...for as long as it takes
There has been a major development in the matter of POWs believed taken
to the Soviet Union. The news story came off the wire in the last hour.
Today, Vice President Gore gave Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov
a letter asking him to open Russian records so investigators can search
for any evidence concerning the missing men's fates.
There is no description of the letter tendered or its specific content.
It is of critical importance that the pressure be kept up on the
administration, to insure that they do not fail to follow through on
this first step.
Email alone will not be enough since it is most often not read in a
timely manner.
Call, Fax or walk in to your elected officials local offices and make
your feelings know in as respectful and determined a manner as it is in
your power to demonstrate.
Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Go to your township
committee or city council and ask them to officially endorse your
requests with an open letter to the Whitehouse.
Call radio and TV talk shows (CNN, CSPAN, MSNBC, FoxNewsNetwork, etc) if
the opportunity presents itself (The "What's on your mind?" segments are
perfect) and keep this story and this issue in the forefront of
everyone's mind. Most newsies feel the POW issue no longer exists. Let's
disabuse them of that notion.
(Don't mention my name please. They may hang up on you.)
Call and Fax the Whitehouse and express your approval of this major step
forward and then remind them just as enthusiastically that it will be
worthless without persistent follow up.
These are the points to be made in your communications. In addition to urging them to pursue vigorous follow through, they need
to:
1..Make the text of Gore's letter Public so the entire nation will know
exactly what was asked of Primakov.
Prepare your statement's before you call so you can keep it short. (You
can say a lot in less than a minute if you write it down first.)
Keep Faxes to a single page. That makes them more convenient for the
aides to carry around....
This is more important than you can imagine. Don't waste any
time...Please...This is something we've been waiting for for a long
time.
Thank you and Semper Fi,
Today's Washington Post reports that Russian Officials confirm the
existence of orders to transport American POWs to the former Soviet
Union. According to the article, Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), confirmed ".
..he and Toon were told yesterday by Vladimir Semichastny, KGB chief
from 1961 to 1967, that the Soviets did have a plan during the
Vietnam War to bring American prisoners to the Soviet Union.
But Semichastny, Smith said, would go no further than confirming the
plan's existence, leaving open the question of whether it was
implemented."
Appeals by high ranking US officials, including Secretary of State
Albright, for release of the document have been ignored by the Russians.
In an article titled "Yielding to Outcry, Clinton Might Ask Primakov
About KGB Document," the Washington Times reported "The White House said
yesterday that President Clinton may ask Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni
Primakov next week about Moscow's refusal to provide a KGB document
mentioning a plan to use captured Americans for intelligence purposes."
The article continued: "However, Mr. Clinton will only broach the
subject during next week's scheduled meeting in Malaysia if the Russian
government fails to turn over the document during a meeting in Moscow
this week of the US-Russian commission on prisoners of war..."
We hope that the Russians will turn over this important document to
Senator Smith and Ambassador Toon. However, we must prepare for the
worst, that they will not. If the document is not turned over to the
commission, we must then depend on the "Might" and "May" of the White
House. That is unacceptable.
We must turn the White House "May" and "Might" into "Will" and
"Absolutely"
Your voices are needed. We cannot do this alone. Time is short.
President Clinton leaves for his meeting with Prime Minister Primakov,
on Friday. We must make our voices heard, before he leaves. If the
Russians do not turn over the document to the US side of the Joint
Commission, the President must ask for it during his meeting scheduled
for either Monday or Tuesday.
Make your voices heard. Contact:
The Honorable Bill Clinton
Mr. Samuel R. Berger, National Security Advisor Madeleine K. Albright
The Honorable Yuli M. Vorontsov, Ambassador The PoW/MIA Forum has obtained copies of the document that Russian General
Dmitri Volkogonov donated to the Library of Congress. We also have a
partial translation of the Russian document.
This document points toward a KGB-planned transfer of captured US Personnel
to the then Soviet Union and is the same document cited in the November 9th
Article of the Washington Times "Kremlin Withholds report on POWs," by Bill
Gertz.
The story by Gertz indicates just how high up in the Clinton Administration
this has hit, including the fact that Madeline Albright personally appealed
to Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, a former KGB Chief.
The Russians admit that a Soviet KGB document exists of the planned
transfer, but claim that the transfer had not taken place and the Russians
have denied Albright's request.
With the US-Russian Joint Commission meeting in a few days with Ambassador
Toons (sound familiar?), Senator Bob Smith has decided to fly to Russia to
attempt to get a copy of the KGB plan.
Please go to POW/MIA Forum and you will see the first of 8 documents, the Russian document and a partial translation. It is under the heading: KREMLIN WITHHOLDS REPORT ON POWs.
Please give this widest possible distribution and take the appropriate
action accordingly.
Steve Golding So there it is again. They won't ask...They Will ask...The wind blew and
they changed their mind...in our favor this time...
The outcry Clinton 'might' yield to, came from you - the American
citizen who wants the answers and who let them know in Washington, just
how you feel.
From the very first, I have avoided pointing blame at individual
politicians for inaction on the POW issue. The fact remains, politicians
will do what they believe improves their chances for re-election. They
will do not what the majority of us feel is right, but only that which
the majority of us take time to TELL THEM WE FEEL IS RIGHT!!!!
While it would be admirable for them to take the initiative on their
own, we all know that is unlikely. So, as usual, we're going to have to
help them along.
More than any other in history, this administration has adhered to the
practice of checking the direction of the wind before setting policy.
Let's insure that President Clinton is not confused by a last minute
wind shift.
Call, Fax or email the White House now and let the President know you
want him to advise Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov that:
"Release of all KGB documents mentioning a plan to use captured
Americans for intelligence or other purposes, and all documents
referencing American POWs from the SE Asian Wars being taken to the
Soviet Union or other Communist Bloc countries for any reason, is
critical to insuring the confidence of the American people in the good
faith of the Russian people and the Russian government."
You might also mention briefly that the President's commitment to making
that statement and asking the hard questions, is equally critical to
strengthening your confidence in the administration...but please use
your own words on this last item.
If you do call, keep your comments short and polite. That will insure
they are remembered and it will also insure that more people will get
through.
If you Fax, put it all on the cover sheet. Anything over a single sheet
gets lost.
Give your name, town, state and phone# if they ask. That will add
credibility.
Don't make political statements. The goal is to get the message across.
After you call or Fax, email a copy of your statement to your
congressperson.
Most of you who write me, regularly say: "What else can I do to help the
issue?"
Well folks, this is it. This might be the most important thing you ever
do to get the answers we seek.
I'll end here because I have a phone call to make and a fax to send.
Have a great day,
Gunny
Sent in from Gunny
2..Publish any statements Gore made to Primakov during the exchange and
any questions he asked verbally.
3..Publish Primakov's response verbatim.
Gunny
Sent in by:AIIPOWMIAI
Nov. 11, 1998
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Tel: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
National Security Council
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Tel: 202-456-9481
Fax: 202-456-9460 OR 202-456-2883
Secretary of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington DC 20520
Tel: 202-647-5291
Fax: 202-647-1533 OR 202- 647-7120
e-mail: secretary@state.gov
Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington DC 20007
Tel: 202-298-5700 Fax: 202-298-5735
e-mail: russ-amb@cerfnet.com
from Steve Golding
Webmaster, PoW/MIA Forum
