Ok.

s.
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I am getting pissed watching other people get pissed. Even though part of me does not want to know what this country did to the defenders of this nation, I owe it to them to read it. Book ordered

just got this and throwing it out there - less than 3 hours from now East coast time...

AN ENORMOUS CRIME; The Definitive Account of US POWs Abandoned in SE Asia will be featured tonight on Bloomberg TV's NIGHT TALK at 8 PM (Eastern) and repeated at 10 PM. Please check your local cable system to see the channel number and time of this broadcast.
This will be the first television exposure for the book which has already climbed onto the New York Times Best Seller list and for its co-author, Former Congressman Bill Hendon.

For thirty minutes tonight, Congressman Hendon will detail never-before-seen or published material including satellite imagery of US POWs still held against their will in Laos and Vietnam.

Good of them to give the Congressman a whole thirty minutes.

Just finished the book...
 

This is one of those books that shatters my faith in our leaders.

The lengths that were gone to ignore this situation and/or make it go away by every administration from Nixon on is just disgusting. I guess they were too busy with bigger and more important things like pardoning criminals from the previous cabinet, trying to be the humanitarian of the century, illegally funding wars in Central America or giving weapons to radical Moslem terrorist nations for other hostages.

I had no idea that such concrete and verified intelligence was out there. Hell, we went into Iraq with far less than what is documented in this book and there's got to be mountains more still classified on the subject!

With every report I was simply baffled that the press never brought any of this out. You would think a scandal of this magnitude would warrant big juicy headlines (well the NY Times gave them coverage it appears in Sept, Oct 86)! I cannot believe there were no efforts mounted beyond Operation Pocket Change to get them out (perhaps they are still classified?).

I was too young to remember the end of Vietnam (I was born in 1973) but I know I had never even heard about POW/MIA till the movie Uncommon Valor came out (I was like 11 years old).

The more I learn about Ross Perot, the more I wish I had voted for him instead of Clinton in 92.

j

Care to elaborate?

TR

Bleh. Let it go, brother. No point in this thread digressing into a conversation about Ollie and friends, and the hostages in Lebanon, or McFarlane's soujourns to Tehran with party cakes. That little op deserves its very own thread.

I have not yet read this book. But I have read the testimony of Col Tony Peck, and I had the honor of meeting him in DC back in late 1990, just before he resigned.

I have sat and had long, long conversations with Mark Smith. I have not met Bo Gritz. But I do think that the things that Mark has to say about Col Gritz need to be heard by a wider audience. I think that the things that Mark has to say about General Vang Pao need to be heard, and yes, I think that Mr. Armitage just might have some things to explain.

I have no idea what sort of treatment these folks are given in this book. But I know Mark Smith personally. He is an honorable man, he is not an alcoholic (they could not paint him with the same brush that they used on a certain MOH winner), and believe me, he is far from crazy. Is he bitter? Not nearly as bitter as I, and I have played no role in this debacle.

I am biting my tongue. I will save it, or try to save further comments, for a time after I have read this book.

s.
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I really hope you are able to get him on here.

I was a little disappointed to see the book's web site. I thought it would have links to the documents cited in the footnotes, but it doesn't appear to have much information at all unless there is something wrong with my browser or my navigation of the site.

I must admit that I always bought the government's line and thought the POW-MIA crowd were a bunch of kooks. Boy, was I wrong. Not that I ever expressed that viewpoint to anyone really, but now I am rather ashamed even to have thought what I thought.

So, does anyone want to reconsider the value of the second Rambo movie now? LOL

I had coms with Mark last night, and I hope to see him tomorrow. He told me that he would try to check in. I will reinforce the invitation tomorrow.

I'm glad you said that. I've always thought the same thing too and I couldn't have been raised in a more military/conservative/Republican household. It certainly wasn't anything my parents said or did - it was just how my generation was indoctrinated I think.

I'm having a very difficult time getting through the book. Reading, thinking and writing about it makes me ridiculously emotional - I guess its just the magnitude of betrayal where I've always had such trust and expectation. I told my husband I could see myself dedicating a lot of energy to this if there was anything I could do, so I'm with RL - if there is anything we can do to support the effort, I'd like to know about it too.

I share many of Shar's feelings - I'm having a helluva difficult time reading this.
I can remember when the first two soldiers from my home town were lost and memorial plaques were put up, with names added as we lost more.
But it was the stories that my former husband shared with me about his time in RVN in the 174th AHC out of Duc Pho (Sharks) that come back to the surface when reading.
And then to pick up this book...............

Thoughts of govt game playing, politics, personal ambition, betrayal..........it makes me sick.

On a previous deployment I was ferrying some navy Seabees and a few Marines down to catch a flight out of country. One of the Marines was on comms with us and we asked why he specifically was leaving so early. He stated that he had to go report in to a country where americans had been held captive for over a year. I followed the news very closely for a good while after this tidbit of Intel and never caught anything that would hint to any sort of military action by the host country or our military.

Could it be that there are actions being taken now to try and rectify the previous wrong doings that we do not hear about?

This OPSEC hazard should have been stripped bare, covered in honey, and placed on an ant hill so he could ponder his stupidity with every ant bite. Even if he was spinning a yarn, the fact that something like this may have been in the wind would have been placed in jeopardy. Do you think you are the only person with whom this loud mouthed idiot shared his "secret"?:mad:

I got the book three weeks ago..... reading slowly to think about what I remember of the time and letting it merge with what I am reading...... every one's memory is filled with garbage; mine maybe more than others....
However, this book is reinforcing my image and attitude of our national politicians....... must of them, past and present, just plain suck!

Jim

Hostage rescue is not a mission of the Marine Corps.

For future reference, consider that anyone who would tell you about it is not going to be participating in a mission like that.

The people who do conduct hostage rescues do not talk about it.

There is an entire thread here about how the family of a hostage in a similar situation may have compromised his safety and prevented a rescue attempt by talking with the media about them.

'Nuff said.

TR