Vietnam.....

[LastMagicBean]

Are there still POW's there...?????????????

Certainly not an expert on the vietnam war...............
But........for many years there has been discussions/arguments as to the possibility/probability that there are.

I'm not asking for a definitive answer......because there isn't one........but would be very interested in opinions..........

 

[Johnmelad502]

Yes, no.

 

[Lincsbodger]

The U.S. listed about 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and roughly 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and body not recovered. Many of these were airmen who were shot down over North Vietnam or Laos. Investigations of these incidents have involved determining whether the men involved survived their shoot down, and if not efforts to recover their remains. POW/MIA activists played a role in pushing the U.S. government to improve its efforts in resolving the fates of the missing. Progress in doing so was slow until the mid-1980s, when relations between the U.S. and Vietnam began to improve and more cooperative efforts were undertaken. Normalization of U.S. relations with Vietnam in the mid-1990s was a culmination of this process.

Considerable speculation and investigation has gone to a theory that a significant number of these men were captured as prisoners of war by Communist forces in the two countries and kept as live prisoners after the war's conclusion for the United States in 1973. A vocal group of POW/MIA activists maintains that there has been a concerted conspiracy by the Vietnamese government and every American government since then to hide the existence of these prisoners. The U.S. government has steadfastly denied that prisoners were left behind or that any effort has been made to cover up their existence. Popular culture has reflected the "live prisoners" theory, most notably in the 1985 film Rambo: First Blood Part II. Several congressional investigations have looked into the issue, culminating with the largest and most thorough, the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs of 1991–1993 led by Senators John Kerry, Bob Smith, and John McCain. It found "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."

 

[JohnD]

It's just a sad fantasy

there are a lot more American MIAs from WW2.

Everyone just accepts the truth, they are dead but their bodies are lost, destroyed or unidentified.

 

[donglebang]

but with the new frienship between vietnam and usa i'm sure before the usa came over to have a snoop around if there were pow's the viet's would have shot the lot

 

[RedHerring2]

I think most people forget that Vietnam was in a war with Cambodia and then China after the USA/Vietnam war.

I think the vietnamese, then and now have much more to worry about than hiding POWs. There wasn't exactly a 'welcome' for the Vietcong amongst most South Vietnamese after the re-unification.

Apart from that the amount of Australian and Japanese investment and workers in Vietnam more than 'pure conjecture' would have arisen by now.

The number of political disidents would also have 'blown the whistle'.

Parts of Cambodia and Laos are still 'no-go' areas for tourists and even police/army without a major movement.

 

[LastMagicBean]

But there are still conspiracy theories that the American military know full well that they're there ......but can't admit it for political purposes...........

I'm guessing that means the American citizens/voters would find it disgusting that it's been covered up for so many years...?????????

 

[Lincsbodger]

What woudl be the point of keeping POW's? Who would have them - theres no Vietcom anymore? Theres no use to you, or anyone, as prisoners. You would have to feed and clothe them, keep them hidden, and at some point they would get ill and unless you got them medical help, they would die. All for nothing. The prisoners offer you no advantage, no leverage with anyone, no useful function. A 20 year old guy taken POW in 1970 would now be 60 years old, you would be his carer, not his captor, after 40 years privation in the jungle.

Its one conspiracy theory that is truly barmy even on the briefest examination.

 

[Nige F]

- theres no Vietcom anymore.

No , it`s all Dot Com now Hochee Ming is dead too