INTERVIEW WITH U.S. POW McCAIN

[madeline_con]

6 Feb 70
NORTH VIETNAM

GRANMA PUBLISHES INTERVIEW WITH U.S. POW McCAIN

Havana GRANMA 24 Jan 70 p 7

Dr. Fernando Barral, a Spanish psychiatrist residing in Cuba, returned last week
from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam where he was invited; and in his notebook he
brought back some journalistic news: an interview with a North American pilot captured
in the DRV after bombing Hanoi on 26 October 1967. The meeting between him and the
pilot took place in an office of the Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations in Hanoi.

snip

We had closed one subject, between sips of coffee enjoyed equally by the pilot
and me, but the cakes and oranges have not been touched. I motioned to the pilot, and
I began to peel an orange. Soon afterward, we reopened the conversation.



snip

What led you to join the U.S. Navy?

"Mainly for a family reason, since I have many relatives in that branch of service. In
particular, my grandfather was outstanding in World War II; he was one of those who
made the Japanese sign the act of surrender, and a Naval destroyer bears his name.
And my father is also an admiral; he is chief of the Pacific Command of the U.S. Armed
Forces.

Wouldn't that get him special treatment?





From the moral and ideological point of view he showed us he is an insensitive individual
without human depth, who does not show the slightest concern, who does not appear to
have thought about the criminal acts he committed against a population from the almost
absolute impunity of his airplane, and that nevertheless those people saved his life,
fed him, and looked after his health, and he is now healthy and strong. I believe
that he bombed densely populated places for sport. I noted he was hardened, that
he spoke of banal things as if he were at a cocktail party.

During the interview he quietly drank three cups of coffee and smoked one of the
cigarettes the Vietnamese had placed on the central table.

[kevinmc]

1. What led you to join the U.S. Navy? .What a Bragger .... n/t

[madeline_con]

2. It gives everybody the poop on who they've captured.

I think it could have led to the special treatment. I think the cakes, oranges, coffee and smokes were definitly way special comparewd to the usual treatment. The paper said the interview waqsn't even at the prison camp.

[5thGenDemocrat]

3. Don't know how legit the site is

But the messages are real. All the addresses and classification codes and routing indicators and such mundane stuff look right to me (though I haven't looked at one of these communications in, like, 31 years).
John
72E20 (Communications Center Specialist)
US Army, 1974-77
ON EDIT: These are probably sanitized versions of what the military has on file somewhere. These messages are presented as sent, but the information in what was sent had most likely already been combed over. These are unclassified (see the "UUUU" in the heading) communications, meaning they'd be available to just about anyone who wanted to take a peek. I would think that information about a POW (I went in the Army in Jan 1974 -- after the POWs had been released and, so, can't say for sure) would have carried at least a "confidential" classification and have been stamped "For Official Use Only," but I don't see any such markings on these releases.

[Waiting For Everyman]

4. That full interview is EXTREMELY INTERESTING: an excerpt...

"From the psychological point of view, Dr. Barral has the following opinion of the personality of the prisoner who is responsible for many criminal bombings of the people of DRV:

'He showed himself to be intellectually alert during the interview. From a morale point of view he is not in traumatic shock. He is neither dejected nor depressed. He was able to be sarcastic, and even humorous indicative of psychic equilibrium. From the moral and ideological point of view he showed us he is an insensitive individual without human depth, who does not show the slightest concern, who does not appear to have thought about the criminal acts he committed against a population from the almost absolute impunity of his airplane, and that nevertheless those people saved his life, fed him, and looked after his health, and he is now healthy and strong. I believe that he bombed densely populated places for sport. I noted he was hardened, that he spoke of banal things as if he were at a cocktail party.'"


The description of his capture and living conditions was interesting too. The POWs do say that his arm injuries were his own fault in not ejecting properly, which would coincide with what McCain supposedly says in this interview. I wonder if the doctor is still living, to verify its authenticity? This would be a deal-breaker for McCain's "narrative".

Those who served on the 1992 POW/MIA hearings tell a similar story, and they are VERY CREDIBLE people. Btw I'm not sure of the date when this video was made, but I think it was prior to his 2008 candidacy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFM1xqqTX_g