[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 112 (Friday, August 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Post Office and Civil Service be discharged from further consideration 
of the Senate joint resolution (S.J. Res. 196) designating September 
16, 1994, as ``National POW/MIA Recognition Day'' and authorizing 
display of the National League of Families POW/MIA flag, and ask for 
its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate joint resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Maryland?
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I do not 
object, but I would simply like to inform the House the minority has no 
objection to the legislation now being considered, and, Mr. Speaker, as 
the chief sponsor of House Joint Resolution 360, I rise in support of 
this legislation.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman of the 
Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the gentleman from Missouri 
[Mr. Clay], and our good ranking minority member, the gentleman from 
Indiana, [Mr. Myers], for bringing this important resolution to the 
floor today. Their support for veterans and Americans in uniform is 
well known and appreciated by this Member.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of Senate Joint Resolution 196, 
designating September 16, 1994, as ``National POW/MIA Recognition Day'' 
and authorizing display of the National League of Families POW/MIA 
flag--a day when our veteran posts, our schools, our libraries, and our 
mass media can remind all Americans of our courageous servicemen whose 
fates are still undetermined from the Vietnam war.
  In 1992, candidate Clinton told the POW/MIA family groups and veteran 
organizations that he would never lift the trade embargo against the 
Communist government of Vietnam until the fate of thousands of POW's 
and MIA's from the Vietnam war was resolved. President Clinton, against 
the advice of the American Legion, the National League of Families, the 
National Alliance of Families, and other veterans and family 
organizations lifted the trade embargo. His rationale for doing so was 
that the Vietnamese Government was cooperating with our efforts to 
account for our men.
  Regrettably, besides some access to old crash sites that has been on 
many occasions, fully investigated by Vietnamese, Soviet, and Chinese 
personnel years ago, the Vietnamese Government has done virtually 
nothing to account for hundreds of Americans they have information on. 
The Government of Vietnam continues to withhold from our investigators 
access to prison records and military reports that were written at the 
time of the shoot downs and captures. The meticulous Communist 
recordkeepers tell us that the books were eaten by worms, damaged by 
weather, or hold sensitive national security information.
  Meanwhile, our State Department continues to move full speed ahead, 
with its plans to open a Liaison Office that looks more and more like 
an Embassy as official relations between our Nation and the Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam appears to be a foregone conclusion.
  Despite my reservations, it is my sincere hope that the 
administration's normalization of trade and relations with Vietnam 
eventually pays dividends and that next year there will not be a need 
for this resolution.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to vote for S.J. Res. 196.
  Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher].
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. J. Res 
369.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Gilman] on the courageous effort he has made on this issue over 
the years. It has just been something he has not let go of, and he has 
been tremendously responsible.
  Mr. Speaker, I would again like to congratulate the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Gilman] who for many, many years has kept the faith not 
only with the American people but with those men and women who went to 
Vietnam to protect the interests of the United States of America and to 
fight for freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, when we gave our word to them, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Gilman] did not forget and has kept the faith with them over 
the years.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be with the gentleman here today to 
declare that September 16 should be a day in memory of our MIA/POW's. 
This issue has, unlike the exemplary job Mr. Gilman has done, has been 
a disgrace on the part of so many American officials and so many 
elected officials as well.
  I remember when I was a young reporter shortly after the MIA/POW's 
were supposedly all returned, I was a young reporter and interviewed 
Richard Nixon in Los Angeles. I will never forget that interview 
because I asked him whether or not he was certain all of our MIA/POW's 
had been returned from Vietnam. And he gave me a statement to that 
effect.
  However, after the interview, I thought to myself the President did 
not give me any reason to believe that all of the MIA/POW's were 
returned except that he was satisfied. It seemed to me if he was 
satisfied and that was not just a public statement, he would have given 
me reasons to believe that.
  So I walked away from that interview so many years ago, 20 years ago 
now, saying, ``You know, I don't think he was telling me the truth. I 
think he thinks there may still be some MIA/POW's in Vietnam.'' The 
question we have to ask ourselves, at that time why would the 
Vietnamese have ever given up all of their leverage on the United 
States of America in order to give back all of those people who had 
been there bombing them and participating in the war against them?
  At that time the war was still going on in Cambodia, war was still 
going on in Laos, in fact, a war was still going on it South Vietnam. 
There was every reason to question whether or not the Vietnamese gave 
back all of those POW/MIA's at that time.

  We have heard over and over and over again these years that the 
Communist regime in Hanoi has been cooperative. Well it just ain't so.
  The history of our dealings with Hanoi in terms of our MIA/POW record 
is a record of deceit, foot-dragging, and manipulation. It is a history 
of we ourselves bending over backward to give the very best 
interpretation of all of Hanoi's actions. It is a history of a mindset 
on the part of American officials to debunk the entire MIA/POW issue, 
especially if there are any live-sighting reports about possible POW/
MIA's still in the hands of the Communists.
  Now, are there still live POW's, especially after all of these years? 
I happen to believe it is likely that they kept some Americans after 
claiming they returned them all. That does not mean these men would 
still be alive today. I do not know if they are or not, and I am not 
saying they were kept. What I do know is that the American people have 
been lied to on this issue over and over again.
  What I do know is Hanoi has not been cooperating as we have been told 
on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, less than a year ago, I was up on the Cambodian-
Vietnamese border with our American POW teams out there in the jungle, 
trying to find, desperately working under horrible conditions, having 
to cut landing pads out of the jungle in order to try to find a 
hospital where some of our MIA/POW's were kept near the end of the war.
  The trouble is Hanoi could tell us the location of this hospital, 
which was a major facility during the war, simply by having any one of 
the thousands of North Vietnamese who were stationed at that hospital 
go to the scene and help our people locating it.
  But instead our teams have been put through a grueling practice over 
and over again, trying their hardest, working long hours to find even 
the minuscule bit of information.
  One of our own colleagues, Pete Peterson of Florida, was held for 6 
years as a prisoner of war. On the way over to Vietnam I asked Pete if 
he has been a prisoner of war, designated as a prisoner of war the 
entire time he was held captive. He told me, ``no,'' in fact during the 
first 3 years of his captivity he was labeled as an MIA, meaning even 
his family did not know that he was being held captive by the North 
Vietnamese.
  During that time that he was kept there, and I think this is 
important, Mr. Peterson was kept totally separate from all other 
Americans. No one knew that he was being held captive. In fact, had he 
been kept instead of declared a POW, we would not have known he would 
have been there at all. It is possible other Americans were held in the 
same way. I am not saying that is absolutely the case, but that it is 
worth putting pressure on the Vietnamese instead of bending over 
backward giving them the benefit of the doubt.
  When I was with them negotiating this issue, they told me that record 
that Pete Peterson--the prison in which he was held those 6 years, were 
not available to us. Now, those records could have disclosed to us 
whether or not there were other prisoners in this status listed as MIA 
and being part of the prison population. In fact, we have not been 
given the record of any of those prisons.
  That to me indicates the Vietnamese have been deceptive. We do not 
need to bend over backward in the POW/MIA issue, to normalize 
relations, rush in with a trading relationship with people who are 
treating us with that type of arrogance.
  I would say during this time period the one hope that any people have 
of actually coming to the truth, to finding out what happened in there 
in Southeast Asia to our MIA/POW's, is to make sure we as American 
citizens keep the pressure up on our own Government and on Hanoi. That 
is why this resolution today is so important. That is why on September 
16, I hope that all Americans will fly their MIA/POW flags at their 
local libraries and people will come forward and give radio interviews 
and talk to other Americans and others about the issue of MIA/POW's. We 
should never forget this war in Vietnam.
  We should never forget the lessons we learned there. There are a lot 
lessons to be learned. But most importantly, never forget the men and 
women who marched off. They placed their lives on the line for us, and 
we should make sure they are never forgotten, because we are sending a 
message to our current defenders that we will always be behind them and 
will never ever leave them behind.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I 
thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] for his very 
strong supportive statements in support of the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I am pleased to 
yield to a longtime proponent of our need to explore and to get a full 
resolution of our MIA/POW issue, the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Dornan].
  Mr. DORNAN. I thank the gentleman from New York, the stalwart 
colleague from New York, who has been a leader on this issue for the 
better part of a quarter of a century.
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to be uncharacteristically brief on this 
issue because our colleague and whip and one of our leaders, deputy 
whip, Mr. Walker, has a privileged motion and I want to stay to hear 
that.
  There is not anything I can say to add to the perfect remarks of the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] and to the perfect remarks 
of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] on this issue.

                              {time}  1430

  Last week, I was going to make a speech on this because it was the 
30th anniversary of the shootdown of our friend, Ev Alvarez, on August 
5, 1964. What we did not know until 9 years later, Ev was to turn out 
not to be our longest-held prisoner. An Army Green Beret, Maj. Floyd 
Thompson, was taken prisoner March 26, 1964, served 1 week less than 9 
years. His wife waited for him. MIA for all those years. So, this was 
the better part of a decade, this agony.
  What I will do is just associate myself with the remarks, with the 
perfect remarks, of the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher].
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to put in the Record what the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Gilman] and I have agreed is the outstanding article by 
our friend, Dr. Frank Gaffney, last week on the warehoused remains of 
our heroes and why the Vietnamese can still not be trusted on this 
issue, and I would call my colleagues and the Nation's attention, 
through C-SPAN, to this month's Reader's Digest on the 30th anniversary 
of Ev Alvarez' shootdown. There is a superb article of how this man's 
faith, his Christian faith, his Catholic faith, which I will speak 
about in my special order tonight, how that sustained him through the 
darkest months when he was the only prisoner. They never let him know 
that they had Floyd Thompson, never saw him during all those 9 years.
  I thank the gentleman for letting me speak, and I support, of course, 
Senate Joint Resolution 196.
  Mr. Speaker, here is the superb article by Frank Gaffney, it is both 
heartbreaking and enraging to true patriots.
  The article follows:

               [From the Washington Times, July 26, 1994]

                      Smoking Gun in MIA Coverup?

                        (By Frank Gaffney, Jr.)

       One would think that, if a picture is worth a thousand 
     words, 2,000 photos recently displayed at a national 
     convention in Crystal City should be worth 2 million words. 
     In fact, these pictures should translate into much more than 
     a voluminous book's worth of wordage. They should clear the 
     way for a final, honest accounting of what happened to the 
     hundreds of men left behind at the end of the Vietnam war.
       The photographs, which were presented publicly for the 
     first time at the annual Washington meeting of the National 
     Alliance of POW-MIA Families, were taken more than 20 years 
     ago by the North Vietnamese army and news agency. They show 
     American prisoners of war, aircraft crash sites and pilot 
     identification cards.
       Some of the subjects are among those prisoners who returned 
     at the end of the war. But many others are servicemen--
     photographed alive or dead--who are still officially 
     considered ``unaccounted for.''
       Incredibly, these materials were secretly withheld from the 
     public--including family members of some of those servicemen 
     appearing in these photographs who claim the U.S. government 
     had not previously informed them about the existence of these 
     photos, even though the Defense Department now acknowledges 
     having them for more than two years. The National Alliance 
     obtained these formerly ``TOP SECRET'' photos from a former 
     agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
       The explanation for this stunning withholding of 
     information relevant to the POW-MIA issue may lie in the fact 
     that these photos represent damning new evidence of the 
     extent to which the American and Vietnamese governments have 
     covered up critical information on missing U.S. servicemen. 
     Among other things, they document the great lengths to which 
     North Vietnam went to document its inventory of captured or 
     dead American prisoners and their equipment--to the point of 
     labeling and warehousing prisoners' uniforms, flight helmets 
     and aircraft identification numbers.
       In addition, hundreds of pilot identification cards--
     including those of men still listed as missing--are shown in 
     pristine condition. There are also photos depicting 
     Vietnamese searching through crash sites together with Soviet 
     bloc advisers, indicating there is much more information in 
     Hanoi and Moscow that can and must be made public.
       Importantly, these photos also appear to put to rest 
     several, long-disputed issues:
       Some American servicemen officially listed as missing in 
     the Vietnam conflict were captured alive. Consequently, it is 
     no longer possible to accept Hanoi's excuses--or those of its 
     apologists--to the effect that it has no knowledge of the 
     fate of these individuals.
       American servicemen listed as missing or deceased ``with 
     body unrecoverable,'' were at one point in the hands of 
     Vietnamese and Soviet bloc officials. The remains of such 
     servicemen can no longer be considered irretrievably lost.
       The Vietnamese government was meticulous in its record-
     keeping about captured or deceased American pilots. Claims 
     that Hanoi has been fully forthcoming with what little 
     documentation it had concerning U.S. POW-MIAs--or, 
     alternatively, that worm- or water-damage or carelessness 
     resulted in everything else being lost--should be seen for 
     what they are: part of a long-running, cynical manipulation 
     of such information by Vietnam.
       Vietnamese excavation teams examined downed aircraft even 
     in extremely remote areas. This proves that most crash 
     sites--now being excavated by joint American and Vietnamese 
     military teams at great cost to U.S. taxpayers--were scoured 
     during the war and any prisoners, or their bodies, were 
     removed long ago. Consequently, the illusion of great 
     cooperation from Hanoi in investigating these sites should 
     cease to be a justification for further steps toward 
     normalizing bilateral relations.
       The U.S. government has still not come clean about all that 
     it knows concerning our unaccounted-for servicemen. 
     Notwithstanding its professed commitment to declassify all 
     relevant information, the Clinton team appears to be 
     continuing the practice of past U.S. administrations in 
     resisting full disclosure, for example, of electronic 
     intercepts that support the National Alliance's photo 
     collection on two points: (1) American servicemen were 
     abandoned in Vietnam at the war's end and (2) that fact was 
     assiduously covered up in the years since. And Clinton 
     personnel choices make an early end to the cover-up unlikely; 
     a virulent anti-war activist, Charles Searcy, was the 
     president's choice to run POW-MIA affairs at the Pentagon, 
     and the most respected field investigator, Garnett Bell, was 
     replaced by young officers who have no background in the 
     issue or in Southeast Asia.
       Addressing the questions raised by Hanoi's photographs 
     should be the sole focus of meetings like that between 
     Secretary of State Warren Christopher and his Vietnamese 
     counterpart in Bangkok this month. This effort should be 
     accompanied by a new and independent evaluation of all 
     available information related to the missing Americans. 
     Clearly, unless and until Hanoi and Washington are fully 
     forthcoming, there must be no further progress toward 
     establishing full diplomatic and economic relations with 
     communist Vietnam.
       At a minimum, the National Alliance's photo exhibit ought 
     to be displayed in the House and Senate office buildings, 
     where it would be readily accessible to members of Congress, 
     journalists and the public at large. It is especially 
     important that this reminder of unfinished business be kept 
     squarely in mind as President Clinton puts a new generation 
     of Americans in uniform at risk of a similar fate in places 
     like Bosnia, Haiti and the Golan Heights.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I 
want to thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] for his 
supportive arguments.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McDermott). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  The Clerk read the Senate joint resolution, as follows:

                             S.J. Res. 196

       Whereas the United States has fought in many wars and 
     thousands of Americans who served in those wars were captured 
     by the enemy or listed as missing in action;
       Whereas many American prisoners of war were subjected to 
     brutal and inhumane treatment by their enemy captors in 
     violation of international codes and customs for the 
     treatment of prisoners of war, and many such prisoners of war 
     died from such treatment;
       Whereas many of these Americans are still listed as missing 
     and unaccounted for, and the uncertainty surrounding their 
     fates has caused their families to suffer tragic and 
     continuing hardships;
       Whereas, in the Joint Resolution entitled ``Joint 
     Resolution designating September 21, 1990, as `National POW/
     MIA Recognition Day', and recognizing the National League of 
     Families POW/MIA flag'', approved August 10, 1990, the 
     Federal Government officially recognized and designated the 
     National League of Families POW/MIA flag as the symbol of the 
     Nation's concern and commitment to accounting, as fully as 
     possible, for Americans whom are still prisoners of war, 
     missing in action, or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia; and
       Whereas the sacrifices of the Americans whom are still 
     missing in action and unaccounted for from all our Nation's 
     wars and their families are deserving of national recognition 
     and support for continued priority efforts to determine the 
     fate of those missing Americans: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY.

       September 16, 1994, is designated ``National POW/MIA 
     Recognition Day'', and the President is authorized and 
     requested to issue a proclamation calling on the people of 
     the United States to observe that day with appropriate 
     ceremonies and activities.

     SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO DISPLAY NATIONAL LEAGUE OF FAMILIES 
                   POW/MIA FLAG.

       (a) In General.--The POW/MIA flag shall be displayed, as a 
     symbol of the concern and commitment of the United States to 
     accounting, as fully as possible, for Americans whom are 
     still prisoners of war, missing in action, or unaccounted 
     for and to ending the uncertainty for their families and 
     the Nation--
       (1) at all national cemeteries and the National Vietnam 
     Veterans Memorial on May 30, 1994 (Memorial Day), September 
     16, 1994 (National POW/MIA Recognition Day), and November 11, 
     1994 (Veteran's Day); and
       (2) on, or on the grounds of, the buildings specified in 
     subsection (b) on September 16, 1994.
       (b) Buildings.--The buildings specified in this subsection 
     are--
       (1) the White House;
       (2) the Capitol Building; and
       (3) the buildings containing the primary offices of the--
       (A) Secretary of State;
       (B) Secretary of Defense;
       (C) Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and
       (D) Director of the Selective Service Commission.
       (c) POW/MIA Flag.--As used in this section, the term ``POW/
     MIA flag'' means the National League of Families POW/MIA flag 
     recognized officially and designated by section 2 of the 
     Joint Resolution entitled ``Joint Resolution designating 
     September 21, 1990, as `National POW/MIA Recognition Day', 
     and recognizing the National League of Families POW/MIA 
     flag'', approved August 10, 1990 (36 U.S.C. 189).

  The Senate joint resolution was ordered to be read a third time, was 
read the third time and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on 
the table.

                          ____________________