OCTOBER 1, 1998
Advocacy And Intelligence Index THE POW/MIA E-MAIL NETWORK (c) National League of Families
2,079 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War,
though 468 were at sea/over water losses: Vietnam - 1,552 (North, 564; South,
986); Laos - 446 Cambodia - 75; Peoples Republic of China territorial waters -
8. The League seeks the return of all US prisoners, the fullest possible
accounting for those still missing and repatriation of all recoverable
remains.
The League's highest priority is resolving the live prisoner question.
fficial intelligence indicates that Americans known to have been alive in
captivity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were not returned at the end of the
war. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it must be assumed that
these Americans may still be alive. As a matter of policy, the US Government
does not rule out the possibility that American POWs could still be held.
Unilateral return of remains by the government of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam (SRV) has been proven the most effective means of obtaining
accountability. Extensive field activities have brought some progress through
joint recovery or turnover in the field of remains fragments. From that
process, 138 Americans have thus far accounted for by the Clinton
Administration, all as a result of joint field operations. (LA-62; VN-72
CB-4). Archival research in Vietnam has produced thousands of items,
documents and photos, but the vast majority pertain to accounted-for
Americans. A comprehensive wartime and postwar process existed in Vietnam to
collect and retain information and remains. For this reason, unilateral SRV
efforts to locate and return remains and provide records offer the most
productive short term potential. The Defense Department's case-by-case review
and other evidence reveal that unilateral SRV efforts could bring many
answers.
Joint field activities in Laos are productive and, increasingly, the Lao
Government has permitted greater flexibility while US teams are in-country.
Agreements between the US and the Indochina governments now permit Vietnamese
witnesses to participate in joint operations in Laos and Cambodia when
necessary. POW/MIA research and field activities in Cambodia have received
excellent support. Over 80% of US losses in Laos and 90% of those in Cambodia
occurred in areas where Vietnamese forces operated during the war; however,
Vietnam has not yet responded to numerous US requests for case-specific
records on US loss incidents in these countries. Records research and field
operations are the most likely means of increasing the accounting for
Americans missing in Laos and Cambodia.
Despite US intelligence assessments and other evidence that hundreds of
Americans can best be accounted for by unilateral Vietnamese efforts to locate
and return remains and provide relevant documents and records, President
Clinton lifted the trade embargo, established a US Embassy in Hanoi,
normalized relations, posted a US Ambassador to Vietnam and, recently,
determined, without supporting evidence, that Vietnam is "fully cooperating in
good faith" to resolve this issue. The burden is squarely on the current
administration to obtain increased accountability. The League supports steps
by the US to respond to concrete results, not advancing political and economic
concessions in the hope that Hanoi will respond.
POW/MIA STATISTICS Live Sightings: As of September 22, 1998, 1,893 firsthand live sighting
reports in Indochina have been received since 1975; 1,779 (94%) have been
resolved. 1,248 (66%) were equated to Americans now accounted for (i.e.
returned POWs, missionaries or civilians detained for violating Vietnamese
codes); 45 (2%) correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel or
pre-1975 sightings of civilians still unaccounted for; 486 (26%) were
determined to be fabrications. The 114 (6%) unresolved firsthand reports are
the focus of current analytical and collection efforts: 102 (5%) are reports
of Americans sighted in a prisoner situation; 12 (1%) are non-POW sightings.
The years in which these 110 first hand sightings occurred is listed below:
Year Accountability: At the end of the Vietnam War, there were 2,583 unaccounted
for American prisoners, missing in action or killed in action/body not
recovered. As of October 1, 1998, 2,079 Americans are still missing and
unaccounted for, over 90% of whom were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and
Cambodia where Vietnamese forces operated during the war. A breakdown of the
years during which the 504 Americans were accounted for follows:
1974-1975 Post war years: 28
1976-1978 US/SRV normalization negotiations: 47
1979-1980 US/SRV talks break down: 1
1981-1984 1st Reagan Administration 23
1985-1988 2nd Reagan Administration 155
1989-1992 Bush Administration 111
1993-1996 1st Clinton Administration 132
1997- 2nd Clinton Administration 6
Unilateral Vietnamese government repatriations of remains with scientific
evidence of storage have accounted for 164 of the 375 from Vietnam; all but 3
of the 122 Americans accounted for in Laos have been the result of joint
excavations. The breakdown by country of the 502 Americans accounted for from
the Vietnam War:
Vietnam 375* Laos 122*
China 2 Cambodia 5
*4 remains were recovered from indigenous personnel; 1 from North Vietnam and
3 from Laos; in addition, one recently identified was actually recovered in
Vietnam before the end of the war.
For the latest information, call the League's Update Line, (202)659-0133,
24-hours a day.
Advocacy And Intelligence Index
For Prisoners Of War/Missing In Action, Inc. (AIIPOWMIAI)
Bob Necci and Andi Wolos
aiioct07.98a
Statistics are provided by the Defense POW/MIA Office
Pre-76 76-80 81-85 86-90 91-92 93-94 95-96 97-98 Total
78 10 3 7 3 4 3 6 114
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For Prisoners Of War/Missing In Action, Inc.
1220 Locust Avenue, Bohemia, Long Island, New York 11716-2169 USA
Voice: (1-516) 567-9057 Fax: (1-516) 244-7097 TDD: (1-516) 244-6996
E-mail: AIIPOWMIAI@aol.com (Bob Necci)
andi@earthlink.net (Andi Wolos)
Website: http://www.aiipowmia.com/
