National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans
February 10, 1994
Mr.Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
On behalf of the 1.4 million members of the Disabled American Veterans and its Women's Auxiliary, may I say that we deeply appreciate being given this opportunity to present our views on United States policy toward Vietnam.
Mr.Chairman, at the outset, I wish to commend you, Ranking Member Leach,*S and all the members of the Subcommittee for your decision to hear the views of our nation's leading Veterans Service Organizations, family members of those missing, and other interested parties, regarding this matter of great national importance.
As the leading organization representing America's combat-disabled veterans, we have a vital interest in the issues before the Subcommittee today. Mr. Chairman, before I address our specific views concerning Vietnam, however, allow me to state the philosophy of the Disabled American Veterans regarding the general issue of POW/MIAs.
Mr.Chairman, when our national leaders have elected to send our country's best and brightest young men and women into combat, the members of our armed services have always gone into battle without hesitation. And in ever case, our servicemen and servicewomen have constantly displayed valor and courage far beyond the call of duty.
In every instance requiring the use of force to protect our vital national interests, members of our Armed Forces have taken with them an unwritten, unspoken, but unbreakable contract of the battlefield. A contract from our government that simply states: We will leave no one, dead or alive, in the hands of the enemy.
Based on this unwritten, unspoken, but unbreakable contract, the DAV strongly believes that our nation has a sacred obligation to account for its missing servicemen and women who do not return from the fields of battle. This contract was meant to have no loopholes, no escape clauses, and absolutely no room for negotiation.
In our view, the U.S. government -- dating back to the end of World War II -- has FAILED miserably in meeting the terms of this contract. It is a great national travesty that we still have not accounted for nearly 90,000 American patriots since the end of World War II.
Mr.Chairman, every DAV member in every corner of the country has a standing obligation to press our national leaders to develop policies consistent with this unwritten, unspoken, but unbreakable contract of the battlefield in order to ensure that American fighting forces are NEVER AGAIN USED AS POLITICAL PAWNS.
Regarding the situation with Vietnam, delegates to the DAV's recent annual DAV National Convention unanimously adopted a resolution which urged the President NOT TO LIFT the embargo or normalize relations with Vietnam until the U.S. government received the fullest possible accounting of our missing comrades.
At a White House meeting just hours before the embargo was lifted last Thursday, DAV Washington Headquarters Executive Director Arthur H. Wilson told President CLinton that the DAV DID NOT AGREE that recent Vietnaemse actions justified lifting the embargo. Wilson added that much of the information and assistance Vietnam has provided in the past six months could have been -- and SHOULD HAVE BEEN -- provided nearly two decades ago.
While we disagreed with President Clinton on lifting the embargo at this time, the DAV agrees with our Commander-In-Chief that resolving the POW/MIA issue should remain our nation's highest national priority. The DAV is also grateful that President Clinton -- unlike others who have occupied the Oval Office -- has made a tremendous effort to seek the advice and involvement of the major Veterans Service Organizations in seeking to resolve the POW/MIA question.
As a matter of fact, the DAV was part of a delegation sent to Vietnam last July by the President to stress to the Vietnamese government the importance of providing tangible progress on the remaining POW/MIA cases. Obviously, that trip was very successful in terms of encouraging the Vietnamese government to provide additional information.
While on that trip with Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Herschel Gober, and Lt. Gen. Mike Ryan, the DAV was also able to witness first-hand the dedication and determination of the members of the Department of Defense's Joint Task Force Full Accounting. There's no doubt that the members of the Joint Task Force are working diligently to provide as many answers as possible.
Now that the embargo has been lifted, the DAV believes that the Joint Task- Force should stay intact so that we may continue to closely monitor Vietnam's level of cooperation. We also believe that the American public -- 85 percent of whom don't believe Vietnam has been forthcoming on the POW/MIA issue, according to a December 1993 Associated Press poll -- demands that our nation continue to leave no stone unturned in the quest for the fullest possible accounting.
Mr.Chairman, the DAV also believes that our nation must continue to seek the Vietnamese government's full cooperation to improve Vietnam's horrendous human rights record. Just last month, for instance, members of a humanitarian assistance group supported by the DAV and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, were detained and harassed by over zealous Vietnamese policemen at the Hanoi Airport for more than three hours. The group, whose trip was sanctioned by the Vietnames government, was in Vietnam to provide more than $100,000 worth of prosthetic devices to needy Vietnamese war veterans -- from the North and South. Unfortunately, as the policemen ripped through the group's materials, some of the prosthetic devices were ruined, thus depriving a destiture war veteran of much-needed assistance. This type of human rights abuse must not and cannot be tolerated.
In summation, Mr.Chairman, the DAV believes that America has a sacred obligation to account for its servicemen and servicewomen who do not return from the fields of battle. We further believe the our government must develop safeguards to ensure that our nation never again places short-term economic and political agendas ahead of our nation's long-standing moral obligation to determine the fates of our POW/MIAs.
Mr.Chairman, on behalf of the Disabled American Veterans, I again thank you and the members of this Subcommittee for allowing us this opportunity. At this time, I'd be happy to answer any questions you or the other members may have.