Commentary
John Lanier
Films, letters provide new evidence
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series
of five articles on the other side of the POW
issue, specially commissioned by the
editors.
In the first column in this series we
saw that evidence gathered from (1) the
Pentagon, (2) the White House, (3) private
groups and individuals and, most im
portantly, (4) from former American
POWs themselves, does not in any way
indicate mistreatment of any sort by the
North Vietnamese.
Now let us pursue this subject a little
further, examine information about
treatment and alleged “mistreatment”
supplied by three additional sources, and
from this draw a general conclusion about
treatment of American POWs in North
Vietnam.
• (5) Information from the govern
ment of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam—As early as July 25,1969, and on
many subsequent occasions, the North
Vietnamese, in response to American
statements and inquiries, have given wide
but explicit assurances of the good
treatment of POWs. On that date, the late
North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh
wrote:
“Although the captured American
military men had perpetrated monstrous
crimes such as the use of the B-52S,
napalm bombs and toxic chemicals, etc.,
to burn and destroy villages and cities, and
to massacre honest civilians, they have
enjoyed a lenient and humane treatment
from the Vietnamese people. In contrast,
the Vietnamese army men and civilians
captured by U.S. troops and the Saigon
puppet administration have been tortured
and massacred most savagely.”
Won’t condemn
One might say that the North Viet
namese cannot be expected to condemn
themselves through their own statements.
But nonetheless the fact stands that they
have never lied to us before on any matter,
and we can only assume that their honesty
in the face of our lies and deceits about our
intentions in Vietnam has not waned.
Particularly in an area such as this, where
it is to their obvious advantage to be telling
the truth.
• (6) Letters and other com
munications to the U.S. from the POWs—
POW campaigners like to say that the
prisoners are rarely or never allowed to
communicate with or receive
correspondence from the outside world.
This simply is not true. Hundreds of letters
and cards flow in both directions, and
recent reports indicate the POWs are
allowed to record messages to relatives at
birthday times and on other occasions.
Though nothing in these com
munications has been shown to be
especially critical of the North Viet
namese, and much is in fact com
plimentary, this is again scoffed at by a
good many people because of what is at
least the potential ability of the North
Vietnamese to censor or restrict in
formation leaving their country.
Film interview
One communication from POWs in the
North cannot be eliminated for this reason,
however. This is the Christmas Day in
terview with two American pilots filmed
by Michael MacLear, a newsman for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
The two pilots who were interviewed,
plus others whose activities at a POW
camp were filmed by the CBC crew, all
appeared in good health and were playing
volleyball during much of the filming.
The two who were interviewed, Walter
Wilbur and Robert Schweitzer, both said
that they were well-treated, both called for
an end to the war in Vietnam, by means of
an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops,
and both discussed their daily routines at
the camp, routines which included meals,
sports, mail privileges, visits to museums
and other sites, books, exercises and
“music programs and the like.”
Both said they had discussed the war
with fellow POWs during their detention.
They also said they received letters about
once a month and packages about every
two months.
MacLear also interviewed DRV
Premier Pham Van Dong, who told him:
“I swear to you these men are well
treated.”
Because this film, and other in
terviews and information like it, was so
revealing of the lack of truth behind U.S.
statements on the POW issue, the Pen
tagon could only respond that the in
terview was an “enemy propaganda
film.”
Pilots well-treated
Information received from U.S. POWs
in the North, therefore, indicates that they
are well-treated and live busy and healthy
lives, and that at least some have become
convinced through discussions among
fellow POWs that the war should be ended
immediately.
• (7) Representatives of U.S. peace
groups who have visited POW camps in the
DRV or who have received information
about POWs in Paris and Hanoi—A great
deal of information about POWs has been
supplied by North Vietnam to U.S. groups
who are working toward an end to the
Vietnam conflict.
This information has included names
and entire lists of those held in the DRV,
chances to observe conditions first-hand in
POW camps, and statements from the
government of North Vietnam on the POW
issue. They have also brought hundreds of
letters, cards and small packages into the
DRV for the prisoners, and returned to the
U.S. with a similar number of these items
for POW relatives and friends.
Similar information has also been
provided in written form to several anti
war Senators, particularly J. William
Fulbright and Edward Kennedy. Both
Senators recently received official lists of
U.S. prisoners held in the North, for
example. Another member of Congress
received assurances from North Viet
namese officials in Laos that U.S.
prisoners in the North are well-treated and
were given special privileges this
Christmas season.
Holidays in Vietnam
Three members of the Committee of
Liaison with Families of Servicemen
Detained in North Vietnam, an American
peace group, spent the Christmas holidays
in North Vietnam and reported that the
POWs they met in the one camp they
visited were in good physical condition,
were eating well, were leading a relaxed
existence, and participated in sports and
music sessions every morning.
“The five POWs we spoke to had very
ruddy skin, just like college boys ready to
go out on the football field,” reported
Committee member Trudi Young. She also
said that one prisoner said to her that he
was eating better than the Vietnamese
around him, and that another stated: “One
thing we want you to know is that we’re
really fine and well looked after.”
The information and first-hand
evidence brought to public attention by
peace groups, anti-war political leaders
and others is so complimentary toward
North Vietnam and so damning of the
falsehoods of the POW campaign, in fact,
that only one bit of information from these
sources has been twisted around into a
condemnation of the treatment of. the
POWs.
Anti-war lawyers
This was the fact supplied by the North
Vietnamese to anti-war activist Sidney
Peck and anti-war New York lawyer Peter
Weiss that 17 American military men had
died in the North. In fact, although this
information was revealed by Peck and
Weiss two days after the raid was held, the
Nixon administration twisted around this
fact into a justification for the November
1970 Sontay POW raid deep into the North,
giving a good example of how the POW
campaign and information supplied by
Hanoi is being used by the U.S. govern
ment and military for criminal acts.
The actual facts about the 17 deaths
are made clear by attorney Weiss who,
shortly after the release of his information
from Hanoi, attacked the claim that the
men died in prison camps and the im
plication that they were mistreated “as an
almost total lie. It may be that some died
in captivity. But the figure 17 refers to
Americans who died in one of several
ways—the most likely is when their plane
was shot down they were killed or
seriously wounded and were found dead.
“Another possibility is that they were
suffering from severe wounds and died
from their wounds. A third possibility is
that they didn’t land anywhere near a
populated area but wandered around the
mountains and eventually died of exposure
and lack of food and were discovered dead.
And the fourth possibility is that they died
in captivity. Out of at least 339 prisoners
officially recognized by the DRV, some of
whom have been in captivity since 1965,
some will die...
“The fact is that they made it clear
when they released the names that these
figures for dead people referred to all
these categories . . .”
Records excepted
At the time of the Sontay raid, a
Washington official with “access to all
governmental information concerning the
prisoners” confirmed for the Boston Globe
that, with the exception of the Peck and
Weiss reports, there had been no other
information pointing toward alleged
“maltreatment.”
Weiss also stated that virtually all
available evidence points to very humane
treatment of Americans held by the DRV
and the National Liberation Front (NLF).
Catholic University professor John Van
Dyke, in his article in the Oct. 6,1969 issue
of the Nation, concluded from the evidence
available from released POWs that the
death rate among U.S. POWs is far lower
than it was in Japanese and U.S. POW
camps during the Second World War, and
in no way compares to the brutality em
ployed by U.S. and South Vietnamese
troops against NLF and DRV prisoners in
the South.
Simple evidence
The facts are simple. Evidence
brought out by Americans visiting the
DRV is that American POWs are well
treated in all aspects of their existence
from food to health care to recreation.
Though some have died in captivity, this
has been generally due to wounds suffered
in battle, and none has been shown to have
resulted from mistreatment while in POW
camps.
This conclusion is reinforced by in
formation obtained from the government
of the DRV, letters or other com
munications from the POWs, former
POWs released by the DRV, or from
statements by individuals, organizations,
government officials or Pentagon
spokesmen, all three of which must rely on
the former four for their factual in
formation.
Since these are the only sources of
information known to exist on the POW
issue, the only viable conclusion to be
drawn from all of this is the the POWs are
in fact not mistreated, and that though
they may not be eating steak and potatoes
every night, they have adequate facilities,
food, medical care, recreational and in
tellectual opportunities, and the like.
The first contention voiced across the
United States by the U.S. government and
the members of the “Tell It to Hanoi
Committee” was that American POWs
held in the North are mistreated. Clearly,
from the abundant evidence we have
examined, this contention is false.
Tomorrow: Some other contentions on
POWs
I was just following orders....