Not Tortured

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Not Tortured
50
Tue, 10-14-2008 - 12:21am

Maybe he was merely waterboarded (not considered torture now days) or maybe he was just creatively questioned, but his guard says he was not tortured (note: did the guard read the Gonzales and Yoo memos?).


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/14/uselections2008-johnmccain


McCain was not tortured, PoW guard claims


  • John Hooper in Rome
  • The Guardian,
  • Tuesday October 14 2008

    The Republican US presidential candidate John McCain was not tortured during his captivity in North Vietnam, the chief prison guard of the jail in which he was held has claimed.


    In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Nguyen Tien Tran acknowledged that conditions in the prison were "tough, though not inhuman". But, he added: "We never tortured McCain. On the contrary, we saved his life, curing him with extremely valuable medicines that at times were not available to our own wounded."


    McCain, who fell into enemy hands after his plane was shot down in 1967, has frequently referred to being tortured and has cited his experiences as a reason for vigorously opposing the endorsement by the Bush administration of the use of techniques such as "water-boarding" on terrorist suspects.


    Shortly after his release in 1973 McCain told US News & World Report that his prison guards had beaten him "from pillar to post". After being worked over at intervals for four days, he said, he had become suicidal and agreed to sign a "confession" admitting to war crimes.


    In his 1999 autobiography, Faith of My Fathers, he described how after his capture he was subjected to inhuman treatment in an effort to force him to disclose his ship's name, squadron number and the target of his final mission. He was threatened with the withdrawal of medical assistance and, while still suffering from his crash injuries, his guards "knocked me around a little".


    For his service in Vietnam and his actions as a POW, McCain was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Purple Heart.


    Tran, now 75, said McCain reached Hanoi with the worst injuries he had seen in a downed pilot. But he denied torturing him, saying it was his mission to ensure that McCain survived. As the son of the US naval commander in Vietnam, he offered a potential valuable propaganda weapon.


    However, recommending McCain for a medal after the war, his former cellmate, the much-decorated Colonel George Day, said the admiral's son had forced his interrogators to "drug him and torture him to get any cooperation", according to a letter in the US National Archives cited earlier this year by the Washington Post. Day said McCain suffered "torturous abuse".


    Tran told Corriere that McCain was sent to hospital the day after he was brought to Hanoi and stayed there for a month. "I never lost him from sight. I was frightened a doctor or nurse might do him harm."


    Tran dismissed as "absolutely impossible" perhaps the most famous story from McCain's autobiography: that one Christmas, a guard traced a cross in the mud in front of him. "My men were all communists and atheists," he said.


    As to why McCain, then 36, left North Vietnam with prematurely grey hair, Tran denied it was because of mistreatment. "It's that in prison you think too much.">>>


  • Sopal

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 09-08-2008
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 1:36am
    OMG! Talk about an October Surprise! I read something like this on one of the veterans against McCain websites, and thought that it might be true. In fact, McCain is thought to have asked for medical care in exchange for information. This, other than selling secrets to

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-26-2003
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 1:45am
    Eh! In many places, beatings would be considered normal and not torture. I am loath to assume that McCain lied about his experience.
    iVillage Member
    Registered: 10-08-2008
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 10:47am

    I am loath to assume that McCain lied about his experience.


    So, am I.

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-19-2003
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:06am

    you really think that they'd admit to beating prisoners?


    so it mccain the only one who lied ... or did all PsOW lie?

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 10-08-2008
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:08am

    I have a hard time believing that McCain would lie about this.

     

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-19-2003
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:08am

    plus wouldn't it make ALL prisoners of war liars?

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 01-12-2004
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:12am

    "Where did the injuries that resulted in permanent damage come from?"


    When McCain's plane was shot down, he suffered two broken arms.

    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-19-2003
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:16am

    initial source - yes ... but not the only source.


    but ok - take that line out of my post and respond to the rest?

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 03-25-2007
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 11:27am
    I agree...one guard's statement wouldn't be enough to totally convince me.

    Sopal

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 01-12-2004
    In reply to: sopall1953
    Tue, 10-14-2008 - 1:00pm
    I have no way of knowing, and no opinion on the substance of the article (and really no time to think about it today; H and kids are home sick and I'm trying to clear my desk to get out of here early...)

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