Families of MIAs Warned Not to Have False Hopes

To scattered boos and shouts of “Rambo! Rambo!,” a congressional leader today told the families of U.S. servicemen missing in action that “the time has come for hard truths and blunt talk” about claims that there are still Americans held captive in Southeast Asia.

Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) told 800 relatives and friends of MIAs that resolving the fate of the 2,450 Americans missing in Indochina remains “a national obligation and moral responsibility.”

But “we also have an obligation not to raise false hopes and expectations,” he declared.

Solarz referred specifically to claims by former Marine Pvt. Robert Garwood that he saw as many as 70 Americans held in Vietnam in the late 1970s, years after the Vietnamese government said it had released the last U.S. POW.

Solarz, who oversees the House Task Force on POWs-MIAs, was greeted warmly by his audience at the 16th annual meeting of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

But he was alternately booed and cheered when he assailed Garwood’s claims.

“I once said Garwood was a deserter,” Solarz said. “Well, I apologize to him. He wasn’t found guilty of desertion, he was found guilty of collaboration. I ask you which is worse.”

Solarz said Garwood had repeatedly refused to cooperate with the Defense Intelligence Agency and had declined to take a lie detector test.

“We’ve attempted to track down every lead and respond to every allegation,” he said. “And we will continue to do so. But we must be careful not to raise false hopes.”

Several other members of Congress also appeared before the league of families and agreed with Solarz that there is no credible evidence to date that Americans remain alive in captivity. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) said, “We have learned that patience and fortitude are far more potent weapons than firepower and macho demagoguery.”

Gilman said, “We have seen more progress this past year than at any time since the end of the Vietnam War” on the MIA issue. He noted that just earlier this month, the Vietnamese announced they would return the remains of 26 Americans and expressed a willingness to resolve remaining questions within two years.