Swift Boating of McCain

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lundbaek
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Posts: 11123
Location: Mesa, Arizona

Swift Boating of McCain

Post by lundbaek »

McCain may well be "swift boated" like John Kerry was. Here are some of the accusations he may get hit with:

The following are excerpts from a transcript by Jerry Kiley of conversations between retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper and Gerard Kiley of Veterans Against John McCain. Earl Hopper had spent 30 years with the Army in Airborne Special services and with Army Intelligence and was a founding member of the National League of Families dedicated to returning living POWs and MIAs of the Vietnam War.

"The impression that McCain and the media has attempted to portray of McCain's 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam is about as far from the truth that one could possible go. McCain, from the first moments of his capture, had behaved as a collaborator and propaganda tool for his North Vietnamese captors. McCain had engaged in no less than 30, and likely as many as 38 anti-American propaganda broadcasts for Radio Hanoi during the period of his captivity. Far from the image of a dedicated American 'hero' sweating it out in a North Vietnamese prisoner's 'hotbox' for 5 1/2 years, McCain was often given 'special' treatment by his captors, who were fully aware of his father's and grandfather's 4 star admiral positions with the Navy. No one has ever witnessed McCain's supposed 'torture' at the hands of his jailers. The consensus opinion of other POWs in McCain's camps was that McCain was never tortured by the North Vietnamese.

"In talking to the returned POWs, in the very beginning, we began to hear some very bad things about John McCain and his activities while he was in the POW camps. As an example (and I'll quote this because it can be checked out), he personally wrote an article in the magazine [US News & World Report], wherein he stated that during the time he was in prison (in fact I think it was 5 or 7 days after he was captured) he asked the [North] Vietnamese to take him to the hospital, the Vietnamese hospital. And in so doing, he promised them that he would give the classified military information. They did. He did. They took him to the hospital, questioned him, and he gave highly classified information. The most important of which was he gave the 'package route,' which was the route to bomb North Vietnam. He told in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn, and how to get into N. Vietnam. He also gave them where the targets were; of their primary entry. Whether it was a railroad; whether it is was a bridge; whether it was an ammunition or fuel dump; or whatever it was, he gave them the primary targets the United States was interested in.

"After he gave them that information, the Vietnamese naturally moved their anti- aircraft defenses into those areas and built them up and strengthened them. They also moved the rockets, aircraft weapons, into the "package route" of where the airplanes were flying in or egressing. The result of this, according to the information that came out later on, in intelligence, was that the Vietnamese started knocking down our aircraft in greater amounts than they had before. In fact, there was an estimate that we started losing 60% more aircraft and more men than we had previously. This went on for about a month, and it got so bad, that they finally called off the bombing of North Vietnam because of the information that McCain had given to them.

"When he returned, there were several of the American prisoners, to include five colonels, Colonel Ted Guy, was the one that wanted to prefer charges against McCain and two or three other returned POWs because during the time they were in prison, they were not acting in accordance with the military code. And as a result of these other colonels wanting to prefer charges against them, the Secretaries of the services got together and they decided that, No, they did not want these 'renegade' (my word, renegade) prisoners of war coming home to be charged and court marshaled. They had played up the prisoners of war as "heroes" during their homecoming [Operation Homecoming-negotiated return of American POWS to America]. They didn't want anything now to "disturb" that view that they had given to the American people; that the American people picked up. All returned POWs, if you remember, were "heroes" when they first come home. And they didn't want to disturb that view. So the Secretaries of the armed services decided and told the other POWs that they would not allow these particular POWs to be charged and be court marshaled over their activities while in the POW camps. Consequently, none of the POWs ever went into the court; [and] never had any legal action taken against them for being traitors while they were in captivity.

Interviewer: Earl, is it true that I heard mentioned before, that McCain did not receive any increase in his military rank, which was common. Could you just talk about that for a second?

Hopper: "That's true. A man, if he's in captivity, and either a prisoner of war or missing in action, is on active duty; the very same as if he was stationed right here in the United States. He gets his promotions, along with his peers. He gets his increase in pay, his wife still gets the allowance that he sent to her and so forth. And he is promoted, along with his peers, here in the States. Both in the same year group, as prisoners of war, missing in action gets promoted along with the active duty people. McCain did not do it. He did not get promoted even when he returned. Now, the Navy knew of his activities while he was in the POW camp because the enemy [North Vietnamese] widely broadcast over their radio, what McCain was doing. And in fact, praised McCain for doing it. So he got no promotion at all while he was in captivity. Other POWs, that were in captivity at the same time, they got their promotion at the time they were supposed to.

Interviewer: "When John Kerry and John McCain were on the Senate Select POW/MIA Committee, what effect did their behavior have on the POW/MIA issue, both?

Hopper: "When he was on the Senate POW/MIA committee, he was not loyal to our POWs. Every time a witness appeared that was on our side, to include family members, he would pressure them. McCain made a special effort, especially on the ladies, to criticize them, speak harshly, and get them to crying. He wanted to break down the family members and break their spirit so that they would not come out and appear good at the hearings. He did that also on one or two government witnesses who testified in favor of the unreturned POWs and their families. He went to great length to try to get the government witnesses to prove what they were saying by producing the evidence, the papers, which they were quoting. He did. It didn't bother McCain."


"John McCain also gave us McCain-Feingold. This is the law that keeps pro-life or pro-Second Amendment organizations from broadcasting ads that mention a candidate by name 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general election. This proves that John McCain believes neither in the right to life nor the right to keep and bear arms. (This is one reason why the Gun Owners of America gives McCain a grade of F.)"...."as a senator, John McCain has repeatedly voted to fund pro-abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood with federal tax dollars. In fact, McCain has voted to use federal tax dollars to support abortion providers at home and overseas." (Chuck Baldwin, newswithviews.com)

"John McCain supports the International Criminal Court. Can you believe this? Can you imagine U.S. citizens being hauled off before an international court to be tried for crimes? Imagine an international court whose rulings and opinions overrule U.S. rulings and opinions. Imagine a court setting where the constitutional protections of the Bill of Rights are null and void. Imagine a court setting where international law trumps U.S. or state laws. If that is not a surrender of U.S. sovereignty, nothing is! And John McCain is all for it." (Chuck Baldwin, newswithviews.com)

John McCain is anti 2nd Amendment, as GOA has repeatedly pointed out

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ChelC
The Law
Posts: 5982
Location: Utah

Re: Swift Boating of McCain

Post by ChelC »

I don't know that I buy that whole story, but the latter points are a cause of great concern, specifically:
"John McCain also gave us McCain-Feingold. This is the law that keeps pro-life or pro-Second Amendment organizations from broadcasting ads that mention a candidate by name 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general election. This proves that John McCain believes neither in the right to life nor the right to keep and bear arms. (This is one reason why the Gun Owners of America gives McCain a grade of F.)"...."as a senator, John McCain has repeatedly voted to fund pro-abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood with federal tax dollars. In fact, McCain has voted to use federal tax dollars to support abortion providers at home and overseas." (Chuck Baldwin, newswithviews.com)

"John McCain supports the International Criminal Court. Can you believe this? Can you imagine U.S. citizens being hauled off before an international court to be tried for crimes? Imagine an international court whose rulings and opinions overrule U.S. rulings and opinions. Imagine a court setting where the constitutional protections of the Bill of Rights are null and void. Imagine a court setting where international law trumps U.S. or state laws. If that is not a surrender of U.S. sovereignty, nothing is! And John McCain is all for it." (Chuck Baldwin, newswithviews.com

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