CUBAN WAR CRIMES AGAINST AMERICAN PRISONORS OF WAR DURING THE VIETNAM WAR

THE OKLAHOMA WATCHMAN

Castro & Ho Chi Minh, in Viet Nam.

  There is little in this Nation’s history that provokes as much emotion and division as the Vietnam War. Much has been written about it. Many television documentaries have been produced and many protests against the war were conducted. Many secrets are still held about the conduct of the war. There have been rumors of American POW’s being sent to Russia, and those rumors may not be rumors at all. We are going to breach a subject here that will upset many Veterans of that war, including myself, associated with this newsletter, but it’s a story that demands to be told. It’s a story that has been well known within the halls of Congress, the Intelligence organizations and the most disheartening of all, within the Military Community since the 1960’s. We do this for all those who gave all for the service of their country.

  What led me to investigate this story was this article here Cuban Accountability. This was the first article I saw that addressed the prisoner exchange between Cuba and the United States. It also called for the immediate attention and accounting of our servicemen captured in the Vietnam War and imprisoned in Cuba. Now most American’s are unaware that Cuba was involved in the Vietnam War. They had an engineering brigade there that maintained one of the North Vietnamese main routes for transporting supplies into South Vietnam. They also had a group of men that were sent there to torture American POW’s.

  The next article I found was this JW v. DOD Servicemen Cuban Captives 00151 - Judicial Watch. This document was received by a Freedom of Information Request by Judicial Watch and is very lengthy. It is well worth your time to open the link and read the document. It will show you that our government knew that there were American Servicemen left behind when we left Vietnam. Our government betrayed the very men they sent to fight for them. That is an act of treason.

  The next article I found was this - THE CUBAN PROGRAM: TORTURE OF AMERICAN PRISONERS BY CUBAN AGENTS. This is a fifty-six page report on a hearing held on November 4^th, 1999 by the Committee on International Relations in the House of Representatives. It includes a list of witnesses but draws no real conclusions and no action is taken from the results of this report. In short they covered it up again.

  The next item of interest I found was this Castro, McCain spar over Cuban torture in Vietnam | Reuters. It seems that someone in the know, because he was there, was accused by Fidel Castro about lying about Cuba torturing American POW’s. We are not big fans of the Senator, but we do not feel how lie about something would like this.

  The next item of interest I found was tis Obama Urged to Press Cuba on Interrogation of U.S. POWs. With all the urging and lobbying to get something done on this subject, the known results were disappointment. To the best information available, not one single question was asked by the president on this subject. In my eyes that makes him complicit in the same war crimes as the Cubans.

  The next article I found was this Cuban War Crimes Against American POWs. This article indicates that once again the President was urged to bring up Cuban War Crimes against American POW’s during the Vietnam War. It also indicates that no response was ever received from either the White House or the National Security Advisor. Senator McCain had even broached the subject with the President and failed to get an answer. This is indicative of how the President has treated the military and America’s Veterans since he took office. This report also includes that the capture of Lt. Clemmie McKinney. Lt. McKinney was shot down on August 14, 1972. The North Vietnamese claim he passed away in November of 1972, however  the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii forensic anthropologist placed his time of death as no earlier than 1975 and probably several years later. Still our government did nothing.

  The next article of interest I found was this Former U.S. POWs detail torture by Cubans in Vietnam. This report is another that you definitely want to open and read for yourself. It indicates that some of the Cuban interrogators had been identified. It indicates that the testing and tortures used was the primary interest of the Cubans. In fact the North Vietnamese catered to the Cubans. It indicates that long after all American POW’s had alleged to have been returned to the United States, a known deserter who worked for the North Vietnamese named Garwood, reported five different sightings of Americans still being held as POW’s. When triangulated with reports from other sources they prove to be too much to be coincidence. This is proof that our country deserted those that they sent to fight for them.

  The next article of interest I found was this Cuban torturers hiding in Florida?. This article indicates that in 2003 the Justice Department felt there was enough evidence that the individuals responsible for the torture of American POW’s were hiding in Florida. Well if they suspected that much, that would mean they had a good idea of what these individuals looked like. I do remember that during that time several Cuban “Spies” were arrested in South Florida. Could these have been the men responsible for the torture. If so, why were they allowed to return to Cuba in a prisoner swap instead of executed for War Crimes? America is owed an honest explanation by the Justice Department, the Obama Administration , the Intelligence Community and most importantly, the Military.

  The next article of interest I found was this Former U.S. POWs detail torture by Cubans in Vietnam. This is a report from a retired Air Force Colonel who was a victim of the torture by the Cubans. From what he reports it appears the torture suffered at the hands of the North Vietnamese was brutal, but not life threatening as the Cubans would prove to be. One of our POW’s was tortured to a point of being into a catatonic state and eventually died from the torture and wounds he suffered. Folks this is an act of war that was committed on our servicemen by a foreign nation that we were not in a conflict with yet it appears that our government chose to cover it up. There are even reports of Soviet and Chinese interrogators working over our POW’s yet our government chose not to investigate. This is a disgrace.

  The next item of interest I found was this Facts of the Cuban Program. This is a Fact Site for what is known as the “Cuban Program.” This is another site that we urge you to open and read. It indicates that as early as 1973 the FBI, CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency made numerous attempts to identify the “Cubans” with inconclusive results. Now the date of this report is 1999 and it is a Congressional Report. I find this report to be less than credible since in all appearances enough information was obtained to warrant a Justice Department investigation in 2003. We have to ask what they are not telling us.

  The next item of interest is an extract of the report listed above Facts of the Cuban Program. This will lead you to several links regarding the program including newspaper articles and items from a previous Congressional Hearing. They are well worth your time to open and read.

  The next article of interest I found was this - THE CUBAN PROGRAM: TORTURE OF AMERICAN PRISONERS BY CUBAN AGENTS . This is the report from a hearing before the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives on Thursday, November 4, 1999. This list the committee members the witnesses and their testimony. This is a must read for every American. This is information our government has been hiding from us since the end of the Vietnam War. This is beyond reprehensible. This is criminal.

  The next article I found was this Defector Says Soviets Questioned POWs : Missing: The former Vietnam army colonel also says Hanoi is not holding any live Ameri. Here we have a former North Vietnamese Colonel telling the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs that he did know of Cuban and Russians interrogating American POW’s, but he knows nothing about them keeping them. This is a report from November of 1991. How much more evidence does our government need before it does right by these men who they sent in harm’s way before they take action.

  The next article of interest that you want to read is this War Crimes: The Cuban-Vietnam Connection. This report indicates that the Cubans not only tortured  and killed American POW’s in North Vietnam, but they may have transferred as many as seventeen to Cuba. They were alleged to be held in Villa Marista, a secret Cuban prison run by Castro’s G-2 intelligence service. A former aide to Fidel Castro even offered to “ransom POW’s in North Vietnam through the Castro Government.” The last paragraph of that report stated “Propose doing nothing further….” And nothing was done. Could they have meant the alleged seventeen in Cuba? Until all the information is released, we may never know.

  The next article I found was perhaps the most heartbreaking to not just the families of the POW’s, but to all who had spent time in country. You can read it here THE POW 's WE LEFT BEHIND. This article just begs to be read. It reports of sightings of Americans still being held by numerous sources including a deserter from our military who was court martialed when he did surrender. It also tells of two pilots who managed to stomp out their call signs in the tall grass as late as 1991. Yet our government does nothing.

  The information we have presented to you here is real. It’s available on the internet, although we won’t promise how long it will be there after this story is released. The information available and presented to you here indicates that the bond between the soldiers and airmen of our armed forces and the time honored tradition of “No Man Left Behind” have been broken. Our government can no longer be trusted. Our military leadership can no longer be trusted. It’s time to hold them all accountable and it’s over forty years past time to get a full accounting of our known to be in the hands of the North Vietnamese POW’s fate. The honor of this country and indeed of the servicemen and women demand it.