Bits N Pieces;

[travisab1]

Thought I'd pass this on;



From: Lynn O'Shea lynn@nationalalliance.org
Subject: Bits N Pieces

National Alliance of Families
For The Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf War

Dolores Alfond - 425-881-1499
Lynn O'Shea --- 718-846-4350
Web Site target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.nationalalliance.org
email lynn@nationalalliance.org

February 21, 2004Bits N Pieces

Saddam Is A POW -- An Associated Press article, from Feb. 15th states: "Iraqi prisoner of war Saddam Hussein will be allowed a visit by the International Red Cross. The organization said yesterday the U.S. military, which grabbed the former dictator two months ago and originally designated him an "enemy prisoner of war" or EPW, not a regular POW, in order to get around war protections, had no yet set a date for the meeting."
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Saddam Get's His Red Cross Visit -- On Feb 21st, the Reuters reported: "Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross visited former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Saturday, an ICRC spokeswoman said."

"The visit took place this morning Baghdad time," Antonella Notari told Reuters in Geneva. She said the visit took place in Iraq but she did not disclose exactly where, under agreement with U.S. forces holding Saddam since his capture in December."
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What's the Message -- Why has the Department of Defense eliminated the POW status for captured American Service personnel, replacing it with the less descriptive Missing-Captured or MIA-C? The Geneva Accords do not recognize the designation MIA-C, just as it does not recognize the DOD designation EPW. So, Saddam is a POW but captured service personnel are MIA-C. Get the Message.....
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Remember the 1998 Strategic Plan -- According to the "Defense Missing Personnel Recovery & Accounting Strategic Plan" briefing slides, under the topic "Goals" item 4 reads "Transition the accounting process for prior conflicts from active operations to reactive efforts triggered by new information by FY2004."

Folks.... it's 2004
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Another Interesting Find -- During one of our many research trips to the Library of Congress, we came across an interesting memo on the subject of the "PW/MIA Issue."

The memo begins: "The purpose of this memorandum is to state my deep personal concern over the current lack of interest, and apathy, expressed by the Department of Defense and the Department of State regarding subject issue."

The memo ends by saying: "I have discussed this situation with my counterparts in the other services and they also share my feelings. While each of us will continue to prod the agencies indicated herein for all available data and assistance, it is of a matter of utmost concern which I feel you should be made aware of."

The memo, addressed to Major General Verne L. Bowers is signed by the Director of Army Casualty, Col. C.J Bobinski, and is dated 17 March 1975.

According to the memo, "In December 1974, upon receipt of [redacted] information pertaining to CW2 Varnado and SSG Harris, I specifically requested that DOD and Department of State pursue the information contained in the [redacted] report. DOD responded by requesting [redacted] to have the report [redacted] for dissemination to NOK. As of this writing, State has done nothing, nor is there an indication that they plan any action."

The memo goes on to say: "Upon return from my recent visit with the Varnado and Harris next of kin, and article appeared in the Washington Post and the Evening Star stating that Senator Kennedy had received a letter from Hanoi indicating information was available on MIA's. On 14 March 1975, the date of the article, I received numerous phone calls, in my office and at home, requesting an update on the Kennedy information; I replied I had none. The Varnado parents were but one of the callers. I called Dr. Shields and expressed my concern and requested assistance in obtaining the necessary data in order to provide some reasonable response to the next of kin, his reply was in the negative."

From the sound of this memo, there was one very frustrated Casualty Officer, in March 1975. Somehow, we can't picture this Casualty Officer removing a document from a file under a family members nose, as a Marine Casualty Officer did in 2002

Attached to the memo was another memo detailing visits to the parents of Michael Varnado, his former wife, and the parents of Glen Harris. According to the memo they were provided information "obtained from a "one-time source" who had acquired the information in July 1974 and that it was received in the Department of Army in December 1974." The memo does not detail the information received on Varnado and Harris but does say "the information did not change our attitude reference the status of Varnado and that many questions need to be answered and that agencies of the Department of Defense are continuing to pursue these answers."

Both the Varnado and Harris family members were urged not to discuss the information provided as "any publicity might seriously jeopardize any chances of obtaining additional data."

What was the July 1974 information obtained from the "one time source?"

According the a CIA cable titled "Detention of two U.S. Prisoners of War in Communist Cambodia" "Around 5 July 1974 a telegram from Khieu Samphan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Nationals Union (GRUNK), was received by the National United Front of Kampuchea [one work unreadable] "Bureau of Politique" in Peking stating that Sergeant Glenn Harris and Sergeant Michael B. Varnado had been captured and were being held by Communist forces in the Khmer Communist area of Kratie Province, Cambodia as of July 1974. The telegram was shown to Prince Norodom Sihanouk who read it and returned it to the bureau."

A source comment reads: The telegram was only a few lines long and did not mention the health of the Prisoners or any plans to move them from Kartie (sic). It gave only the names and grades of the Americans and stated that they had been captured and were being held by the Cambodian Peoples' National Liberation Armed Forces /CPNLAF/ in Kratie."

Item two of the cable states: "During a discussion which Sihanouk held with other members of his entourage, it was decided that Western Prisoners should be kept alive for political reasons. I.E., possible prisoner exchange, until after the "Liberation" of Cambodia." At this point the source offered another comment, stating: "Cables of this nature regularly go from Cambodia to Hanoi, then to Peking, but this was the first time in three and a half years American names were seen. There is peculation, however, that other Westerners, probably French, are being held in Cambodia."

Sgt. Bobby Glenn Harris, lost March 17,1971, was reported as dead at the crash site, by a returned POW. The list of accounted for POWs shows a remains recovery date of April 4, 2002. Date of identification is listed as July 7, 2003.

Sgt. Michael Varnado, lost May 2, 1970, told fellow POWs he was being taken to a hospital. Several months later the POWs were told of Varnado's death. In January 1973, his name appeared on the list of POWs who died in captivity. Remains were repatriated on April 27 1989. Date of identification is listed as July 27, 1989.

Where Bobby Glenn Harris and Michael Varnado alive in Cambodia in 1974? Did the Cambodian government try to manipulate the U.S. government, using false information on American POWs? More questions... and no answers.....
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Why does Johnie Webb still have a job????????????
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Say Hi To An Old Friend -- Stop by former Senator Bob Smith's web site at target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.ussenatorbobsmith.com post him a note to say hi and that we remember all his efforts on behalf of our POWs and MIAs.
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We Can't Avoid The Subject -- Our email box is overflowing. The question of the day.... what do you think of John Kerry? On that subject, we could fill pages. However, our concern is the POW/MIA issue. One of the best articles we've found dealing with Kerry and POW/MIA issue is by Dave Eberhart published on NewsMax.com

[Note: We realize that NewsMax is a conservative site and as would be expected, say nothing flattering about a liberal. However, the deal between Colliers and Vietnam is a fact. An article from the Boston Herald June 16, 1993 confirms it. That, Kerry and Forbes are cousins is a fact. As for the McCreary memos, for many of us they are old news. Full text of all three memo is now available on the Alliance web site at http://www.nationalalliance.org/mccreary/index.htm. Regardless of political affiliation the information presented in this article is factual.]

In his February 13th article titled "Why Families Say Kerry Betrayed POWs and MIAs," referring to the Senate Select Committee On POW/MIAs Eberhart writes: ".... To many, Kerry's agenda as chairman appeared to be more about racing to the normalization of relations with Vietnam than ending the miseries of POW/MIA survivors thirsting for definitive answers as to what happened to their men. Visiting Vietnam, Kerry repeatedly angered the homefolk by praising his former enemy for being open and reporting that he was convinced they were not holding American POWs."

"In the end, Kerry and his committee determined in a 500-page final report that American POWs were left alive in Vietnam after the war but felt none were still alive. It made no attempt to identify those left behind, how they died, who killed them or where their remains might be located. Many POW/MIA families simply didn't believe him, and they were soon given more to ruminate on as to what could have driven Kerry to such unsatisfying and incomplete conclusions."

"Shortly after Kerry declared to the world, "President Bush should reward Vietnam within a month for its increased cooperation in accounting for American MIAs," Vietnam announced it had granted Colliers International, based in Boston, a contract worth millions. Designating Colliers International as the exclusive real estate agent representing Vietnam, the communist regime positioned the company to rake in tens of millions of dollars in future contracts to upgrade Vietnam's ports, railroads and other infrastructure."

"C. Stewart Forbes, chief executive officer of Colliers International, is John Forbes Kerry's cousin. The saga, however, does not end there."

"There remains the nettlesome matter of the document shredding. John F. McCreary, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst assigned to Kerry's committee, is a member of the Virginia State Bar and consequently saw an obligation to report what he suspected was misconduct by Kerry, also an attorney governed by the lawyers' ethics code."

"McCreary felt duty-bound to report knowledge of Kerry's document shredding specifically, the intelligence briefing text - to Vice Chairman Bob Smith."

"A memorandum by McCreary "Sen. John Kerry ... told the Select Committee members that 'all copies' would be destroyed. This statement was made in the presence of the undersigned and of the Staff Chief Counsel who offered no protest."

"On April 9, 1992, McCreary verified that the original document was destroyed, as well as 14 copies. The McCreary memo continued: "On 15 April 1992, the Staff Chief Counsel, J. William Codinha ... ridiculed the Staff members for expressing their concerns; and replied, in response to questions about the potential consequences, 'Who's the injured party,' and 'How are they going to find out because its classified."

"To defuse the growing crisis, on April 16 Kerry stated that the original documents had remained in the Office of Senate Security all along, so nothing wrong had been done."

"But according to McCreary: "The Staff Director had deposited a copy of the intelligence briefing text in the Office of Senate Security at 1307 on 16 April." Kerry had, according to McCreary, ordered a non-original copy of the document entered into the Office of Senate Security, but only after protests from staff caused him to rethink complete destruction of the documents."

"As McCreary stated at the time, this "constituted an act to cover up the destruction."
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Head of a committee that finds POWs were left behind but does nothing to find our what happened to them...... Shredding Documents..... Possible Secret Agenda...... What do you think, we think of John Kerry?
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North Korea Agrees to Improve Cooperation on Remains Recovery -- from Reuters Feb. 12th by Charles Aldinger "The United States said on Thursday it was encouraged by North Korea's commitment to improve cooperation in this year's joint search for American troops missing in the North since the 1950-53 Korean War."

"....Officials of the two countries agreed to resume repatriating recovered remains of dead American troops across the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom, the Defense Department said in a statement."

"This direct transfer across the heavily-armed border between North nd South Korea has not occurred since 1999, but U.S. team members will now accompany the remains into South Korea. Additionally, supplies and equipment for planned search operations will be moved by ground transportation across the DMZ from South Korea into the North."

"I am encouraged by the level of cooperation the North Koreans demonstrated during the talks," said Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Jerry Jennings, in a statement. Jennings led the talks, which wound up on Wednesday in Thailand. They came as the United States, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and China prepared for a new round of six-way talks in Beijing later this month on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Jennings also said the North Koreans agreed this week to present to their senior leaders a proposal to establish a single point of contact to resolve reports of Americans living in North Korea."

"In the past, the North Koreans have refused to discuss the subject in denying that any of the 8,100 U.S. troops missing from the war are still alive in the North. "This doesn't resolve the live sighting issue in North Korea, but at least this time they agreed to discuss it and consider our request," said Jennings."
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The National Alliance Of Families Fifteenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 24th - 26th, 2004. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual Vietnam POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years government briefings. A separate briefing for Korean/Cold War families will be held April 30 - May 1. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the government briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings and you do not have to belong to an organization to attend these briefings.

This year the Alliance meeting will be held at the Sheraton Crystal City (same as last year) located at 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, in Arlington Va. Rate for single or double occupancy is $99.00 per night plus tax.

The hotel is located across the street from both the Crystal City Underground Food Court and the Metro Stop. The Sheraton is within walking distance of the hotel hosting the government briefings. The Alliance is working on transportation between hotels for those who prefer to ride. To make your reservations, call 703-486-1111 and remember to say you want the special National Alliance of Families rate.

The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations may be mailed to:

National Alliance Of Families
P.O. Box 40327
Bellevue, Wa. 98015.

Remember all contributions are tax deductible.

Lynn O'Shea
Director of Research
National Alliance of Families
for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf War




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