[lbo-talk] Who knew? John McCain on disability, gets checks

[John Thornton]

Marvin Gandall wrote:
> Jordan Hayes writes:
>
>   
>> Marvin asks:
>>
>>     
>>> As an aside, have McCain's claims of being tortured ever fully been
>>> investigated?
>>>       
>> I think this is an odd question to ask; John McCain's capture and
>> imprisonment was a widely reported event at the time, seeing as how his
>> father was the commander of all US forces in the Vietnam theatre, which
>> made him a prime propaganda target.  His story was widely documented and
>> told long before he left the service (1981); implying that it might be a
>> political move is pretty low.
>>     
> ==========================================
> Yes, I need to learn to have more confidence in the integrity of the US
> media and it's careful interrogation of information released to it by the
> Pentagon.
>
> Actually, my question wasn't a rhetorical one. I know McCain was injured
> when he was shot down, but where is it independently "documented" that his
> arm and other injuries were the result of systematic "torture" by the
> Vietnamese?  I could look at Google, but since you've obviously been
> persuaded by the sources you've already consulted, why not just refer me to
> them.
>
> Military high commands have been known before to fabricate or embellish the
> truth about "torture" and "atrocities" in order to rally the home front and
> enoble their own war aims and actions, and well-connected and ambitious
> junior officers like McCain, and Kerry befre him, could well have been
> considering a political career before leaving the service, burnishing their
> record afterwards. Or maybe not. That's why I asked.
>
> I asked it as an "aside" in a post devoted almost entirely to the US
> aggression in Vietnam. McCain was an agent of that aggression - a proud and
> unrepentent one, as we know. Yet you choose to express your dismay about my
> "odd" and "pretty low" slight to McCain's reputation. Readers can their draw
> their own conclusions.

I thought I remembered reading that a Spanish psychologist who 
interviewed McCain claimed while he was a prisoner claimed McCain hadn't 
been tortured.
I have no idea the extent or reality of his torture and as far as I can 
tell it will always be unknowable.
I simply take McCain, or any other crime victim, at his word unless 
there is serious contradictory evidence that suggests otherwise.

John Thornton