Congressional Record excerpt of Senator Dole's speech to Families of Prisoners of War

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s-leg_630_004_001_tr.txt

Extent (Dublin Core)

2 Pages

File Name (Dublin Core)

s-leg_630_004_001

Title (Dublin Core)

Congressional Record excerpt of Senator Dole's speech to Families of Prisoners of War

Date (Dublin Core)

1971-09-29

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1971-09-29

Congress (Dublin Core)

92nd (1971-1973)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valuePrisoners of war--United States

See all items with this valueVietnam War, 1961-1975

See all items with this valueFamilies of prisoners of war

Policy Area (Curation)

Armed Forces and National Security

Creator (Dublin Core)

United States. Congress. Senate. Congressional Record.

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

congressional records

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=23&q=

Physical Location (Dublin Core)

Collection 003, Box 630, Folder 4

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Senate Papers-Legislative Relations, 1969-1996

Full Text (Extract Text)

Congressional Record

PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 92 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
United States of America

Vol. 117
WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1971
No. 143

Senate

S 15308

SENATOR DOLE REASSURES FAMILIES OF WAR PRISONERS

Mr. HANSEN. Mr. President, all of us this week, I am sure, were visited by some members of the families of those stouthearted American men who are held prisoner under inhumane conditions by the Communist forces in Southeast Asia.

I was honored by the visit of Mrs. Theodore Gostas, of Sheridan, Wyo., who has been a leader in my State and in the Nation of the very steadfast movement to achieve the release of these men, and to secure humane treatment for them while they remain captives. Major Gostas, her husband, has been a prisoner for too many years. Mrs. Gostas, with her great courage and faith, is typical of the heroic wives and mothers of the American men known to be prisoners or missing in action.

The distinguished Senator from Kansas (Mr. DOLE) had the honor on Monday to address this great group of Americans, the families of those captive or missing. His words were consoling to these people, and he emphasized that President Nixon "has unequivocally stated a number of times that American forces will remain in South Vietnam until our men have been released."

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of Senator DOLE's remarks be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the remarks were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:


ADDRESS TO THE FAMILIES OF THE POW'S AND MIA'S

I appreciate what an ordeal you have been through, an ordeal which continues and whose end cannot be foreseen.

You have gone through a long period of agony, not the least of whose torments has been the uncertainty of what has happened to your loved ones, to say nothing of what might happen to them in the future.

The North Vietnamese acceded to the Geneva convention in 1957. This convention, as you know, was designed to assure humane treatment for prisoners of war. The Communists have cynically flouted this convention and, in so doing, have acted as if they actually enjoyed doing so.

Not only that. The enemy has behaved toward you almost as cynically and cruelly as toward the prisoners. Recent events, I think, have demonstrated conclusively that the Communists never had any intention of releasing their captives without a complete and speedy surrender by the United States in Vietnam. Hanoi demands such an abject capitulation by the United States that, in my opinion, many of those now calling for an end to the war would immediately reverse their positions and criticize the terms of surrender. Moreover, this surrender could be the prelude for the butchery of the Vietnamese and others in Laos and Cambodia who have opposed the North Vietnamese and their designs. This butchery could end up with millions dead and the blood bath would take its place in history with those carried out by Hitler and Stalin.


NEVER INTENDING TO AGREE

What are the facts? The Communists have played the familiar cat and mouse game with you and, finally, convinced that the United States will not surrender in Vietnam, have made it brutally plain that they never had any intention of agreeing to any reasonable plan for release of your kinsmen.

Furthermore, they have misled prominent and sincere Americans with hints that they would be flexible on the prisoner of war issue and would compromise on their seven points for the settlement of the Vietnam war, a document which not only called for the United States to capitulate but to grovel before the enemy.

For example, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, told reporters in Paris on September 11 that he had been assured by top Communist negotiators in Paris that the enemy would agree to separate the question of U.S. troop withdrawal from the political future of South Vietnam, including their demand for the cessation of support for South Vietnamese President Thieu. He made his statement after what he said were six intensive hours of conversation with Xuan Thuy, the top Hanoi negotiator, and Dinh Ba Tri, deputy Vietcong delegation chief. McGovern also said that his informants had said that the Communists would not insist on cessation of American financial aid for the Saigon government, or arms shipments to it, as a condition for freeing our prisoners.


COMMUNIST DOMINATION

As if deliberately to refute and embarrass Senator McGovern, who relied on what the Communist spokesmen had told him, the Hanoi delegation in Paris on September 16, stated that it stood by all seven of the points in its so-called peace proposal of July 1, 1971. The statement continued that the two most important of the seven points were withdrawal of all U.S. troops and allied troops in 1971 and the dismantling of U.S. Military bases. The withdrawal, the Communists said, must include advisers and technical personnel. The other point stressed that President Thieu must be thrown out of office and a Government set up which, in effect, would have North Vietnamese approval -- meaning a Communist dominated regime.

HANOI TOUGHENS TERMS

In the Washington Post, Jonathan C. Randal said under a Paris dateline of September 16 that the Hanoi negotiators had toughened their peace terms, adding:

Nguyen Thanh Le, Hanoi's press spokesman at the stalemated peace talks drove home the change by insisting the Vietcong's seven point peace program 'forms a whole' and that it was 'indispensable to reach agreement on the whole' package program.

More optimistic impressions voiced by Senator George McGovern (D.-S.D.) and a hitherto unquestioned statement by Le Duc Tho, a Hanoi Politburo member, were left in shreds.

Furthermore, the Hanoi delegation in Paris left in "shreds" their propaganda campaign which has led many of you to believe that fixing a date for the withdrawal of American troops from South Vietnam in 1971 would bring your loved ones home quickly.

Let me say here and now that the history of our negotiations with North Vietnam proves that only the Communist belief that they cannot win the war will bring the release of the American prisoners of war. The alternative is acceptance of the seven points, which means complete surrender. Even this might not bring your husbands, fathers and brothers home, for the seven points and their meaning could be argued about for months and even years after the Communists had achieved their objective of conquering South Vietnam following a surrender without precedent in all American history.


HANOI PROPAGANDA MISLEADING

Hanoi's propaganda on the prisoner of war issue has been skillful and sustained and has fooled, as I have stated, many Americans who want peace and the release of the men held in Communist prison camps. Clark M. Clifford, Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson said on July 11, 1971, that he had reason to believe that all this country had to do to get the prisoners back was to set a date for the withdrawal of our military forces from Indochina. He did not name the persons with whom he talked. However, all indications were that his information came from North Vietnamese spokesmen in whom he had confidence. The Clifford proposal was supported by Averell Harriman, a most distinguished American, who was the American chief negotiator in Paris during the early peace negotiations with Hanoi.

A few days earlier, an experienced New York Times correspondent, Anthony Lewis, wrote under a Paris dateline that a "high ranking North Vietnamese leader (Le Duc Tho, Hanoi member of the Politburo) says that the new Communist offer to return American prisoners of war if American forces are withdrawn by the end of 1971 is not dependent on a political settlement in South Vietnam". This was the statement which Mr. Randal had referred to in the article I have quoted in part.

I do not mention Mr. Clifford, Mr. Harriman and Mr. Lewis for the purpose of embarrassing them. Many others as well known and who are earnestly trying to find a way to free the prisoners believed the North Vietnamese propaganda.

The outcry for the release of the prisoners in return for fixing a withdrawal date for American forces rose in volume after President Nixon said that a residual force would be maintained in Vietnam as long as American soldiers were imprisoned by the Communists. I do not wonder that some of the anxious families were deceived into thinking that this country, since it is steadily withdrawing troops from Vietnam, should fix a date for getting our men out altogether so that their loved ones could come home.

Now, however, the pretense that the prisoners of war would be sent home if only we would set a date this year for troop withdrawal has been completely abandoned.

As I indicated, the Communist delegation in Paris almost immediately acted as if deliberately seeking to discredit Senator McGovern and others who have been led to believe that release of your husbands, fathers and brothers, could be affected by simply tying it to the return of all American troops.


PRISONERS USED AS PAWNS

In other words, the Communists have duped Americans who believed their propaganda about their American captives. They have used our prisoners as pawns.

I will not go into details about the convention which provides, among other things, that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross or other neutral intermediaries, may inspect the prison camps to see how the captives are being treated. They have made a mockery of every article of the Convention which provides for humane treatment of prisoners of war. Moreover, our men have been denied mail privileges, gifts sent to them at Christmas have been returned, and in 1966, North Vietnam paraded captured American servicemen through the streets of Hanoi, announcing that it intended to try them as war criminals. The resultant world furore apparently changed their minds about the trials. The list of crimes perpetrated against the POW's does not end with those I have mentioned but is lengthy and extremely depressing.

Most of the news which the United States has had about the POW's comes from a vehement antiwar group in New York, among whose leaders are the activists David Dellenger and Mrs. Cora Weiss. Ostensibly, this group has been established as a liaison committee with the American prisoners. In reality, it exists as a vehicle for Hanoi propaganda and it supports, almost without deviation, the Communist line in Vietnam.


COMMUNISTS USE PRISONERS FOR POLITICAL ADVANTAGE

This group has given out the names of some 475 men which it says are prisoners. But over 1500 Americans are either prisoners of war or are missing in action. If the Weiss-Dellenger Committee has a pipeline into Hanoi, why are we not told something about the men unaccounted for. Once again, it seems clearly evident that the Communists are interested in the prisoners only to gain some political advantage from them. We are dealing with an enemy which has no consideration whatever for American prisoners as human beings. Nor do they have any consideration for your feelings, save to try to take advantage of your agony and suffering.


POW/MIA ISSUE GIVEN PRIORITY ATTENTION

As I am sure you already know, the President has indicated many times in his public statements that the POW/MIA issue will






be given top priority attention by his Administration and settled separately from the political questions. He believes this is in the best interest of our men.

Toward that end, we and the Republic of Vietnam have often proposed to the Communist side the reciprocal release of prisoners of war held by both sides. In their statements of October 7 and December 10, 1970, the President, Ambassador Bruce and South Vietnam's delegate in the Paris meetings proposed the release of all North Vietnamese prisoners of war held outside South Vietnam. Hanoi's leaders and the other Communist authorities in Indochina have rejected all such offers.

In addition, the Republic of Vietnam has, with our support, on a number of occasions released prisoners of war. We deeply regret that North Vietnam has not responded to these prisoner releases.


URGE NORTH VIETNAM TO COMPLY WITH GENEVA CONVENTION

The United States has appealed privately and publicly to not only signatories of the Geneva Convention on prisoner treatment, but to all member countries of the United Nations in order to force the North Vietnamese to comply with the Convention. Statements containing paragraphs excerpted from the Convention have been made by Administration spokesmen at the U.N. General Assembly, and resolutions have been adopted by the United Nations and by the U.S. Congress. These resolutions call upon all parties to any armed conflict to comply with the terms of the 1949 Geneva Convention.

We have constantly emphasized that the North Vietnamese should, at a minimum, permit international inspection of the POW camps in North Vietnam, furnish a complete listing of all the POWs now held in North Vietnam, and permit regular communication between the POWs and their families.

While our efforts have been generally unsuccessful in forcing North Vietnam compliance with the Convention, we have effectively prevented the North Vietnamese from trying U.S. POWs as war criminals. We have also observed that the North Vietnamese in the face of an international outpouring of humanitarian concern, have gone to some length to project the image that the POWs are receiving adequate care. These are small but positive interim contributions to the welfare of our POWs.


PRESIDENT NIXON SEEKS FREEDOM YOR OUR MEN

Other indications of the extent of the Administration's concern can be found in the special missions of Frank Borman and Postmaster General Blount and the dramtic rescue mission at Son Tay. Finally, the President's statement of support for South Vietnam's proposal that the POWs be interned in a neutral country is just one more example of how President Nixon intends to leave no stone unturned in seeking freedom for our men.

President Nixon believes that the present policy of withdrawl of U.S. forces steadily and by orderly states, as the South Vietnamese are strengthened, keeps an incentive for Hanoi to negotiate a political settlement and/or an early prisoner release. The President believes this policy is in our best national interests and the surest way to bring about an honorable peace for the peoples of Indochina, as well as the surest way to get our men back. I don't have to remind you that he has unequivocally stated a number of times that American forces will remain in South Vietnam until our men have been released.