mccains captor: he was never tortured
Posted June 24th, 2008 by searay
output
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East
South Asia
UK
Business
Health
Science/Nature
Technology
Entertainment
Also in the news
-----------------
Video and Audio
-----------------
Advertisement
Have Your Say
In Pictures
Country Profiles
Special Reports
Related BBC sites
Sport
Weather
On This Day
Editors' Blog
BBC World Service
Site Version
UK Version
International Version
About the versions
Languages
Chinese
Vietnamese
Indonesian
Burmese
More
Page last updated at 16:59 GMT, Monday, 23 June 2008 17:59 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
'When John McCain was my captive'
By Andrew Harding
BBC News in Haiphong, Vietnam
Tran Trong Duyet claims no torture was carried out at Hoa Lo
Tran Trong Duyet - a sprightly retiree and amateur ballroom dancer - must rank as one of John McCain's more unlikely supporters.
Four decades ago, during the Vietnam war, Mr Duyet was in charge of the notorious Hoa Lo prison - the place where Mr McCain says he was brutally beaten and tortured during five-and-a-half years as an American prisoner of war.
"McCain is my friend," said 75-year-old Mr Duyet as he feeds the caged birds he now keeps in his garden in this coastal city.
"If I was American, I would vote for him."
Informal chats
Navy pilot John McCain was shot down during a bombing raid over the North Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, in 1967.
He ejected from his aircraft and parachuted into a city lake - only to be dragged out by an angry crowd, barely conscious, and with two broken arms and a broken leg.
From there he was taken to Hoa Lo prison, known to its American military inmates as the "Hanoi Hilton".
McCain was captured after his plane was shot down in 1967
McCain has since described enduring months of solitary confinement and systematic torture which drove him to try to kill himself.
"I don't know how he'd react if he met me again," said Mr Duyet, flicking through old black and white photographs of himself and his American prisoners at Hoa Lo.
"But I can confirm to you that we never tortured him. We never tortured any prisoners."
Mr Duyet reminisces instead about how he often summoned the future US presidential candidate to his private office for informal chats.
"We used to argue about the war - about whether it was right or wrong," he says.
"He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal.
"He had a very interesting accent and sometimes he taught me words in English and corrected my accent. I have followed his career since he left prison."
Rapprochement
So is Mr Duyet implying that that Senator McCain lied about his treatment at the Hanoi Hilton?
"He did not tell the truth," he says.
"But I can somehow sympathise with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election."
The "Hanoi Hilton" is now a museum - containing McCain's flight suit
But Mr Duyet's propaganda-perfect version of events is impossible to verify - and should be treated with caution in a country where the Communist authorities still keep a tight control over the media.
Relations between Vietnam and the United States have improved dramatically in recent years, following the normalisation of ties between the former enemies in 1995.
Mr McCain played a crucial role in bringing about that initial rapprochement - a fact which helps explain Mr Duyet's enthusiastic support for the McCain presidential campaign.
"I wish him success in the presidential election," he says.
"Of course the Americans started the war in Vietnam and killed so many people - but now we want to leave the past behind.
"So now I consider John McCain my friend because he did much to mend relations between our two countries. And if he becomes president he will do more to improve those ties."
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Songbirds...
don't have to be tortured to sing.
Trust a communist or John
Trust a communist or John McCain? I'll trust McCain. I don't care for him on positions and principle. He is an American War Hero.
Sealed records??
I had read that McCain was instrumental in having all records of interrogations sealed forever by the VietNamese before he ever ran for president. What would someone do that?
I had heard prior to this about his torture being falsified... I also heard that his injuries were caused by not keeping tucked during ejection over north VietNam. It would coincide with what we surmise about McCain... it may not sit well with a lot of veterans just because he is a fellow veteran; and like someone else noted; we already have plenty of other reasons not to like McCain without this.
If it is true, and I am also skeptical of a communist interrogator who claims no one was ever tortured at Hoa Lo. That's laughable.
What would upset hem more would be to find out that McCain is parlaying his bailout injuries into a presidential 'hot-button' topic... you know, like Obama being Muslim... where you aren't allowed to question such things.
I'd like to know why a man, supposedly POW/torture victim, would come out so strongly in favor of torturing prisoners of war. I would like to know why someone in his position would alienate himself from every veteran/POW group nationwide and seal all POW/MIA records.
It just doesn't make sense.... unless he's hiding something (there, I said it!)
I wouldn't be surprised if
I wouldn't be surprised if the true story painted him in a less heroic light than his legend does. But to believe that he was not tortured is just silly.
----------
Liberty for Dummies
I have no love for John McCain
but this story is total bogus.
I'll believe
some guy in a communist country said McCain and no other prisoners were ever tortured. People say a lot of things. What reveals his guilty conscience is his admission McCain was "summoned" to his office to "argue" about the rightness or wrongness of the war.
Commies killed millions, but would they LIE?
Sorry, this story is ridiculous. The man tortured prisoners, including McCain.
-jcr
Patent nonsense. He can
Patent nonsense. He can barely raise his arms due to being strung up by them. Anyone who takes this seriously needs their head checked. McCain is unfit for office for innumerable other reasons. So why is it that on Daily Paul the McCain talking points are his nationality (also absurd) and now this?
----------
Liberty for Dummies
His arms were broken
when he failed to keep them close to his body while ejecting from his plane....anything else I dont know but this is why he identified himself as admirals son... so he could get treatment for the arms.
According to his roommate, Day, at the Hanoi Hilton
"Day said he had limited use of his arms, which was a result of a combination of torture and the initial plane crash that put him in the hands of his captors — an ordeal that earned Day the Congressional Medal of Honor."
http://www.libertypost.or...
I do believe after reading about this extensively that he received preferential treatment overall, which might not be saying much. And I have to agree phoobaar that there are innumerable other reasons McCain is unfit for office. What seems ridiculous to me is that the RNC in DC is pushing him so hard down our throats when he obviously is not a popular choice.
When I look at him, I keep wondering when the really big bomb of deceit or a health problem will fall like the proverbial "other shoe" and then it really will go to the Convention Floor. Mind you, just a gut feeling, or maybe wishful thinking.
IT'S DOABLE
I seriously question....
"He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal"
some what contradicts,
"But I can somehow sympathise with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election."
Sounds like the straight talk express alright....
BT
In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
~Mark Twain
It's all on Google...
or, if you want a little entertainment to accompany McCain's sorry story, contact me at rfallin@comcast.net and I'll send you "John McCain is a real..." PowerPoint slideshow or video.
Yet another reason not to
Yet another reason not to support him.
McCain was given a "nurse" while he was "singing"
Songbird had a private "nurse" during his stay at the Hilton.
Not that there is anything wrong with that...unless you are singing about military secrets.
Meanwhile, when I asked McCain's staff to do American men a simple favor and repeal the new 2005 IMBRA law that unconstitutionally hampers communication between American men and foreign women...they ignored me.
Maybe I should have promised them all foreign "nurses" too.
You don't get anything for nothing these days I guess...like your rights back (in this case the simple right to say hello to someone). :-(