I think during the Vietnam War, the US turned over all prisoners of the NVA and Viet Cong to the South Vietnamese military. I.e., the US didn't have/keep prisoners of war. Baron Max
But i heard,that there were prisoners who were left there to be tortured...but since they had left,they(U.S. Gov.) simply denied it? how far is that true?...i dont know...
I suppose it is possible that there were a few American POWs left behind when the U.S. withdrew. But honestly, there's no point whatsoever in keeping prisoners unless you plan on using them as a bargaining chip. I adamantly refuse to believe that there have been people sitting in bamboo cages for thirty years. It is more or less accepted that a small but significant number of people went AWOL - seems likely that they either went native and were absorbed into the local population, escaped the country and settled somewhere else, or were killed somewhere along the way. There were rumors of a few caucasians spotted with NVA and VC forces, and that these people were American deserters, but it seems more likely that these guys were Russian advisors or observers.
Your post is very vague ...what prisoners? ...what nationality? ...were they military or civilian? ...what nations were involved? ...where were they captured? ...were they insurgents? ...were they terrorists? ...well, a whole bunch of questions arise, don't they? And why didn't you ask? Read the above post: "But i heard,that there were prisoners who were left there to be tortured..." Whose prisoners? And what were the prisoners? Who were they? What nationality? Military or civilian? Who is supposed to have tortured those prisoners and for what? And was the US supposed to know that the prisoners were to be tortured? And by whom? With the words "...(US Gov.) simply denied it" implies that it was US prisoners. But the US didn't keep any Vietnamese prisoners, so what should we now say in answer to your questions? I'd also suggest that whenever anyone tells you something like that, ask for references and evidence. Please don't just believe everything you hear and then come to an Internet forum and ask the question! Baron Max
The US didn't deny it ..they just didn't know! There's a big difference. The North Vietnamese didn't furnish a list according to the rules of the Geneva Convention. The American prisoners of the North Vietnamese were only suspected, never confirmed ...and as far as I know they haven't confirmed it to this day! Baron Max
The M.I.A. Issue During the course of the Vietnamese conflict, hundreds of Americans were incarcerated in Vietnamese prisons in North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and China. Many lived in barbaric conditions. Of these, 591 were released during Operation Homecoming, the prisoner repatriation program that was instituted at the war's end, in the spring of 1973. More than 2,000 Americans remained unaccounted for at that time. Decades-Long Concerns Over thirty years later, many groups and individuals remain convinced that despite the efforts of the U.S. and Vietnam, a complete accounting of missing Americans has yet to be delivered. As the United States forges an expanded postwar relationship with Vietnam, the prisoner of war/missing in action (P.O.W./M.I.A.) issue remains a morass of incomplete data, shadowy reports of Americans still alive in Indochina, insistence by the U.S. and Vietnamese governments that no American M.I.A.s remain alive, and allegations by M.I.A. advocates of cover-ups and foot-dragging on the part of those same governments. Horrifying "Hotels" From 1964 to 1973, the North Vietnamese had captured Americans, mostly pilots and crews of downed aircraft, and delivered them to prisons. Among the most notorious of these facilities was Hoa Lo, known by Americans as the Hanoi Hilton. Conditions at "the Hilton," along with the other large urban prisons and jungle camps throughout Vietnam, were horrifying. Brutal Treatment Although the Geneva Convention of 1949 called for the decent and humane treatment of prisoners of war, these terms did not apply in Vietnam. The Vietnamese were accused of brutally torturing their captives -- beating them with fists, clubs, and rifle butts, flaying them with rubber whips, and stretching their joints with rope in an effort to uncover information about American military operations. The Americans were forced to record taped "confessions" to war crimes against the Vietnamese people and to write letters urging Americans at home to end the war. Poor food and medical care was standard. Prisoners were often isolated to prevent communication among each other, in addition to being denied communication with family members. American prisoners sometimes died in captivity, from wounds sustained in combat, or at the hands of their captors. Resistance Despite these oppressive conditions, American P.O.W.s worked to confound their jailers, resisting torture, delivering spurious or nonsensical "confessions" and developing clandestine communication networks in prison. P.O.W.s compiled mental lists of imprisoned personnel, along with information about their physical conditions, in hope of delivering this information to the outside world at the first opportunity. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/mia.html
Deny what? You're being so simplistic that I find it difficult to even understand what it is you're expressing or wnat it is you want anyone to say or do? Make yourself clear .....please. Baron Max
Well, as I said earlier ...the US military didn't KNOW that there were still US military prisoners of war being held by the North Vietnamese. Not knowing for sure, how could they affirm OR deny? If you don't KNOW something, what else can one say? Rumors ain't fact. Speculation ain't fact. Hopes n' prayers ain't fact. Baron Max
