The following are excerpt from U.S. Ambassador Says Vietnamese Torturers Were "Just Doing Their Jobs," by Ted Sampley, U.S. Veteran Dispatch.
PLEASE NOTE which so-called American war hero [i.e., Senator John McCain] stood in the way of seeing to it that those responsible for the torture and death of real American war heroes (such as Rocky Versace) were appropriately punished under the War Crimes Act of 1996.
Pete Peterson, [Clinton-appointed] US Ambassador to communist Vietnam, appointed in 1995, told the press in Hanoi that the Vietnamese who held U.S. prisoners of war for years of torture and isolation were "men just doing their jobs." Peterson said his return to Vietnam in 1995 was a personal search for reconciliation and that he wants the American public to understand how important it is to the security of the United States for the two sides to put the war behind them and be friends.
Peterson's shameful embrace of the communist Vietnamese responsible for the torture and murder of hundreds of U.S. POWs is an obvious example of Washington's indifference and disrespect for the sacrifices of United States war veterans, particularly those who stood and died on the side of freedom against Vietnam's Marxist/Leninist/Ho Chi Minh war machine.
In fact, if Peterson's statement was meant to be a declaration of the Clinton administration's position on war crimes, then the United States has committed a serious breach of the Geneva Convention. Ratified by the United States in 1955, the Convention states that prisoners of war are "victims of events," who merit "decent and humane treatment" and that the "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment" of POWs are flagrant violations.
Communist Vietnamese policy on prisoners was brutally simple. They ignored all international laws and freehandedly used humiliation, threats, deprivation, torture and execution to manipulate any prisoners that resisted. A captured American would either violate the U.S. military Code of Conduct and collaborate or endure Hanoi's deadly torture.
Retired Air Force Colonel Ted Guy, a former POW held for five years, and a former Senior Ranking Officer (SRO) in the Hanoi prison camp, expressed shock at Peterson's contention that Vietnamese torturers were "only doing their jobs."
"The people of Vietnam are still ruled by the same communist government that treated the POWs as common criminals, in direct violation of the Geneva Accords concerning POW treatment. And this is the government that we are falling over backward to appease. It seems to me that this is another chapter in the book of "America is at blame," Guy said.
Guy raises a relevant question. Why is the United States not pursuing the war criminals who brutalized prisoners of war during the Vietnam War? Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-NC), one of a handful in Congress who still cares about veterans and their issues, pushed a bill through Congress in 1996 making it legal for the U.S. government to seek out and prosecute in U.S. courts anyone who commits war crimes against U.S. military personnel. Although the Geneva Convention granted all "Contracting Parties" the authority to prosecute individuals for committing war crimes as defined by the Convention, the authority was not self-enacting in each participant's country.
In its original form, Jones' bill, the War Crimes Act of 1996, was retroactive to the Vietnam War. But, before he could push the bill through the House and Senate, some of Hanoi's friends on the Hill, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and John Kerry (D-MA), blocked the bill, holding it hostage until it was stripped of all language making the bill retroactive to the Vietnam War.
Congress has never investigated the countless atrocities, torture, and mass murder ordered by top communist Vietnamese officials such as Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet during and after the Vietnam War.
In some prison camps in the South, over which Kiet was responsible, the death rate of U.S. prisoners was as high as 40 to 50 percent. U.S. prisoners under Kiet's deadly control suffered a higher casualty rate than the U.S. prisoners who were held in the infamous Andersonville POW camp during the Civil War. The U.S. government tried, convicted and hung the Confederate commander of Andersonville after the war.
Capt. Humberto "Rocky" Versace, U.S. Army Special Forces, of Norfolk, Va., was held prisoner for two years before, according to a National Liberation Front radio broadcast, he was publicly murdered in September 1965.
Fellow prisoner Lt. Nick Rowe said Versace, who the Viet Cong had labeled a "reactionary," was being tortured by guards in an indoctrination hut a few feet from Rowe's cage when Versace defiantly told a Viet Cong guard, "I'm an officer in the United States Army. You can force me to come here, you can make me sit and listen, but I don't believe a damn word of what you say!" Rowe said those were the last words any American ever heard from Versace.
Soon after, according to a U.S. government report, Versace was marched to Central Committee headquarters and forced to kneel and apologize for his "crimes" before he was shot in the back of the head.
According to reports, Kiet, ordered executed at least three of the American heroes listed above -- Capt. Rocky Versace, Sgts. Kenneth Roraback and Harold Bennett.
Ambassador Peterson deals with Kiet on a daily basis and nearly every high ranking U.S. government official who travels to Vietnam meets with and shakes the hand of Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
Transcript of entire article:
Ambassador says Vietnamese guards just doing a job
As you can see, the good Senators Kerry and McCain were in bed together on this one. Why McCain wasn't wanting to support the original bill, is still vague to me though. After this article, McCain went public about his dislike for Sampley.
PLEASE NOTE which so-called American war hero [i.e., Senator John McCain] stood in the way of seeing to it that those responsible for the torture and death of real American war heroes (such as Rocky Versace) were appropriately punished under the War Crimes Act of 1996.
Pete Peterson, [Clinton-appointed] US Ambassador to communist Vietnam, appointed in 1995, told the press in Hanoi that the Vietnamese who held U.S. prisoners of war for years of torture and isolation were "men just doing their jobs." Peterson said his return to Vietnam in 1995 was a personal search for reconciliation and that he wants the American public to understand how important it is to the security of the United States for the two sides to put the war behind them and be friends.
Peterson's shameful embrace of the communist Vietnamese responsible for the torture and murder of hundreds of U.S. POWs is an obvious example of Washington's indifference and disrespect for the sacrifices of United States war veterans, particularly those who stood and died on the side of freedom against Vietnam's Marxist/Leninist/Ho Chi Minh war machine.
In fact, if Peterson's statement was meant to be a declaration of the Clinton administration's position on war crimes, then the United States has committed a serious breach of the Geneva Convention. Ratified by the United States in 1955, the Convention states that prisoners of war are "victims of events," who merit "decent and humane treatment" and that the "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment" of POWs are flagrant violations.
Communist Vietnamese policy on prisoners was brutally simple. They ignored all international laws and freehandedly used humiliation, threats, deprivation, torture and execution to manipulate any prisoners that resisted. A captured American would either violate the U.S. military Code of Conduct and collaborate or endure Hanoi's deadly torture.
Retired Air Force Colonel Ted Guy, a former POW held for five years, and a former Senior Ranking Officer (SRO) in the Hanoi prison camp, expressed shock at Peterson's contention that Vietnamese torturers were "only doing their jobs."
"The people of Vietnam are still ruled by the same communist government that treated the POWs as common criminals, in direct violation of the Geneva Accords concerning POW treatment. And this is the government that we are falling over backward to appease. It seems to me that this is another chapter in the book of "America is at blame," Guy said.
Guy raises a relevant question. Why is the United States not pursuing the war criminals who brutalized prisoners of war during the Vietnam War? Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-NC), one of a handful in Congress who still cares about veterans and their issues, pushed a bill through Congress in 1996 making it legal for the U.S. government to seek out and prosecute in U.S. courts anyone who commits war crimes against U.S. military personnel. Although the Geneva Convention granted all "Contracting Parties" the authority to prosecute individuals for committing war crimes as defined by the Convention, the authority was not self-enacting in each participant's country.
In its original form, Jones' bill, the War Crimes Act of 1996, was retroactive to the Vietnam War. But, before he could push the bill through the House and Senate, some of Hanoi's friends on the Hill, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and John Kerry (D-MA), blocked the bill, holding it hostage until it was stripped of all language making the bill retroactive to the Vietnam War.
Congress has never investigated the countless atrocities, torture, and mass murder ordered by top communist Vietnamese officials such as Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet during and after the Vietnam War.
In some prison camps in the South, over which Kiet was responsible, the death rate of U.S. prisoners was as high as 40 to 50 percent. U.S. prisoners under Kiet's deadly control suffered a higher casualty rate than the U.S. prisoners who were held in the infamous Andersonville POW camp during the Civil War. The U.S. government tried, convicted and hung the Confederate commander of Andersonville after the war.
Capt. Humberto "Rocky" Versace, U.S. Army Special Forces, of Norfolk, Va., was held prisoner for two years before, according to a National Liberation Front radio broadcast, he was publicly murdered in September 1965.
Fellow prisoner Lt. Nick Rowe said Versace, who the Viet Cong had labeled a "reactionary," was being tortured by guards in an indoctrination hut a few feet from Rowe's cage when Versace defiantly told a Viet Cong guard, "I'm an officer in the United States Army. You can force me to come here, you can make me sit and listen, but I don't believe a damn word of what you say!" Rowe said those were the last words any American ever heard from Versace.
Soon after, according to a U.S. government report, Versace was marched to Central Committee headquarters and forced to kneel and apologize for his "crimes" before he was shot in the back of the head.
According to reports, Kiet, ordered executed at least three of the American heroes listed above -- Capt. Rocky Versace, Sgts. Kenneth Roraback and Harold Bennett.
Ambassador Peterson deals with Kiet on a daily basis and nearly every high ranking U.S. government official who travels to Vietnam meets with and shakes the hand of Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
Transcript of entire article:
Ambassador says Vietnamese guards just doing a job
As you can see, the good Senators Kerry and McCain were in bed together on this one. Why McCain wasn't wanting to support the original bill, is still vague to me though. After this article, McCain went public about his dislike for Sampley.
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