JRtheSTAR
01-06-03, 07:46 PM
'Betrayed' poses answers to the POW/MIA question
By:ANN M. TABB, Starkville Daily News
If you have ever wondered why over 30,000 soldiers behind the black and white POW/MIA flag have never reemerged after the Vietnam War, Korea, and the Cold War, the non-fiction work 'Betrayed' will answer all of those questions. Unfortunately, the answer to many of those questions can be summed up in two words: 'government coverup'.
"Betrayed' is not a happy story. It talks not of soldiers captured by the enemy coming home or of our government's heroism and determination to get them back. It speaks of atrocities that are still going on today. As described by former head of Defense POW/ MIA office:,"The entire issue is being manipulated by unscrupulous people in the Government; any soldier left in Vietnam, even inadvertently, was, in fact, abandoned years ago; the farce that is being played is no more than political legerdemain done with smoke and mirrors, to stall the issue until it dies a natural death."
WWII Veteran Horace Harned of Oktoc said that every word in 'Betrayed' is true.
Harned served with the 14th Air Force Flying Tigers in China, doing photomapping work from 1942-46. A 1942 MSU grad, Harned has been a vocal opponent against Communism in America in print radio and television over the years and said 'Betrayed' affirmed his beliefs on the government sham of trying to get prisoners of war back from Communist nations.
"It was very revealing what happened to some of these soldiers," said the 82-year old Harned."That they were used as human guinea pigs is very penetrating to any American, particularly one who served. When I think of 30,000 prisoners of war still behind the Iron Curtain, I thank God I am not one of them. By the grace of God it could have been me and many veterans feel the same way."
After 24 years in the state House and Senate from 1952-1980. Harned said that inquiries to legislators in Washington on the fate of more than 30,000 Americans missing in action were fruitless for him and many others. The stonewalling began a search for the truth.
"What I learned from this book is that our government is still being directed by the Marxist influence to the point we will let our soldiers die in a foreign land." A discussion on the fate of men who disappeared in wars half a century ago has real relevance today.
The author of "Betrayed", Joseph D. Douglass, Jr., Ph.D.,touches on this in a Dec. 18 guest editorial on "Financial Sense Online" entitled, 'Remembering Those We Left Behind': "As we prepare to send tens of thousands of young men into war against Iraq, it seems only fitting that we honor and remember those left behind in prior wars."
This is not the rants of a conspiracy theorist: Douglass has worked in the national security field for 40 years and has written many books on the dark corners of our federal government. Dr. Douglass is widely respected for his studies of U.S. and Soviet nuclear strategy; Communist decision making; chemical and biological warfare; and the political origins of international narcotics trafficking. He has taught at Cornell University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. His last book, Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America and the West, has received international acclaim.
Armed with data uncovered by dozens of researchers, Douglass shows how US officials abandoned over 30,000 American POWs (prisoners of war) and MIAs (missing in action) to Communist regimes after World War II and during the Vietnam, Korean and the Cold wars. Douglass thoroughly examines what the US government knew. He identifies the officials who decided to abandon the captives and details the subsequent efforts to hide information and cover-up what happened. War crimes, atrocities, and human rights violations that rival those of Hitler's Germany, are involved and excruciating details are provided by top-ranking Communist official.
The congressional testimony of Czech general major Jan Sejna, who defected to the US in 1968, revealed that thousands of American prisoners captured by Communists were used as human guinea pigs in ghastly medical experiments using atomic radiation and chemical and biological warfare agents. Sejna helped design, coordinate, and monitor the operation that used American POW/MIAs in experiments when he was a member of the Czech Communist government's decision-making hierarchy. Betrayed also reveals how and why Sejna's reputation was viciously attacked to undermine what he had to say.
Still not convinced of the books merits? The author backs up his sources with a 83-page list of footnotes at the end of the book. Go check them out. Navy Capt. Red McDaniel, who survived six years as a POW in North Vietnam, sums it up: "I was prepared to fight, to be wounded, to be captured, and even prepared to die, but I was not prepared to be abandoned."
But this what happened to over 30,000 American servicemen, beginning in WW I and continuing through the first Gulf War. With the exception of the Gulf War, all were left behind in the hands of Communist regimes, whose brutality exceeded by any measure that perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II.
Little has been said by Washington to acknowledge the men left behind. An exception to the rule is Sen. Herb Kohl. After studying the evidence in 1992, he wrote: "This [Final Report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs] demonstrates that the government has not kept its promises to those who served in Vietnam. Even more disturbing, is the evidence which suggests 'strongly suggests' that that the government failed to keep its promises to those who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War as well."
In all cases, the official government position, or policy, has been that no men were knowingly left behind and, thus, none will be found. This is why so little has been accomplished in the $100 million per year search for bones.
In 1973, at the time of Operation Homecoming following the end of the Vietnam War, President Nixon was told by Secretary of Defense Laird's point man on the POW issue, Dr. Roger Shields, "Mr. President, we, we do have two missing for every man who did come home." President Nixon said, "Right," and then changed the subject. U.S. policy issued the following day by the State Department said that no American captives remained in Vietnam. President Nixon said all our men in Southeast Asia were now home.
But every year, more and more of the truth surfaces as investigators become curious and get emotionally involved because of the deceit levied upon those who were called to serve their country and upon their wives and families.
'Betrayed' is not light reading, not for the faint of heart, and requires quite a bit of geographical and historical understanding to comprehend the magnitude of the POW/MIA issue, especially for those of the younger generation.
Some hard core history buffs may question some details of what Douglass claims to be true in his book, such as the transfer of US POWs to the Soviet Union via Czechoslovakia. Because of the timeline, how would Soviets use the Czechs to transfer US POWs at the same time the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia?
But the book lays it out for the reader, step by step: Thousands of Americans were abandoned and not due to accident or lack of intelligence; the men were ignored and information on their fate was buried or destroyed, families were lied to and stonewalled; efforts to recover POW/MIAs are a Kabuki dance of false moves by government officials; silence respecting the crimes of the Communists is carefully maintained and to never let the fate of servicemen left behind interfere with business and commerce.
Aside from the obvious need to find and free those still held captive, there is an equally compelling reason for re-assessing the whole POW/MIA tragedy. Navy Capt. Red McDaniel's wife in her book After the Hero's Welcome: A POW Wife's Story of the Battle Against a New Enemy has captured this reason:
"If our government does not keep its end of the bargain with our fighting men, it violates one of the principles that made America. We can have the biggest force in the world but we'll lose the battle if we lose our integrity. The POW issue is a question about the erosion of our country's fundamental values.
This New Year, read the hard truth by Douglass. Then pass those books on to others. The truth may set them free.
--
By:ANN M. TABB, Starkville Daily News
If you have ever wondered why over 30,000 soldiers behind the black and white POW/MIA flag have never reemerged after the Vietnam War, Korea, and the Cold War, the non-fiction work 'Betrayed' will answer all of those questions. Unfortunately, the answer to many of those questions can be summed up in two words: 'government coverup'.
"Betrayed' is not a happy story. It talks not of soldiers captured by the enemy coming home or of our government's heroism and determination to get them back. It speaks of atrocities that are still going on today. As described by former head of Defense POW/ MIA office:,"The entire issue is being manipulated by unscrupulous people in the Government; any soldier left in Vietnam, even inadvertently, was, in fact, abandoned years ago; the farce that is being played is no more than political legerdemain done with smoke and mirrors, to stall the issue until it dies a natural death."
WWII Veteran Horace Harned of Oktoc said that every word in 'Betrayed' is true.
Harned served with the 14th Air Force Flying Tigers in China, doing photomapping work from 1942-46. A 1942 MSU grad, Harned has been a vocal opponent against Communism in America in print radio and television over the years and said 'Betrayed' affirmed his beliefs on the government sham of trying to get prisoners of war back from Communist nations.
"It was very revealing what happened to some of these soldiers," said the 82-year old Harned."That they were used as human guinea pigs is very penetrating to any American, particularly one who served. When I think of 30,000 prisoners of war still behind the Iron Curtain, I thank God I am not one of them. By the grace of God it could have been me and many veterans feel the same way."
After 24 years in the state House and Senate from 1952-1980. Harned said that inquiries to legislators in Washington on the fate of more than 30,000 Americans missing in action were fruitless for him and many others. The stonewalling began a search for the truth.
"What I learned from this book is that our government is still being directed by the Marxist influence to the point we will let our soldiers die in a foreign land." A discussion on the fate of men who disappeared in wars half a century ago has real relevance today.
The author of "Betrayed", Joseph D. Douglass, Jr., Ph.D.,touches on this in a Dec. 18 guest editorial on "Financial Sense Online" entitled, 'Remembering Those We Left Behind': "As we prepare to send tens of thousands of young men into war against Iraq, it seems only fitting that we honor and remember those left behind in prior wars."
This is not the rants of a conspiracy theorist: Douglass has worked in the national security field for 40 years and has written many books on the dark corners of our federal government. Dr. Douglass is widely respected for his studies of U.S. and Soviet nuclear strategy; Communist decision making; chemical and biological warfare; and the political origins of international narcotics trafficking. He has taught at Cornell University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. His last book, Red Cocaine: The Drugging of America and the West, has received international acclaim.
Armed with data uncovered by dozens of researchers, Douglass shows how US officials abandoned over 30,000 American POWs (prisoners of war) and MIAs (missing in action) to Communist regimes after World War II and during the Vietnam, Korean and the Cold wars. Douglass thoroughly examines what the US government knew. He identifies the officials who decided to abandon the captives and details the subsequent efforts to hide information and cover-up what happened. War crimes, atrocities, and human rights violations that rival those of Hitler's Germany, are involved and excruciating details are provided by top-ranking Communist official.
The congressional testimony of Czech general major Jan Sejna, who defected to the US in 1968, revealed that thousands of American prisoners captured by Communists were used as human guinea pigs in ghastly medical experiments using atomic radiation and chemical and biological warfare agents. Sejna helped design, coordinate, and monitor the operation that used American POW/MIAs in experiments when he was a member of the Czech Communist government's decision-making hierarchy. Betrayed also reveals how and why Sejna's reputation was viciously attacked to undermine what he had to say.
Still not convinced of the books merits? The author backs up his sources with a 83-page list of footnotes at the end of the book. Go check them out. Navy Capt. Red McDaniel, who survived six years as a POW in North Vietnam, sums it up: "I was prepared to fight, to be wounded, to be captured, and even prepared to die, but I was not prepared to be abandoned."
But this what happened to over 30,000 American servicemen, beginning in WW I and continuing through the first Gulf War. With the exception of the Gulf War, all were left behind in the hands of Communist regimes, whose brutality exceeded by any measure that perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II.
Little has been said by Washington to acknowledge the men left behind. An exception to the rule is Sen. Herb Kohl. After studying the evidence in 1992, he wrote: "This [Final Report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs] demonstrates that the government has not kept its promises to those who served in Vietnam. Even more disturbing, is the evidence which suggests 'strongly suggests' that that the government failed to keep its promises to those who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War as well."
In all cases, the official government position, or policy, has been that no men were knowingly left behind and, thus, none will be found. This is why so little has been accomplished in the $100 million per year search for bones.
In 1973, at the time of Operation Homecoming following the end of the Vietnam War, President Nixon was told by Secretary of Defense Laird's point man on the POW issue, Dr. Roger Shields, "Mr. President, we, we do have two missing for every man who did come home." President Nixon said, "Right," and then changed the subject. U.S. policy issued the following day by the State Department said that no American captives remained in Vietnam. President Nixon said all our men in Southeast Asia were now home.
But every year, more and more of the truth surfaces as investigators become curious and get emotionally involved because of the deceit levied upon those who were called to serve their country and upon their wives and families.
'Betrayed' is not light reading, not for the faint of heart, and requires quite a bit of geographical and historical understanding to comprehend the magnitude of the POW/MIA issue, especially for those of the younger generation.
Some hard core history buffs may question some details of what Douglass claims to be true in his book, such as the transfer of US POWs to the Soviet Union via Czechoslovakia. Because of the timeline, how would Soviets use the Czechs to transfer US POWs at the same time the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia?
But the book lays it out for the reader, step by step: Thousands of Americans were abandoned and not due to accident or lack of intelligence; the men were ignored and information on their fate was buried or destroyed, families were lied to and stonewalled; efforts to recover POW/MIAs are a Kabuki dance of false moves by government officials; silence respecting the crimes of the Communists is carefully maintained and to never let the fate of servicemen left behind interfere with business and commerce.
Aside from the obvious need to find and free those still held captive, there is an equally compelling reason for re-assessing the whole POW/MIA tragedy. Navy Capt. Red McDaniel's wife in her book After the Hero's Welcome: A POW Wife's Story of the Battle Against a New Enemy has captured this reason:
"If our government does not keep its end of the bargain with our fighting men, it violates one of the principles that made America. We can have the biggest force in the world but we'll lose the battle if we lose our integrity. The POW issue is a question about the erosion of our country's fundamental values.
This New Year, read the hard truth by Douglass. Then pass those books on to others. The truth may set them free.
--