JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: John McCain

John McCain

By Linda Merz

2 July 2008

A statue commemorates JGHN SNEY MA CAN's unceremonious drop into Truc Bach Lake in the center of Hanoi on 26 October 1967. The inscription lauds the people's defense forces in shooting down the "air pirate" and incorrectly states that the Navy flyer was in the Air Force. McCain was considered a prize by his captors because of his father's rank. Other captured Americans were obviously not afforded such recognition or occasional privilege.

The waters of the ancient man-made Truc Bach Lake often lap into the street and when I took this photograph the moss and mildew were thick and the grass was high. Many people living in close proximity were unaware of the significance of this statue. You can not go anywhere in Vietnam without being acutely aware of one war or another and for many this was just another commemoration.

The infamous Hanoi Hilton prison is just minutes away and housed John McCain during part of his imprisonment. Built by the French in the 1880s the black stains of mildew and shards of glass rimming the high walls are befitting this house of horrors. A large portion of the double walled prison was demolished in the 1990s for a high rise and the remaining portion became a museum. In typical communist fashion it commends Vietnam's "hospitality" to the Americans.

John McCain suffered grievously during his long imprisonment and of that there is no doubt. It has been stated that those years molded his character and of that there can also be no doubt. However, upon his return and subsequent ascent in government he had a magnificent and God given opportunity and duty to force Vietnam's communist government to return unrepatriated US Prisoners of War, yet he chose not to do so. After Senator McCain and Senator John Kerry co-chaired the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in the late 1980s, the POW Office in Hanoi quickly became just the MIA Office and those remaining prisoners of war were left to rot in Hell.

With the "normalization" of relations the everyday folk of Vietnam are obviously much better off economically, but personal freedoms and basic human rights, i.e. freedom of religion, continue in a morbidly downward spiral. An untold number of American and international companies jumped the gun before the embargo was lifted and their love of cheap labor, regardless of the glare of human rights violations, continues to be tolerated.

Senator McCain's many achievements and contributions are forever tainted by his decision to ignore the plight of the unrepatriated in exchange for the greedy interests of Big Business. I will never understand how anyone in his right mind can grandstand on the POW issue yet bury alive those who were left behind.