SteyrAUG
10-28-11, 14:47
Just finished reading Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit by Eric Haney (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Delta-Force-Americas-Counterterrorist/dp/0385336039), excellent book by the way.
And I was stunned to read about the two planned attempts to rescue American POWs still held captive in Loas in the early 1980s. I accept the source as absolutely reliable and proof enough that we had reliable evidence of Americans still being held in captivity in Laos.
I was greatly dissapointed to learn the big picture role that Bo Gritz knowingly or unknowingly played in undermining the efforts of the Delta rescue missions, in the 1980s I greatly admired Gritz for efforts on behalf of the POWs and the issue of their rescue.
And what distresses me the most is that it now seems it was American politicians, and not Vietnamese captors, who were the primary culprits in preventing the return of American POWs. I was also saddened to learn of other government and CIA shenanigans that occurred during the Reagan administration, but nothing in my mind compares to the POW issue.
I should also stress that there is no evidence or even accusations that President Reagan was involved or complicit in suppressing evidence of American POWs still being held or undermining any rescue effort. In fact there is strong evidence to the contrary that Reagan was prepared to do anything in his power to rescue American POWs and that was the purpose of two separate Delta missions that were later undermined by others.
Given all that we subjected those who did their duty in Vietnam to, this is clearly the final indignity. To not bring your men home is in my mind the greatest betrayal. It sickens me that there are those in positions of power in this country who have gotten away with doing just that. I cannot imagine the final years of those men who were abandoned.
I take some comfort in the fact that men were prepared to try, just as the effort was at least made with Operation Eagle Claw, and I could have lived with a failed effort such as the raid on Son Tay, but this one does break my heart.
I knew too many of these men to be indifferent. I guess at least those I knew made it home.
And I was stunned to read about the two planned attempts to rescue American POWs still held captive in Loas in the early 1980s. I accept the source as absolutely reliable and proof enough that we had reliable evidence of Americans still being held in captivity in Laos.
I was greatly dissapointed to learn the big picture role that Bo Gritz knowingly or unknowingly played in undermining the efforts of the Delta rescue missions, in the 1980s I greatly admired Gritz for efforts on behalf of the POWs and the issue of their rescue.
And what distresses me the most is that it now seems it was American politicians, and not Vietnamese captors, who were the primary culprits in preventing the return of American POWs. I was also saddened to learn of other government and CIA shenanigans that occurred during the Reagan administration, but nothing in my mind compares to the POW issue.
I should also stress that there is no evidence or even accusations that President Reagan was involved or complicit in suppressing evidence of American POWs still being held or undermining any rescue effort. In fact there is strong evidence to the contrary that Reagan was prepared to do anything in his power to rescue American POWs and that was the purpose of two separate Delta missions that were later undermined by others.
Given all that we subjected those who did their duty in Vietnam to, this is clearly the final indignity. To not bring your men home is in my mind the greatest betrayal. It sickens me that there are those in positions of power in this country who have gotten away with doing just that. I cannot imagine the final years of those men who were abandoned.
I take some comfort in the fact that men were prepared to try, just as the effort was at least made with Operation Eagle Claw, and I could have lived with a failed effort such as the raid on Son Tay, but this one does break my heart.
I knew too many of these men to be indifferent. I guess at least those I knew made it home.