Why Senator McCain is no war hero »
Posted By hyperbola 1 year, 3 months ago in NewsThe Cinderella imaginings of John McCain provides a telling context – revealing the man and his presumptions hiding behind the mask of war hero. As the daughter and husband of decorated Vietnam veterans, I have these questions for John McCain.
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hyperbola
Military brat (14th generation American) with unassuaged wanderlust. By age 11, schools in four states and three foreign countries (in 3 languages). Left home at ...
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hyperbola1 year, 3 months ago
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There were many heroes in Vietnam – and there are many freshly bloodied heroes returning from new wars started by old men - and John McCain's claim is tarnished by long forgotten historical facts that few are brave enough to proffer today for fear of vicious attack on their “patriotism”. My father’s legacy protects me from such attack and so demands that I ask the unspoken questions and remind voters of the forgotten history. When the Vietnam POWS came home in 1973, President Nixon traded a small group of them celebrity status - anointing them as "heroes" - for political support of his failed war policies. John McCain was one of the anointed heroes while others were virtually discarded in exchange for their continued support of the false Nixon plan of “peace with honor” in Vietnam.
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Politics can magnify or ignore heroism as it suits. In turn, the select POWS were introduced to very wealthy and influential members of the Republican Party, their records were elevated over other POW heroes with more compelling stories, and many difficult questions were not asked of them.
Today, some of those same POWS are employees of the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute and many others have profited greatly from their staunch affiliations within the Republican Party.
In 1973, “patriotism” was traded like a commodity and heroes were used as political props. Essentially, the architects of both Vietnam and Iraq (Cheney, Rumsfeld, et. al.) launched a highly successful propaganda campaign (remember the Private First Class Jessica Lynch POW shameful sequel) using Vietnam POWS - at least the ones that were willing to be used wittingly or unwittingly - in an attempt to prop up the failing Nixon administration.-
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hyperbola1 year, 3 months ago
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Yet, if Mr. McCain is now intent on running on his character and his war record almost - because he has nothing else to offer - while suggesting that others do not care about their country as much as he does - then the wife and daughter of two other Vietnam heroes has a few questions for him:
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In the interest of full disclosure why do you refuse to release your Department of Defense POW debriefing?
In the interest of full disclosure why have you failed to release all military medical records including psychological studies - 1973-1993?
Why do you only reference the time spent as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton"?
When will you provide details about the time spent in the prison referred to as “Plantation Gardens"?
Did you ever receive any preferential or atypical treatment while a POW in any location where you were held? How soon and when did you reveal your true identity to your Vietnamese captors - did you simply give name, rank and serial number?
Has any other former Vietnam Prisoners of War or Vietnam veteran questioned the record that you claim particularly your claims of "torture"?
What was your connection to the “Peace Committee”?
Have you ever referenced the “blue files” in any speech that you have given? What are the “blue files”? Where are those files housed? Why do you not want those files released?
Have you ever lost your temper with military families who challenged your position?
Have you ever acted in an inappropriate way or in a less than gentlemanly manner with any female spouse of any active duty military personnel member?
Why not let citizens, who know the personal and painful history better than anyone else, ask the questions? Why not let these questions prompt more thorough investigation and scrutiny and less shilling by the press?
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mmrhe1 year, 3 months ago
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I've heard rumors that McCain quickly gave up his "true identity" to get better treatment. I believe many people in those circumstances would do the same thing.
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The problem is he can't go around touting his decision to stay without informing us of his true situation.
It is easy to believe the Vietnamese would give the son of a top admiral special treatment.
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