- United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs was a special committee convened by the
United States Senate during theGeorge H. W. Bush administration (1989 to 1993) to investigate the fate of United States service personnel listed asmissing in action during theVietnam War . The committee was in existence fromAugust 2 ,1991 toJanuary 2 ,1993 .Origins
Following the
Paris Peace Accords of January 1973, U.S.prisoners of war were returned duringOperation Homecoming during February through April 1973.During the late 1970s and 1980s, the friends and relatives of unaccounted-for American personnel became politically active, requesting the United States government reveal what steps were taken to follow up on intelligence regarding last-known-alive MIAs and POWs. When initial inquiries revealed important information had not been pursued, many families and their supporters asked for the public release of POW/MIA records and called for an investigation. A spate of films, mostly notably "" (1985), popularized the idea that American POWs had been left behind after the war. [cite web | url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/lundy/v/cinematic2.html | title=Left Behind: Cinematic Revisions of the Vietnam POW | author=Cathleen Lundy Daniel | publisher=
University of Virginia | date=2001 | accessdate=2008-01-25] Serious charges were leveled at the Bush administration (1989 to 1993) regarding the POW/MIA issue. TheUnited States Department of Defense , headed by then Secretary of DefenseDick Cheney , had been accused of covering up information and failing to properly pursue intelligence about American POW/MIAs. A July 1991 "Newsweek " cover photograph purported to show three American POWs still being held against their will, which increased general public interest in the issuecite book | title = Man of the People: The Life of John McCain | first = Paul | last = Alexander | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9jN5cwr_YIwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Man+of+the+People%22&sig=BXDf3N8PIDpDkNEH95RhDJsdAMU | id = ISBN 0-471-22829-X | year = 2002 | publisher =John Wiley & Sons |pages=p. 148] (but the photograph itself would turn out to be a hoax). Polls showed that a majority of Americans believed that alive POWs were indeed captive; [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DC133CF930A25752C0A964958260 | title= A Credible Search for M.I.A.'s | publisher="The New York Times " | date=1992-01-13 | accessdate=2008-03-25] a July 1991 "Wall Street Journal " poll showed 70 percent of Americans believing this, and that three-fourths of them believed the U.S. government was not doing what needed to be done to gain their release. [cite book | last=Keating | first=Susan Katz | title=Prisoners of Hope:: Exploiting the POW/MIA Myth in America | publisher=Random House | location=New York | year=1994 | isbn=0679430164 p. 224.]Another motivation of the committee became establishing the framework for normalization of relations with Vietnam, and congressional approval of same.cite book | last=Brown | first=Frederick Z. | chapter=The United States and Vietnam: Road to Normalization | editor=
Richard Haass , Meghan L. O'Sullivan | title=Honey and Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions, and Foreign Policy | publisher=Brookings Institution Press | year=2000 | isbn=0815733569 pp. 149–150.]Members
Shortly thereafter in 1991, Senator and Vietnam veteran Bob Smith introduced a resolution to create a Senate Select POW/MIA Committee.cite book | last=McCain | first=John | authorlink=John McCain | coauthors=
Mark Salter | title=Worth the Fighting For | publisher=Random House | year=2002 | isbn=0-375-50542-3 pp. 242–243.] The fate of possible missing or captured Americans in Vietnam had been Smith's major issue since coming to Congress in 1985,cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D6163DF93BA3575AC0A965958260 | title= Claim of P.O.W. Cover-Up Rends Senate Decorum | author=Adam Clymer | work=The New York Times | date=1993-09-08 | accessdate=2008-01-05] partly spurred on by his growing up without knowing how his own father died inWorld War II . This was the third congressional investigation into the POW/MIA issue, but had a mandate to be more skeptical and ask harder questions of government officials than before. Formation of the committee was passed unanimously by the Senate. By October 1991, ten members had been selected for the committee. [Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", p. 225.]Senator and also Vietnam veteran
John Kerry was eventually named chairman of the committee by Senate Majority LeaderGeorge Mitchell .cite news | title=The Long War of John Kerry | author=Joe Klein | work=The New Yorker | date=2004-01-05 ] Senate Minority LeaderBob Dole chose Smith vice-chairman, after Senator and former Vietnam POWJohn McCain initially declined the vice-chair position.The full committee consisted of twelve senators, likewise selected by the majority and minority leaders:
*John Kerry , chairman and Vietnam veteran
* Bob Smith, vice-chairman and Vietnam veteran
*John McCain , seriously wounded Vietnam veteran and POW in North Vietnam
*Bob Kerrey , seriously wounded Vietnam veteran andMedal of Honor recipient
*Chuck Robb , Vietnam veteran
*Hank Brown , Vietnam veteran
*Chuck Grassley
*Nancy Landon Kassebaum
*Herb Kohl
*Tom Daschle
*Harry Reid
*Jesse Helms Kohl replaced
Dennis DeConcini , who was initially selected but then asked to be removed.Al Gore was the only Vietnam-era veteran who declined to participate.Running the committee was seen as politically risky for Kerry, and one that his advisors recommended he not do.cite news | url=http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062103.shtml | title=At the center of power, seeking the summit | work=John Kerry: A Candidate in the Making | author=John Aloysius Farrell | work=
The Boston Globe | date=2003-06-21 | accessdate=2008-01-05] cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDF1338F933A2575BC0A964958260 | title=The Senator Pursues 'Untold' M.I.A. Story | author=Barbara Crossette | work=The New York Times | date=1992-08-10 | accessdate=2008-01-25] cite book | last=Gettleman | first=Marvin E. | title=Vietnam and America: A Documented History | publisher=Grove Press | year=1985 | isbn=0-394-54134-0 p. 504.] Indeed, as Bob Kerrey later said, "Nobody wanted to be on that damn committee. It was an absolute loser. Everyone knew that the POW stories were fabrications, but no one wanted to offend the vet community."Hearings and investigations
Hearings began on
November 5 ,1991 ,cite web | url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/investigation_S.html | title=The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database: United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs | publisher=Library of Congress | date=2004-09-27 | accessdate=2008-03-23] and were conducted in five blocks:
# Hearings on the U.S. Government's Efforts to Learn the Fate of America's Missing Servicemen (November 1991)
# Hearings on the U.S. Government's Efforts to Learn the Fate of America's Missing Servicemen (June 1992)
# Hearings on U.S. Government's Post-War POW/MIA Efforts (August 1992)
# Hearings on the Paris Peace Accords (September 1992)
# Hearings on Cold War, Korea, World War II POWs (November 1992)Going into the hearings, Smith was convinced that prisoners had been left behind after the war. Kerry suspected that some prisoners had been left behind by the Nixon and Ford administrations in their eagerness to disengage from the war; however, he doubted that there were secret camps in operation, as had been touted by POW/MIA activists and some media reports. McCain was skeptical that any prisoners had been left behind, partly because he and the other POWs had gone to great lengths at the time to keep track of everyone who was a prisoner in North Vietnam, and partly because he could see no motivation with evidence behind it for the Hanoi government to have kept any.McCain, "Worth the Fighting For", p. 240.]
The first day of hearings featured the testimony of then-
U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and retired General, formerChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , and current head of the American POW/MIA delegation in Hanoi,John Vessey .McCain, "Worth the Fighting For", pp. 245–247.] Both defended the administration's and the military's role in trying to get the Vietnamese to improve their efforts in ascertaining the fate of missing personnel. Vessey rejected the notion of a government conspiracy, saying that he had never seen evidence of one at any time in his military career, and adding that, "American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are not conspirators."Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", pp. 93–95.] Cheney said that Vietnamese cooperation was improved but still needed much more improvement. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4D81330F935A35752C1A967958260 | title= Hanoi Not Helping Enough on Missing, Cheney Tells Panel | author=Eric Schmitt | publisher="The New York Times " | date=1991-11-06 | accessdate=2008-03-25] The second day featured Garnett "Bill" Bell, head of the U.S. Office for P.O.W.-M.I.A. Affairs in Hanoi, saying that he believed that up to ten American servicemen had been left behind after the war, but that there was no evidence they were still alive. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DF1538F934A35752C1A967958260 | title= An Official Says Some G.I.'s Were Left Behind in Vietnam | publisher="The New York Times " | date=1991-11-07 | accessdate=2008-03-25] Other Defense Department witnesses testifying that day expressed surprise at Bell's testimony, saying they were unaware of any evidence behind it; their statements were met with hisses from POW/MIA activists and family members in the hearing room. The third day saw the testimony of formerVietnam People's Army ColonelBui Tin , who had likely observed McCain in prison once and, years later and dissatisfied with the course of post-war Vietnam, had left the country to live in exile in France in 1990. Tin stated that there were no American prisoners alive and that only a few Americans who had switched sides had remained after the war. After his testimony, he and McCain embraced, which produced a flurry of "Former Enemies Embrace"-style headlines.Thus at times the hearings became heated and contentious. McCain was criticized by some of his fellow POWs for wanting to find a path to normalization.cite book | last=Timberg | first=Robert | title= | publisher=
Touchstone Books | year=1999 | isbn=0-684-86794-X pp. 188–189.] He was also being vilified by some POW/MIA activists as a traitor or a brainwashed "Manchurian Candidate", [Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", pp. 197–201.] which the embrace with Tin only exacerbated. Occasionally his famous temper flared during hearings and Kerry had to calm him down, for which McCain later said he was grateful. McCain had an emotionally-charged exchange with Dolores Alfond, Chair of the National Alliance Of Families For the Return of America's Missing Servicemen. McCain said he was tired of Alfond denigrating the efforts of himself, Vessey, and others involved in investigating the POW/MIA issue, while a tearful Alfond pleaded for the committee to not shut down its work. [cite video | url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CazKanlYDg&feature=related | title=Excerpts from Senate Select Cmte. on POW/MIA Affairs testimony | publisher=C-SPAN | year2=Date unknown | accessdate=2008-06-08]The committee was responsible for getting the Department of Defense to declassify over one million pages of documents. Kerry and McCain and others were able to get the Vietnamese government to give full access to their records. The committee had full-time investigators or delegations stationed in
Moscow and other parts ofRussia ,North Korea , andSoutheast Asia . In all, the committee would conduct over 1000 interviews, take over 200 sworn depositions, and hold over 200 hours of public hearings.Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", p. 239.] Some of the hearings were telecast onC-SPAN .The senators' work was often hands-on. Smith would get leads about possible whereabouts of a POW, and then Kerry would follow up on them.cite book | last=Brinkley | first=Douglas | authorlink=Douglas Brinkley | title=Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War
publisher=HarperCollins | year=2004 | isbn=0060589760 pp. 768–769.] Because of Kerry's activities withVietnam Veterans Against the War , the North Vietnamese deemed him honorable and opened their facilities to him. There had been persistent reports of U.S. prisoners held under theHo Chi Minh Mausoleum inHanoi or in nearby tunnels; Smith had stated in hearings that the Vietnamese Defense Ministry had an underground prison in its compound near the mausoleum, which a Vietnamese official called "a myth and an affront to the people of Vietnam."cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFD61E3DF93AA3575BC0A964958260 | title= Hanoi Official Sees M.I.A. Searches as Spying | author=Barbara Crossette | work=The New York Times | date=1992-08-09 | accessdate=2008-01-23] Kerry and Smith were personally led through a patchwork of tunnels andcatacomb s under Hanoi, until Smith was satisfied that no Americans were being held there. The number of live-sighting searches, include those on short notice, sometimes led to Vietnamese officials accusing the whole process of being a cloak forespionage .The question of testimony by businessman and POW/MIA advocate
Ross Perot before the committee in June 1992 also led to conflict, with Perot fearing a "circus"-like atmosphere due to his candidacy in the1992 U.S. presidential election .cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DC1F31F936A35755C0A964958260 | title=Perot to Testify in Senate on Americans Missing in Southeast Asia | author=Patrick E. Tyler | work=The New York Times | date=1992-06-05 | accessdate=2008-01-24] cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DC133FF933A15755C0A964958260 | title=Perot and Senators Seem Headed for a Fight on P.O.W.'s-M.I.A.'s | author=Patrick E. Tyler | work=The New York Times | date=1992-06-20 | accessdate=2008-01-05] Perot believed that hundreds of American servicemen were left behind in Southeast Asia at the end of the U.S. involvement in the war, and that government officials were covering up POW/MIA investigations in order to not reveal a drug smuggling operation used to finance a secret war inLaos . But much of any testimony was expected to concern Perot's own actions: committee members wanted to question Perot about his unauthorized back-channel discussions with Vietnamese officials in the late 1980s, which led to fractured relations between Perot and the Reagan and Bush administrations,cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975891-6,00.html | title=The Other Side of Perot | author=George J. Church | work=Time | date=1992-06-29 | accessdate=2008-01-24] about Perot's 1990 agreement with Vietnam's Foreign Ministry to become its business agent after relations were normalized, and about Perot's private investigations of and attacks upon Department of Defense officialRichard Armitage . TheNational League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia , one of the leading POW/MIA groups, objected to Perot's decision not to testify. McCain urged Perot to testify, saying, "I have heard he is very convinced that there are still numbers of Americans being held against their will in Southeast Asia, and I am very interested in knowing what leads him to hold that view." Perot did finally testify in August 1992, after (temporarily) dropping out of the presidential race.cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1D7113BF931A2575BC0A964958260 | title=Perot Criticizes U.S. Hanoi Policy | author=Barbara Crossette | work=The New York Times | date=1992-08-12 | accessdate=2008-01-24] He did not present new evidence of live prisoners, but did denounce U.S. behavior towards Vietnam after the war: "What we have done for 20 years is treat them rudely and punch them around." He also criticized theCentral Intelligence Agency for running a secret war in Laos. There were several exchanges between McCain and Perot, who had a complex relationship going back to when Perot had paid for McCain's wife Carol's medical care after she was severely injured in an automobile accident while he was a POW.cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E0DA1639F935A15751C0A9669C8B63 | title=McCain and Perot Stealing Glances, Some Say | author=Richard A. Oppel, Jr. | publisher="The New York Times " | date=2000-02-26 | accessdate=2008-05-18] Perot denied McCain's suggestion that he was aconspiracy theorist , while McCain disputed Perot's notion that the U.S. had "ransomed our prisoners out of Hanoi" at the close of the war.Some of the most publicized testimony before the committee came in September 1992, when former Nixon Defense Secretaries
Melvin Laird andJames Schlesinger said that the U.S. government had believed in 1973 that some American servicemen had not been returned from Laos, despite Nixon's public statements to the contrary.cite news | url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V112/N43/nixon.43w.html | title=Nixon Defense Secretaries Say U.S. Left POWs in Vietnam | author=William J. Eaton | work=Los Angeles Times | date=1992-09-22 | accessdate=2008-01-25] Schlesinger said, "As of now, I can come to no other conclusion. [But] that does not mean there are any alive today." Laird said in retrospect of Nixon's assurances that all POWs were coming home, "I think it was unfortunate to be that positive. You can't be that positive when we had the kind of intelligence we had." In reaction to the testimony, Kerry said, "I think it's quite extraordinary when two former secretaries of defense both give evidence documenting that they had information, or they believed personally, that people were alive and not accounted for in Operation Homecoming."Another conflict occurred over whether
Henry Kissinger 's testimony was complete regarding what top levels of the Nixon administration knew about POWs at the end of the war. Kerry suggested callingRichard Nixon himself to testify, but after Nixon showed that he was unwilling to do so, Kerry decided not to call Nixon.Alexander, "Man of the People", pp. 152–154.] Kissinger had bristled at the notion of a conspiracy: "There is no excuse, two decades after the fact, for anyone to imply that the last five presidents from both parties, their White House staffs, secretaries of state and defense, and career diplomatic and military services either knowingly or negligently failed to do everything they could to recover and identify all of our prisoners and MIAs." AdmiralJames Stockdale , a former POW, also rejected the conspiracy claims: "To go into it as a venture, you'd be a fool because there are so many possibilities of leaks and so forth." FormerDefense Intelligence Agency director Leonard Peroots testified that a conspiracy would have involved hundreds to thousands of participants from the outset, rapidly growing into the millions with frequent personnel shifts and administration changes over the next twenty years.Yet another source of conflict were the different factions within the POW/MIA community. The older
National League of Families was more established, less radical, and more connected to the government.cite book | last=McConnell | first=Malcolm | coauthors=Schweitzer III, Theodore G | title=Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives: Solving the MIA Mystery | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=1995 | isbn=0-671-87118-8 p. 390.] The newerNational Alliance of Families had been been created in a schism with the National League during the 1980s,Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", p. 52.] created by members who were dissatisfied with the League's leadership and ties to the government. Compared to the older group, the National Alliance took a more activist, radical stance, especially towards belief in the existence of live prisoners in Southeast Asia.There were also conflicts among the committee staff, with several of Smith's staff losing their
security clearance s and roles in the investigation due to documents having leaked to investigative journalists such asJack Anderson .Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", p. 189.] Among those fired by Kerry in July 1992 were former North Carolina Congressman and well-known POW/MIA activistBill Hendon and deputy staff director Dino Carluccio. (In October 1991, the two had been accused of confronting Bui Tin upon his U.S. arrival atDulles International Airport and trying to intimidate him against testifying that there were no live prisoners in Vietnam. [cite news | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74744918.html?dids=74744918:74744918&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Oct+20%2C+1991&author=Don+Oberdorfer&desc=Bui+Tin%3A+My+%60Detention%27+at+Dulles | title=Bui Tin: My `Detention' at Dulles | author=Don Oberdorfer | publisher="The Washington Post " | date=1991-10-20] ) After the firings, Smith hired both of them back into his Senate office.Findings
The committee issued its unanimous findings on
January 13 ,1993 . In response to the central question of whether any American POWs were still in captivity, it stated:With specific regard to the "some evidence", the committee said this: "But neither live-sighting reports nor other sources of intelligence have provided grounds for encouragement, [12] particularly over the past decade. The live-sighting reports that have been resolved have not checked out; alleged pictures of POWs have proven false; purported leads have come up empty; and photographic intelligence has been inconclusive, at best." Two senators, Smith and Grassley, dissented at note 12, with the report saying "they believe that live-sighting reports and other sources of intelligence are evidence that POWs may have survived to the present."
With regard to the possibility that American POWs survived in Southeast Asia after Operation Homecoming, the committee said this: "We acknowledge that there is no proof that U.S. POWs survived, but neither is there proof that all of those who did not return had died. There is evidence, moreover, that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number, after Operation Homecoming."
Other wars
The committee's charter also involved investigation of POW/MIA issues related to other conflicts, including
World War II , theKorean War , and theCold War .Legacy
Normalization of relations with Vietnam did not happen right away after the committee concluded. Delay occurred in early 1993 because of Vietnam's refusal to "go the last mile" and the Bush administration's desire to dump the problem on the incoming
Clinton administration . Further delays resulted from issues related toCambodia and avoidance due to the 1994 congressional elections. But in 1995, President Clinton announced normalized diplomatic relations with the county of Vietnam,cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983202,00.html | title=Good Morning, Vietnam | author=James Walsh | work=Time | date=1995-07-24 | accessdate=2008-01-05] with McCain and Kerry both very visible as supporters of the decision.Committee vice-chairman Smith seemed to back away from the committee's findings within months of their being issued, appearing in April 1993 on "
Larry King Live " with POW/MIA activistBill Hendon ,cite news | url=http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/2527/lklshow.html | title=Transcript #805 | work=Larry King Live | publisher=CNN | date=1993-04-15 | accessdate=2008-01-23] stressing his partial dissent from the majority report and touting new evidence of North Vietnam having held back prisoners in 1973, and then in the Senate in September 1993, saying he had "very compelling" new evidence of live prisoners. He also asked the Justice Department to investigate ten federal officials for perjury and other crimes in conjunction with a cover-up of POW/MIA investigations, In what he dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep", Smith said the targeted officials had a "mind-set to debunk".Keating, "Prisoners of Hope", p. 240.] Kerry and McCain both denounced Smith's actions, with McCain saying "In my dealings with these people, it is clear that mistakes may have been made in a very complex set of issues. But at no time was there any indication that they were giving anything but their most dedicated efforts. I frankly don't feel it's appropriate to publicly make these charges without public substantiation." Defense SecretaryLes Aspin said the charges were unwarranted.In 1994, journalist
Sydney Schanberg , who had won aPulitzer Prize in the 1970s for his "New York Times " reporting inCambodia , wrote a long article for "Penthouse" magazine in which he said the committee had been dominated by a faction led by Kerry that "wanted to appear to be probing the prisoner issue energetically, but in fact, they never rocked official Washington's boat, nor did they lay open the 20 years of secrecy and untruths."cite news | url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0408,schanberg2,51267,1.html | title=Did America Abandon Vietnam War P.O.W.'s? | author=Sydney Schanberg | work=Penthouse | date=September 1994 | accessdate=2007-06-01] Schanberg stated that key committee staff had had too close a relationship with the Department of Defense, and that while other committee investigators were able to get evidence of men left behind into the full body of the report, the report's conclusions "were watered down and muddied to the point of meaninglessness." Kerry denied that the committee had engaged in any cover-up. Schanberg would return to the subject during Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign in a series of articles for "The Village Voice "; he claimed that Kerry had shredded documents, suppressed testimony, and sanitized findings during his time as chairman of the committee.cite news | author=Sydney Schanberg | title =When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A. | work =The Village Voice | date =2004-02-24 | url =http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0408,schanberg,51276,1.html | accessdate = 2007-06-01 ] Kerry denied these allegations and responded overall by saying, "In the end, I think what we can take pride in is that we put together the most significant, most thorough, most exhaustive accounting for missing and former P.O.W.'s in the history of human warfare."The 2004 documentary "Missing, Presumed Dead: The Search for America's POWs", narrated by
Ed Asner , included a number of segments showing the committee in hearings and criticism of the committee's actions.cite video | url=http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Presumed-Dead-Search-Americas/dp/B000BRM99M | title=Missing, Presumed Dead: The Search for America's POWs | year2=2004 | people=Bill Dumas (Director) | medium=Documentary] It includes one scene where a former Korean War POW is giving testimony in hearings and, in not untypical congressional practice, only one senator, Smith, was present. The witness asked, "Where are all the other senators?" and an embarrassed Kerry eventually rushed in. While the documentary repeats previous allegations about McCain's behavior as a POW, in his own interview in it Smith simply states, "John McCain, and John Kerry, both were not pursuing this with the same approach that I was."All three of the main figures on the committee would run for president. Smith ran a brief campaign for the 2000 race; in his announcement speech, he said, "Our nation's POWs and MIAs sacrificed their own freedom to protect our freedom and were never heard from again. Their ultimate fate is still unknown. I have traveled to every corner of the world on behalf of the POW/MIA families searching for answers — trying to end their uncertainty. I have had to bang on the doors of our own Government to open up intelligence files. Never again will these families have to beg our government and foreign governments for answers about their loved ones. Never again." [cite web | url=http://www.4president.org/speeches/bobsmith2000announcement.htm | title=Announcement Speech | author=Bob Smith | publisher=Bob Smith for President | date=unknown | accessdate=2008-01-23] Smith's candidacy failed to gain traction, and he switched parties twice during 1999 before dropping out and endorsing Republican
George W. Bush . [cite news | url=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/gallery/011608_thirdpartycandidates?pg=3 | title=A look at previous third party candidates | work=The Boston Globe | date=2008-01-16 | accessdate=2008-01-24] Four years later, again a Republican, Smith would break party lines and endorse Kerry during the latter's 2004 presidential campaign. [cite web | url=http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/102904_smith_letter.pdf | title=Letter from Senator Bob Smith to Senator John Kerry | author=Bob Smith
date=2004-10-28 | accessdate=2008-01-23|format=PDF] During that campaign Kerry's role in the committee was greatly overshadowed by hisVietnam Veterans Against the War participation during the war and by theSwift Boat Veterans for Truth attack against him during the campaign. McCain would run in both 2000 and 2008; during the infamous South Carolina primary in 2000, allegations that he had abandoned POW/MIAs were part of the smear campaign against him.cite news |url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter10.html |title=John McCain Report: The 'maverick' runs |author=Dan Nowicki, Bill Muller |publisher=The Arizona Republic |date=2007-03-01 |accessdate=2007-12-27]References
External links
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/investigation_S.html Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs] at Library of Congress (98Mb PDF)
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1993_rpt/pow-exec.html Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs — Executive Summary only] at Federation of American Scientists (HTML)
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/investigation_S.html Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database] at Library of Congress (contains links to Report and to all five published Hearings, each ~ 100Mb PDF)
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