PLATFORM : Tremors in the MIA Story

The (Vietnam War) MIA situation is a bogus right-wing issue, one that’s politicized because the numbers of the missing in World War II and Korea were much higher. I’ve been in combat, and in war there is a lot of chaos, not just physical chaos but in paperwork. That’s the nature of war. I was in the military police for a brief period in Saigon and encountered numerous cases of deserters. Some were living with the the indigenous people. There were numerous deserters, people who had vanished from the paperwork.

I heard stories of boys leaving the country (Vietnam) with new IDs. I heard of corruption in the body-count type bureaus. I heard stories of much corruption there. It is quite possible there are people who deserted and are now living abroad--Canada, Europe, Thailand or even in the United States--with new IDs and maybe new wives. I think it’s quite conceivable that an American wife may be waiting for a husband who is living nearby, maybe with a new wife.

There are various stories of this nature. But to use that issue to deny the existence of Vietnam and to whip up the passions of American veterans once again is morally wrong. Vietnam should be recognized. There has to be progress. Reconciliation should occur and homage should be paid to the hundreds of thousands of missing Vietnamese who have never been mentioned in our press.

Only when we can take into account the suffering of the other side is the war over. Only then can we come to terms with the missing.

Of course, I see parallels to (the controversy over) “JFK,” but I don’t have the facts so I can’t comment on that. I don’t know what the U.S. government knew or what they knew all along or whether the Russian guys communicated any of this information to Gorbachev. It’s like Watergate, Irangate. Until you have the facts, it seems a cheap shot.