I would like to hear discussion about McCain's POW experience that focused on the following points:

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(1) In the summer of 1967, McCain told a New York Times reporter in Saigon, "Now that I've seen what the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship, I'm not so sure that I want to drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam."

(2) In the Fall of 1967, despite his statements two months earlier in the New York Times, McCain nevertheless went on another bombing run targeting civilians; in a 1997 appearance on "60 Minutes," McCain admitted "I bombed innocent women and children." While on this civilian bombing run, McCain was shot down and and fell into a lake where he was rescued from drowning by Mai Van On, a North Vietnamese man who risked his own life to save McCain despite the fact that McCain was bombing Mai Van On's own city.

(3) McCain received special medical treatment in North Vietnam because his father and grandfather were US Admirals and because McCain offered to give the North Vietnamese US military intelligence in exchange for his medical treatment; in fact, French journalist Francois Chalais did a televised interview with McCain, who was videotaped smoking a cigarette during the interview in the hospital, shortly after he was captured and this exchange took place:

CHALAIS: "How are you treated here?"
MCCAIN: "Very well. Everybody is very nice to me."
CHALAIS: "How is the food?"
MCCAIN: "This isn't Paris, but it is alright."

(transcript - http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/declass... ); In Faith of My Fathers, McCain's autobiography, he admits he offered to give the North Vietnamese US military intelligence in exchange for his medical treatment, but he also claims he intended to renege on this promise.

(4) While a POW, McCain received what Dick Cheney calls "enhanced interrogation," and as a result he signed a written confession that "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate."

(5) I'd like to see an examination of what McCain has learned from this experience -- "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" and flip flopping on torture.

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1. Here is a very interesting news article about McCain's experience in Vietnam:

Excerpt:

My meeting with John Sidney McCain was certainly one of those meetings which will affect me most profoundly for the rest of my life. . . . In a weak voice, he relates his story to me: "I was carrying out a bombing mission, my 23rd raid, over Hanoi. It was then that I was hit. I wanted to eject but while doing so I broke both arms and my right leg. Unconscious I fell in a lake. Some Vietnamese jumped into the water and pulled me out. Later I learned there must have been about 12 of them. They immediately took me to a hospital, in a condition two inches away from death. A doctor operated on my thigh. Others at the same time dealt with my arms."

"How are you treated here?"

"Very well. Everybody is very nice to me."

"How is the food?"

He smiles feebly. Obviously, the least reaction hurts him. "This isn't Paris, but it is alright."

"Do you have something to read?"

"They have suggested that I read, but my hands are unable to hold even a newspaper."

His cigarette has gone out.

Link: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1999-03-25/news/is-john-mccain-a-war-hero/6

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2. Another interesting view of McCain's record:

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j092999.html