Photograph of 3 MIA Pilots
If the recently published photograph (July 17-18) of three men thought to be MIAs turns out to be genuine, then the President owes us an explanation. He needs to tell the American people how any U.S. prisoners of war escaped detection after the supposedly exhaustive efforts of the government to locate them. He also needs to explain the allegations of the ex-head of the Pentagon’s POW-MIA research unit that live sightings of POWs and other evidence are routinely dismissed by government officials.
Is it possible that the Reagan and Bush administrations wanted to silence all further talk of live American prisoners in Southeast Asia in order to facilitate better and closer ties, and later U.S. investment in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam? Or did they just want to keep that ugly war out of the minds of Americans who might object to any other dirty wars?
DANIEL CARLIN
Los Angeles
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