Vietnamese Commandos Still Unpaid

The Pentagon has failed to pay restitution to a group of Vietnamese commandos who were left behind in prison camps at the end of the war, despite legislation authorizing it to do so.

Congress approved the legislation last year to compensate a group of about 280 former commandos who had taken part in U.S. spy missions during the Vietnam War.

The Pentagon insists that it wants to pay the veterans but that the legislation was vague, and it has asked for a clarification before proceeding.

The former commandos were captured in the 1960s and left behind at the war’s end, when most other prisoners of war were freed.

Secret documents released last year at the request of The Times showed that the U.S. government had declared the men dead, even though government agencies had intelligence reports that they were alive in North Vietnamese camps or prisons.

Most of the long-forgotten commandos were imprisoned 15 years or more, and many say they were often tortured. Some died in captivity, but many were released in the 1980s. The largest group now lives in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

At a congressional hearing on the issue last year, senators described the government’s abandonment of the men as abominable.

“This conduct is criminal,” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said.

By a unanimous vote, the Senate authorized the Pentagon to pay the men $40,000 each for the time they spent in prison. The legislation was backed by the White House.

But Pentagon spokesman Susan Hansen said the Defense Department believed that it could not pay the men because the language in the bill was unclear.

She insisted that the Pentagon was eager to compensate the commandos.

“We need to ask Congress to clarify the language,” Hansen said. “We want to move forward.”

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Hansen said the Pentagon had forwarded its request for stronger language to Congress, which has not yet acted.

The Pentagon’s latest stance contradicts earlier statements that it intended to disburse the money. “The Department of Defense will actively be implementing these provisions,” Hansen said in October after Congress passed the legislation.

The problem, Hansen now says, is Congress’ two-tiered approach to budgeting. In its annual budget authorization bill, Congress ordered the government to pay each commando $40,000. In its annual appropriations bill, Congress urged but did not order the federal government to compensate the former commandos.

Both bills were signed into law.

Other action by the government has convinced some that the U.S. has no intention of paying the commandos.

In federal claims court, the Pentagon has launched a new legal assault on a lingering 1995 lawsuit filed by the commandos demanding back pay for the time they spent in prison. The lawsuit was put on hold when Congress began preparing legislation. But the Pentagon asked the judge Feb. 28 to dismiss the commandos’ claims--not because the matter was settled by legislation, but because the Pentagon says the commandos have no standing to pursue their claims in court.

Pentagon officials would not comment on the court action.

It appears, too, that the Pentagon has missed a congressional deadline for writing regulations governing how the commandos would be paid. The legislation, signed in early October, gave the Pentagon six months to write the regulations.

The regulations are not ready yet, Hansen acknowledged.

“I think they are in the final stages,” she said.

John Mattes, the attorney representing the commandos, said the government’s actions show it is acting in bad faith and trying to stonewall the commandos.

“First they abandoned them, then they wrote them off as dead, now they’ve betrayed them again,” Mattes said.

Many of the commandos suffer from chronic medical problems stemming from their treatment in prison, and two have died since President Clinton signed the bill authorizing the payments.

One former commando, Ha Van Son, said he was saddened to learn of the Pentagon’s decision. Son, 49, was captured with several Americans on a spy mission into Laos in 1967, and spent more than 21 years in prison.

The American prisoners went home in 1973, he said, while he remained in prison until 1989.

Documents show that the U.S. government declared Son dead about three months after his capture, and his family received a token “death gratuity.”

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Son said he thought his family was receiving his salary while he was in prison--as the commandos were promised before they undertook the clandestine missions.

The former commando urged the Pentagon to make the payments.

“My hands and legs were shackled, and we all have a lot of medical problems but no money to pay for them,” said Son, who lives in Atlanta. “I think the Pentagon is not respecting the law.”

This week, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) fired off a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen demanding an explanation and action.

“The United States is required to make payments,” Sanchez wrote. “I am sure you agree that any further delay only adds further injury to men who honorably served this country at a decisive time during the Vietnam War.”

Cohen has not responded.

Steve Jost, chief of staff for Sanchez, said the congresswoman was ready to introduce a new bill if need be.

“Our best understanding is that some lawyers at the Department of Defense are dragging their feet,” Jost said.