him.=94
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93. . .two weeks into his stay at the Vietnamese hospital,
t=
he Hanoi press began quoting
> > him. It was not =91name rank and serial number, or kill me=92. as
specif=
ied by the military code of
> > conduct. McCain divulged specific military information: he gave the
name=
of the aircraft carrier
> > on which he was based, the number of U.S. pilots that had been lost,
the=
number of aircraft in
> > his flight formation, as well as information about the location of
rescu=
e ****ps.=94
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93=85McCain was held for five and half years. The first
two =
weeks=92 behavior might have been
> > pragmatism, but McCain soon became North Vietnam=92s go-to
collaborator=
=85..McCain cooperated with
> > the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. His situation
isn=92t =
as innocuous as that of
> > the French barber who cuts the hair of the German occupier. McCain was
r=
epaying his captors for
> > their kindness and mercy.
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0=93This is the lesson of McCain=92s experience as a POW: a
tr=
ue politician, a hollow man, his
> > only allegiance is to power. The Vietnamese, like McCain=92s campaign
co=
ntributors today,
> > protected and promoted him, and, in return, he danced to their tune. .
.=
=94
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()=
()()()()()()()()()()
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* =
* * * * * * * * * * * *
> >
________________________________________________________________________=
___=AD_________
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ =
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0Finally, the campaigns of 1793 and 1794 set Clausewitz on
the=
path of recognizingwaras a
> > political phenomenon. Wars, as everyone knew, were fought for a
purpose =
that was political,
> > or at least always had political consequences. =A0Not as readily
apparen=
t was the implication
> > that followed. Ifwarwas meant to achieve a political purpose,
everything=
that entered into
> >war=97 social and economic preparation, strategic planning, the conduct
o=
f operations, the
> > use of violence on all levels =97 should be determined by this
purpose, =
or at least accord
> > with it. Even though soldiers had to acquire special expertise, and
func=
tion in what in some
> > respects was a separate world, it would be a denial of reality to
allow =
them to carry on
> > their bloody work undisturbed until an armistice brought their
political=
employer back into
> > the equation. Just aswarand its institutions reflected their social
envi=
ronment, so every
> > aspect of fighting should be suffused by its political impulse,
whether =
this impulse was
> > intense or moderate. The appropriate relation****p between politics
andwa=
roccupied
> > Clausewitz throughout his life, but even his earliest manuscripts and
le=
tters show his
> > awareness of their interaction.
> > =A0 =A0 =A0The ease with which this link =97 always acknowledged in
the =
abstract =97 can be forgotten in
> > specific cases, and Clausewitz=92s insistence that it must never be
over=
looked, are
> > illustrated by his polite rejection toward the end of his life of a
stra=
tegic problem set by
> > the chief of the Prussian General Staff, in which every military
detail =
of the opposing
> > sides was spelled out, but no mention made of their political purpose.
T=
o a friend who had
> > sent him the problem for comment, Clausewitz replied that it was not
pos=
sible to draft a
> > sensible plan of operations without indicating the political condition
o=
f the states
> > involved, and their relation****p to each other: =91Waris not an
independ=
ent phenomenon, but
> > the continuation of politics by different means. Consequently, the
main =
lines of every major
> > strategic plan are largely political in nature, and their political
char=
acter increases the
> > more the plan applies to the entire campaign and to the whole state.
Awa=
rplan results
> > directly from the political conditions of the two warring states, as
wel=
l as from their
> > relations to third powers. A plan of campaign results from thewarplan,
a=
nd frequently - if
> > there is only one theater of operations - may even be identical with
it.=
But the political
> > element even enters the separate components of a campaign; rarely will
i=
t be without
> > influence on such major episodes of warfare as a battle, etc.
According =
to this point of
> > view, there can be no question of a purely military evaluation of a
grea=
t strategic issue,
> > nor of a purely military scheme to solve it.=92
>
> > Everyman=92s Library, 1993 ISBN: =A0 =A0 =A0 =A00679420436 =A0Onwar/by
C=
lausewitz, Carl von, 1780-1831.
> > Knopf, 1993. From the introduction by Peter Paret, Pg7
> > _____________________________________________________________________
>
> > The U-2 is a jet-powered reconnaissance aircraft specially designed to
f=
ly at high altitudes
> > (i.e., above 70,000 ft [21 km]). It was used during the late 1950s to
ov=
erfly the Soviet
> > Union, China, the Middle East, and Cuba; flights over the Soviet
Union, =
the primary mission
> > for which the plane was designed, ended in 1960 when a U-2 flown by
CIA =
pilot Gary Powers
> > was shot down over the Soviet Union. This event was a major political
em=
barrassment for the
U.S.http://www.espionageinfo.com/Te-Uk/U-2-Spy-Plane.htm=
l
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 Soviet Prime Minister Khrushchev's reaction to the
overfligh=
ts which were discovered
> > just before a summit conference in Paris with President Eisenhower:
"It =
was as though the
> > Americans had deliberately tried to place a time bomb under the
meeting"=
. . ."How could
> > they count on us to give them a helping hand if we allowed ourselves
to =
be spat upon without
> > so much as a murmur of protest?" The only solution was to demand a
forma=
l public apology
> > from Eisenhower and a guarantee that no more overflights would take
plac=
e =A0. . .
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 But the apology Khrushchev was looking for would not come.
D=
espite having trespassed
> > on the Soviet Union for the past four years with scores of flights by
bo=
th U-2's and heavy
> > bombers, the old general still could not say the words, it was just
not =
in him. . . A time
> > bomb had exploded, prematurely ending the summit conference. . .
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 Back in Wa****ngton, the mood was glum. The Senate Foreign
Re=
lations Committee was
> > leaning toward holding a closed door investigation into the U-2
incident=
. . . In public,
> > Eisenhower maintained a brave face. He "heartily approved" of the
congre=
ssional probe and
> > would 'of course fully cooperate,' he quickly told anyone who asked.
But=
in private he was
> > very troubled. For weeks he had tried to head off the investigation.
His=
major concern was
> > that his own personal involvement in the overflights would surface,
espe=
cially the May Day
> > disaster. Equally, he was very worried that details of the dangerous
bom=
ber overflights
> > would leak out. The massed overflight may in fact, have been one of
the =
most dangerous
> > actions ever approved by a president.
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 pg. 51-55 ~Body of Secrets; Anatomy of the Ultra
Secret =
National Security Agency
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 James Bamford
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > "Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history
o=
f the progress of
> > human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august
claims, =
have been born of
> > earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating,
all-absorbi=
ng, and for the time
> > being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it
does =
nothing. If there is
> > no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom
and=
yet depreciate
> > agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they
wa=
nt rain without
> > thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of
it=
s many waters."
>
> > "This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it
m=
ay be both moral and
> > physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a
de=
mand. It never did and
> > it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to
and =
you have found out the
> > exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them,
an=
d these will continue
> > till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The
lim=
its of tyrants are
> > prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light
of =
these ideas, Negroes
> > will be hunted at the North, and held and flogged at the South so long
a=
s they submit to those
> > devilish outrages, and make no resistance, either moral or physical.
Men=
may not get all they
> > pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get.
If =
we ever get free from
> > the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their
removal=
.. We must do this by
> > labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and
the=
lives of others."
>
> >http://www.buildingequality.us/Quotes/Frederick_Douglass.htm
> > Frederick Douglass, 1857
> > =A0 - - - - - -> More political discussion continues
athttp://www.politi=
csusaweb.com/
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0----------------------
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0This post contains copyrighted material the use of
which =
has not always been specifically
> > authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available
i=
n my efforts to advance
> > understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democ=
racy, scientific, and
> > social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of
a=
ny such copyrighted
> > material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In
acco=
rdance with Title 17
> > U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
pro=
fit to those who have
> > expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
res=
earch and educational
> > purposes.
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0For more information go
to:http://www.law.cornell.edu=
/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you
> > wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your
own=
that go beyond 'fair
> > use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
> >Looks like people who have served in Vietnam had better not brag about
it=
!
>
> First John F. Kerry..and now POW John McCain..does that go for all the
> other
> POWs that were in VN..or just those running for president?!
Finely, to the essence! How about selective cancer as new
Presidentgate, Hillary does not make.
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