Posted by
Justamere10 on Sunday, February 17, 2008 10:07:32 AM
On October 26, 1967, John McCain was flying as part of a 20-plane attack... McCain's A-4 Skyhawk had its wing blown off by a Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile. McCain fractured both arms and a leg in being hit and ejecting from his plane.
He nearly drowned after he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes. Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American POWs.
McCain was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on the outskirts of Hanoi in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week; they nursed McCain and kept him alive. In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.
In July 1968, McCain's father was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater. McCain was immediately offered a chance to return home early: the North Vietnamese wanted a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful, and also wanted to show other POWs that elites like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially.
McCain turned down the offer of repatriation, due to the Code of Conduct principle of "first in, first out": he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.
In August of 1968, a program of vigorous torture methods began on McCain, using rope bindings into painful positions, and beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery. Teeth and bones were broken again...
His injuries to this day have left him incapable of raising his arms above his head. Two weeks later his captors tried to force him to sign a second statement, and this time, his will to resist restored, he refused. He received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal...
McCain refused to meet with various anti-war peace groups coming to Hanoi, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory based on his connection to his father...
In December 1969, McCain was transferred back to the Hoa Loa "Hanoi Hilton"; his solitary confinement ended in March 1970. McCain continued to refuse to see anti-war groups or journalists sympathetic to the North Vietnamese regime...
McCain was finally released from captivity on March 15, 1973, having been a POW for almost an extra five years due to his refusal to accept the out-of-sequence repatriation offer.
Contrast McCain's treatment over five years with pouring water on a terrorist's face for a few minutes to get information that could save thousands of lives. THEN GET THE WORD OUT AND STAND UP to the enemy within, the looney far left elitists who loudly criticize those who are protecting us, saying that our military, CIA, etc. are somehow taking away the civil rights of Americans!
Waterboarding is NOT torture. Terrorists walk away from waterboarding with no bruises, no blood spilt, no broken bones or teeth, not even limping or feeling pain. And it's all over in a few minutes!
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