AMERICAN POW/MIAs NEED YOUR HELP NOW!!

Help stop Senator John McCain's Betrayal of our missing men.

 

For years families and veterans worked to get the Missing Service Personnel Act passed by Congress so that the US government could no longer hide behind bureaucratic inertia while more than 10,000 American servicemen remained missing and unaccounted for from this country's recent wars. The Act established much-needed process and accountability in the Full Accounting effort, and promised to assist those of us who want answers to the haunting question of why thousands of our friends and loved ones just disappeared, and why our government has been content (if not determined) to keep the lid on the matter of live POWs who were held back.

 

As soon as the Act was signed into law in February of '96 Senator John McCain (R-AZ)(himself a former POW in Vietnam) set out to remove 9 of the most essential provisions. This was after he had fought like a dog to prevent passage of the Act in the first place. He worried that too much was being required of the government and military, and he fashioned various plausible sounding rationalizations for his betrayal of our POW/MIAs, most of them nothing short of ludicrous to the informed listener.

 


       The following are just some examples of McCain's handiwork:

    1. In cases where a Board reviews a POW/MIA's status for possible 
       change to Dead, he denied POW/MIAs the right to an attorney
       appointed to protect his or her interests;

    2. He does not want misdemeanor penalties imposed on government
       officials who KNOWINGLY and WRONGFULLY withhold information 
       pertaining to a POW/MIA's status or whereabouts;
     
    3. He wants the government to be able to "identify" a set of remains
       and declare an individual dead without credible forensic evidence;
      
    4. He wants to give the military 10 days (instead of 48 hours) in which
       to file an initial report that an individual is missing. Ten days
       would allow the trail to grow stone cold before search and rescue
       efforts would be mounted.

McCain's determination to "win" on this issue was formidable (he reportedly fought behind closed doors in his infamous red faced, fist pounding, bull dog manner of intimidation to get what he wanted). Given his "credibility" on the POW/MIA issue for having been one himself, other senators were (and remain) reluctant to take him on re: this issue. So the POW/MIAs' arch enemy John McCain reigns supreme in the Senate, as he stoops to contemptible hypocrisy with statements like "No one wants to account for our MIAs as much as I do".

 

Through crafty back room politics, McCain succeeded in gutting the Act. He then attached 2 amendments (one dealing with the IRS and one with pensions) to a subsequent bill last year that sought to restore the lost provisions, and he succeeded in killing that effort.

 

This year, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) has introduced another bill to restore the Act. It is called the Missing Persons Authorities Improvement Act of 1997 (bill # S-755). THE POW/MIAs NEED HELP FROM EVERY CONCERNED AMERICAN IN GETTING THIS BILL PASSED. Senator Campbell has only one staffer (Larry Vijill) assigned to work part-time on this bill. Larry hasn't got time to drum up the support we need to defeat McCain's relentless determination to bury the POW/MIA accounting effort. (One must ask why McCain would do such a thing. More on that in the near future).

 

We need dozens of senators to sign on as co-sponsors of this bill, so that Senator Campbell will have sufficient support when he goes against McCain (who is not above belittlement, personal attacks, and underhandedness to get his way). This matter will be debated in about a week.

 

S-755 is crucial legislation to the Full Accounting effort. We need to let our senators know that we want this bill passed. At this point, a vote in favor is not enough. We need the senators to co-sponsor the bill. Please write and call your own two senators and urge them to co-sponsor S-755 right away. Let them know that their voting constituents care about this issue and that you will be watching them. Nothing short of significant pressure from the voters who put them in office will bring these officials to the right side of the table on this issue.

 

The men who gave their lives and freedom are not here to speak for themselves. Please take a few minutes now to speak on their behalf.

 

Contact your senators. Ask them to co-sponsor S-755.

 

Please contact your senators and urge them to support this legislation. Names of senators and contact information can be obtained at http://www.senate.gov/senator/index.html.

 

There is also a convenient pre-composed letter to your Senator on this issue written by former POW Colonel Ted W. Guy. The letter provides space for your personal comments. It may be found at http://www.soft-vision.com/hanoi.

STEP 1....Go the bottom of the screen, to where it says: Press to Enter - North Vietnam POW Camps.

STEP 2....On the left side of the screen that comes up you will see a menu

STEP 3....Go down to the bottom and select Write

STEP 4....Fill out the form

STEP 5....Check over form...make sure you have selected the proper senator

STEP 6...Send

Step 6 will send your letter. Also while you are there will you also please, please, send one to Senator John Warner and one to Senator Strom Thurmond. Reportedly, Senator Thurman has only gotten one letter and he is the one we have to convince.

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