Former U.S. congressman John LeBoutillier (R) New York, for former U.S. congressman Bill Hendon (R) North Carolina, discussed the evidence for a sizable group of American POWs being left behind in Vietnam. LeBoutillier said that after the war, a deal was cut to pay billions to North Vietnam for rebuilding their country and returning the remaining POWs. But as the Watergate scandal broke, Nixon and Kissinger reneged on the arrangement, and around 700 prisoners were kept in Vietnam. Others have worked for 20 years in Washington DC to uncover the truth about the POWs, and there has been much intelligence that has referenced the missing soldiers. Specifically, spy satellite photographs, one of which (see below) showed "USA" spelled out in 12 ft. tall letters in a rice field, along with a 24 ft. tall "Walking K" an "escape and evasion" code only known to US pilots in N. Laos. In the early 80's, Reagan tried to get the POWs back, but advisors talked him out of it. By 1992, an investigation chaired by McCain and Kerry concluded there were no American refugees left in Vietnam. It is believed there could be as many as 500-600 POWs still alive there, and that the US government is engaged in a cover-up of the evidence for their existence. A terrible truth is now emerging: Recently declassified documents show that American prisoners are to this day still crying out for help in Vietnam. North Carolina congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart- An Enormous Crime: The Definfive Account of American POW's Abandoned in Southeast Asia - presents evidence that 700 surviving U.S. airmen and infantry were marooned by the country for which they went to war, and to this day remain unacknowledged by that same country, the United States of America. In spite of decades during which these POWs have bravely signaled for help, and in which numerous refugees and visitors from Indochina have in turn corroborated their pleas, their heartrending tale has been dismissed as nothing more than conspiracy theory and rumor. Shockingly, the proof laid out in An Enormous Crime proves otherwise, such as the 1991 satellite images of two Americans in North Vietnam who had stamped out their pilot authenticator codes in the grass in the compound where they were being held. Another satellite photograph showed "USA" spelled out in 12-foot-tall letters in a rice field, along with a 24-foot-tall "Walking K" - an escape and evasion code only known to U.S. pilots in North Laos. To begin to understand this travesty, it's important to go back to the beginning: In 1972, negotiations began with the Vietnamese to settle scores. At issue was the return of American POWs. During late 1972 and early 1973, a deal was struck whereby half of the 1,400 US POWs held by North Vietnam would be released once military withdrawal began. The initial 700 or so American soldiers held captive were flown out of Hanoi during Operation Homecoming later in 1973. It was agreed upon by the Nixon administration and the North Vietnamese that the other 700 POWs would be released upon delivery of $4 billion in war reparations from the United States to the North Vietnamese government. But as the Watergate scandal broke, Nixon reneged on the arrangement, and the last 700 POWs were kept in Vietnam. All future presidents after Nixon had their own reasons for failing to take notice off the 700 POWs left behind: For Carter it was the American public's desire to put Vietnam behind them, and later, the Iranian hostage crisis. In the early 80's, Reagan tried to get the POWs back, but his advisors talked him out of it. The problem, the advisors told him, was that the fragile U.S.-backed El Salvadoran government was under serious threat of being overthrown by Russian and Cuban trained Communists, and Nicaragua didn't look far behind. The advisors told Regan that it was necessary to overlook the POWs in order to put all American military efforts toward the darkening South American situation. As the 80's gave way to the 90's, re-engagement of Vietnam by the U.S. government became a priority. Thus George H.W. Bush helped maintain the cover up of mounting evidence that hundreds of POWs still survived in Indochina, as did Bill Clinton, who himself struck down all sanctions and embargoes against Vietnam in 1992. But even in that same year, satellite photos over Vietnam revealed airman-specific 4-digit authenticator codes proving almost conclusively that as of 1992, U.S. airmen downed in Vietnam during the war remained alive and were signaling for help. Yet, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Clinton administration actively sought (as had prior U.S. governments) to close investigations in all of these cases. Even John Kerry and John McCain - both Vietnam veterans, McCain a former POW himself - were vigorous participants in "debunking" and even destroying documentation, intelligence reports, and satellite photography, often referring to the visible markings in such photos as "shading" or "anomalies". I am haunted by these revelations. The average age of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam was 19. Those ignored boys have now grown into invisible men, their last memories of friends and family dim, sepia-toned recollections from a time when Lyndon Johnson and hippies and mini-skirts still walked the earth. They have spent 35 to 40 years or more in captivity - in dirty, dingy cells - under some of the harshest conditions imaginable. And the U.S. government, knowing this, has simply disregarded them as though they don't exist. The POWs we left behind have been forced to perform backbreaking manual labor in jungles and rice fields as if they were little more than cattle. They have been marched from secret prison to secret prison, shuffled around like so many toy soldiers in some sadistic child's game. They have been beaten, underfed, confined underground, and forbidden even the most meager of comforts. In a 21st Century world which has long since moved on, they signal for help. And still, no one comes. I hold little hope that those responsible will ever reverse course, or even be made to answer for leaving these poor souls behind to die in cages, broken and old. That leaves you and I to be the ones to change things. I've done what I can do. What about you?
A life-long resident of Westbury, Long Island, John LeBoutillier was born in Glen Cove, New York on May 26, 1953. A 1976 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College with a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, LeBoutillier used his college experience as the basis of his book, Harvard Hates America. Lecturer and author, LeBoutillier has since written numerous articles which have appeared on the New York Times Op-Ed Page, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and in major publications throughout the nation. He first rose to national prominence in 1974 when, at the age of 21 and a sophomore at Harvard, he raised over a quarter million dollars for Leo Thorsness, a former P.O.W., in a South Dakota Senate race against George McGovern. In 1976 he served as regional coordinator, responsible for all field activities, in New Jersey for Gerald Ford`s presidential campaign. Elected on November 4, 1980 to represent New York`s 6th District, LeBoutillier was the youngest member of the 97th Congress. During that time he served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and, as a member of the Special House POW/MIA Task Force pressed for continuing investigation to determine the fate of 2,500 Americans still unaccounted for in Indochina. Since leaving Congress in 1983, LeBoutillier has run the Sky Hook II Project, a privately funded group dedicated to recovering living American Prisoners of War held against their will in Southeast Asia. Sky Hook II has over 50, 000 American supporters. Its purposes are to gather on-the-ground human intelligence throughout Laos and Vietnam and to educate the American public about the POW issue. Since 1983, Mr. LeBoutillier has journeyed to Southeast Asia many times, including two trips to Vietnam as the guest of the Hanoi government, to discuss a solution to the POW problem. In 1989 LeBoutillier authored Vietnam Now; A Case for Normalizing Relations with Hanoi published by Praeger Publishers. In 1981 Mr. LeBoutillier conducted the first American television interview with Alexander Solzhinitsyn on NBC`s TOMORROW SHOW. Also in late 1981, Congressman LeBoutillier interviewed President Reagan from his ranch on WMCA radio on Thanksgiving afternoon. In 1984 Mr. LeBoutillier conducted the first live radio interview with former President Richard M. Nixon for the ABC Talk Radio Network in a three-hour ABC Special Presentation. From 1983-1989, Mr. LeBoutillier was the primary substitute at WMCA Radio for radio hosts Barry Gray and Bob Grant. He also had his own Sunday morning show on WPLJ. He has also hosted shows on WABC. In 2010, Mr. LeBoutillier co-authored THE OBAMA IDENTITY; A Novel (Or Is It?) with Ed Klein. In December 2010, LeBoutillier joined with noted Canadian broadcaster, Arlene Bynon, to launch BYNON/LEBOUTILLIER, the first international talk radio show, airing simultaneously on WABC Talk Radio in New York City and AM640 in Toronto and airing in the United Kingdom. Mr. LeBoutillier is a political columnist for NEWSMAX.COM and his columns also appear at www.JohnLeBout.com.
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