Executive Director National League of POW/MIA Families
before the Subcommittee on Trade Committee on Ways and Means
June 18, 1998
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee...... I welcome this opportunity to represent the POW/MIA families at this important hearing. The timing is vital, and Congressional attention is urgently needed. We appreciate your efforts over the year, Mr. Chairman, and know that achieving the fullest possible accounting has long been a shared objective, one very close to your heart.
Throughout the years since the National League of POW/MIA Families was formed in May 1970, there have been many difficulties and obstacles. The POW/MIA issue from the Vietnam War, as compared to other wars, is very different. Not only was there no timely U. S. access to the battlefields, but the US faced a national Vietnamese policy of well orchestrated exploitation of the issue for their political and economic objectives, as well as domestic divisiveness.
The greatest challenges came during the immediate postwar period, and they were very tough to overcome. Then, from 1981-92, the primary US objective with Vietnam was accounting as fully as possible for America Is POW/MIAs, anticipating that satisfactory resolution could allow the United States and Vietnam to move toward normal relations after a Cambodia settlement. It was during this period that most accountability occurred.
The Clinton Administration has rhetorically taken the same public stance regarding highest priority on resolving the POW/MIA issue but, operationally, POW/MIA objectives are not being met. Although the process of joint cooperation has brought some success, especially in Laos, POW/MIA accounting from Vietnam has been minimal when compared to official, long-established expectations.
The most glaring challenges the League now faces are US policy that continues to provide incentives to Vietnam without performance on unilateral actions to account for Americans, including repatriation of remains that cannot be recovered in the field, and accounting for last known alive discrepancy (LKA) cases, directly linked to confirmed data which Vietnam is withholding from US researchers.
Today, 2,089 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, though there are approximately 50 "sets" of remains in varying stages of the identification process. About half of the total were originally carried as POW or MIA; the other half were original status KIA/BNR, or killed- in-action/body-not-recovered.
Statistical data surrounding this issue changes constantly, but one crucial, though seldom mentioned, fact is that it is to Vietnam that the US must turn for accountability on most missing Americans, regardless of where the loss occurred. Even in Laos, where 447 are still missing, over 80% were lost in areas under Vietnamese control at the time; in Cambodia, the figure is 90% of the 75 US losses.
The League definition of accountability, long ago accepted officially as well, is the missing man returned alive, or his identifiable remains or convincing evidence as to why neither is possible, in which case the individual's name stays on the list as unaccounted for, but there is little to no expectation of remains recovery.
Our expectations based upon official information and other evidence, have long been realistic. We accept the nature of war that does not allow answers on all the missing. Knowing the historical record, understanding the volume of intelligence data and having witnessed Hanoi's manipulation of the issue for decades, the League also recognizes approaches that work, versus those that do not.
On Veterans Day of last year, President Clinton stated, "Let us never waiver for a moment in our common efforts to obtain a full accounting for all our MIAs." The public appeal received sustained applause, as expected, but it should have been in the form of a policy directive to some administration officials who fail to treat the POW/MIA issue seriously.
In February of this year, the President affirmed in a letter regarding a Jackson-Vanik waiver for Vietnam that "obtaining the fullest possible accounting of our missing from the Vietnam War is the highest priority in our relations with Vietnam." The President's assurances are welcome, but officials in his administration do not implement his commitments seriously. Some either do not accept the validity of the President's stated policy, or they elect to ignore the direction given.
Last year, Congress discovered that the intelligence priority enjoyed by the POW/MIA issue in the 1980s and early 1990s was removed from presidential directives in 1995. It took significant effort to obtain a pledge from the administration to restore the priority, and an independent analytic capability in the intelligence community still has not been established.
The President's 1997 certification to Congress that Vietnam is "cooperating in full faith" was not accurate. According to findings in a 1997 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff inquiry, "The intelligence community appears to have played no formal analytic role in the determinations" regarding Vietnam's cooperation. The president's certification, based upon staff recommendation by economic interests, an amorphous desire skillful implementation of its own policy.
Much has been and is being heard on Capitol Hill and in the media about the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, covered in Title IV, Section 402 of the Trade Act of 1974, dealing with free emigration. Very little was or is heard about the Gurney-Chiles Amendment covered in Title IV, Section 403, an effort to get all countries to assist in accounting for missing Americans.
The League is very familiar with the Gurney-Chiles provisions. In fact my father, the late Mr. E.C. Mills, then serving as League Executive Director, testified on this very issue before this Committee, though at the time it was the committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by your former colleague, the esteemed Clement Zablocki.
We were not the only ones to recognize this vital link; apparently, the Clinton Administration did as well. The President's March 4th certification that Vietnam was "fully cooperating in good faith" missed congressional deadlines, but was timed to coincide with the strategy for gaining Congressional approval of the President's March 11th decision to grant the Jackson-Vanik waiver.
Hanoi's reaction to the waiver was predictable. Unlike some US officials and businessmen, the Vietnamese foreign ministry "gave a cool welcome to the decision, calling it reasonable and a step toward normal economic relations," according to press reports. Eager to achieve their highest priority -- Most Favored Nation trade status -- officials in Hanoi treated the waiver as routine and justified, merely another step along the path to normal diplomatic and economic relations that this administration has pursued with inordinate urgency, given the lack of Vietnam's critical economic and strategic import to the United States.
The League's opposition to MFN for Vietnam is not ideological, but based upon Hanoi's failure to take unilateral actions that could account for hundreds of missing Americans. We have long supported MFN for Laos and Cambodia due to both countries' historical record of far more serious accounting efforts.
Obvious manipulation continues to come from Hanoi -- from Vietnam's leadership, not the Vietnamese people. To objective observers, Hanoi's record over the years proves our point. Vietnam's leadership has enjoyed tremendous continuity through seven US administrations, and they have not been reluctant to exploit those changes, alternating between surges of cooperation and stonewalling.
There is apparent unwillingness, however, by current US officials to recognize and accept as valid Vietnam's manipulation of the issue, including Hanoi's failure to account for the most obvious cases of Americans last known to be alive. Now, the official statements refer to last known alive cases as "down to 4811 from 196", without any reference to the fact that the remains of nearly all of these men have not been returned -- they should be the easiest to account for by returning remains, not the hardest, as alleged by this administration, since they obviously were not destroyed in an aircraft crash.
Administration officials also ignore a direct 1985 admission by a member of the Vietnamese Politburo to a White House official that hundreds of remains were being withheld. Since 1990, Vietnam has failed to renew unilateral repatriation of stored remains, and, ironically, US policymakers seem to accept the Politburo's failure to authorize such full cooperation as somehow proving that there are no more available. Why? Presumably because acknowledging that Vietnam is withholding remains and information, rather than being fully cooperative, is counter to the Clinton Administration's real objectives -- full normalization regardless of the cost to achieving the fullest possible accounting.
Despite these circumstances, long before it was politically correct, the POW/MIA families supported humanitarian aid to the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia through assistance to the disabled, school construction and other projects. We still do. We also support a rational policy to meet Vietnam's political and economic objectives -- as they meet ours in terms of accounting for missing Americans -- not payment in advance in the naive hope that Vietnam will respond in good faith.
Over the years, there have been obstacles that arose domestically, whether from self-deluded RAMBOs, apologists for US involvement in the war, or con- artists who preyed upon some families, veterans and the general public. One of the greatest frustrations has come from uninformed people who, in the name of undefined "healing" and "putting the past behind," seem to believe that facts, evidence, principles and justice for those who serve can be ignored. Such a mentality assumes that commitments can be summarily dismissed to pursue economic and political objectives, even when answers are being deliberately withheld, as is the case with Vietnam.
Ending uncertainty and bringing facts to waiting families and our nation has been the League's mission for nearly three decades, during which I have served nearly twenty years as Executive Director. Our expectations are realistic. The families simply want answers that, according to senior US officials over many years, could readily be provided on hundreds of missing Americans if the Vietnamese leadership makes the decision to cooperate seriously.
Overcoming current challenges requires an educated, committed executive branch, backed by informed families, veterans and Members of Congress, unified behind an approach that can succeed. We long ago recognized the need for active involvement by the veterans community. Support from America's veterans not only enables the League to continue to fight for answers, but helps ensure that Congress and the Executive Branch clearly understand that this issue must be resolved. The United States must send a clear signal that those who serve our nation are not expendable, that they will be accounted for if it is humanly possible.
The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, and specifically the efforts of the League, brought significant changes to our nation and to the world. This is a contribution of which we are, justifiably, proud. In Desert Storm, unprecedented efforts were made to account as fully as possible for America Is POW/MIAs before US troops were withdrawn. Russia is now seeking to account for her missing in Afghanistan and Chechnya; Kuwait seeks answers for citizens held and missing in Iraq; Israel is still seeking the return of her POWs from Lebanon; and the Croatians search for men unaccounted for in Serb-controlled Bosnia. All have come to the League for advice. Our quest to account for America's POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War has given rise to international recognition: you can blame the war, but don't blame the warrior.
The League's POW/MIA flag is now the recognized symbol of the principle of nations seeking accountability for those who serve. Last year, Congress passed, as part of the Defense Authorization Act for FY98, language that mandates flying our POW/MIA flag six days each year: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On permanent display in the US Capitol Rotunda since March 9, 1989, the League's POW/MIA flag now is to be flown on the grounds or in the public lobbies of all major military installations; all Federal national cemeteries; the Korean War and National Vietnam Veterans Memorials; the US Capitol; the White House; offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs (where it now flies daily) and the Director of the Selective Service System; and at all offices of the US Postal Service. Passage was supported by the League and all major national veterans organizations.
The League and our nation's veterans have fought for answers because it is the right thing to do. The Vietnamese people suffered much greater loss of life than we in America, but Vietnam's unaccounted for citizens are known dead, body not recovered. There are no Vietnamese MIAs! Families in Vietnam have no uncertainty except for the location where their loved ones are buried, and that is tragic enough. It is, however, important to distinguish between the two issues.
Vietnamese KIAs were not only buried in unmarked graves, but will never be accounted for in.terms we recognize. Even with the assistance of American veterans in providing relevant information, the Vietnamese have no medical records or other 'data against which to compare remains and material that may be recovered. Unlike the Vietnamese leadership, the United States was not and is not withholding the identifiable remains of Vietnamese citizens, nor information that could help account for them. Therein lies the core difference on that element of humanitarian reciprocity.
Answers can come on many more American POW/MIAs. The timing, however, depends primarily upon whether the Clinton Administration reestablishes the principle that the pace and scope of US responses to Hanoi's priorities will be directly related to their unilateral accounting actions.
As in the past, Hanoi's response will be based upon self interest. If the President and senior US officials demonstrate seriousness and commitment, the leadership of Vietnam will respond. Unified determination to succeed -- by the POW/MIA families, our nation's veterans, the American people and our representatives in Congress -- can ensure that the Clinton Administration implements the President's commitments with the integrity that America's missing veterans demonstrated by their honorable service in the cause of freedom.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to your questions.