PLATFORM : The MIA Question

Support should not be based on presumed guilt, nor should opposition be based on revenge. Normalization of relations with Vietnam should depend on U.S. interests. A settlement in Cambodia is in America’s interest, but the primary bilateral interest is accounting for Americans still missing from the Vietnam War. Whether in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, most answers are in Hanoi’s hands.

If implemented with integrity and responsible oversight, the U.S. “road map” can ensure that American POW/MIAs are returned, alive or dead, to their families and our nation. Evidence demonstrates that Vietnam could rapidly resolve the fates of hundreds of Americans.

Normalization and lifting the economic embargo should now be based on concrete Vietnamese responsiveness on POW/MIA and other humanitarian issues, such as releasing all political detainees. History proves that Vietnam increases demands in response to concessions, but cooperates to pursue stated incentives.