                                                     [watm1008.txt 10/08/91]
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1991

POWS AND U.S. POLICY

Over the next few weeks, the Bush administration will begin broadening
contacts with the Vietnamese communist government, with which the United
States has neither official diplomatic contact nor trade of any kind.
Meanwhile, the Senate Select Committee on Prisoners of WAr and Missing in
Action will begin its work as the first full congressional panel to look into
the matter of American POWs and MIAs from World War II, Korea, the Cold War
and Vietnam.  If the Untied States is ever to get a full accounting n ot only
of its fighting men, but also of its policy toward them when the shooting
stops, then it's going to be necessary to change the terms of the inquiry.

The first problem is what some are calling the "road map' for Vietnam to
follow if it wants better relations with the United States.  Before the end
of October, competing rebel factions in Cambodia led by Khmer Rough, Prince
Norodom Sihanouk and former Prime Minister Son San are expected to sign a
U.N. peace plan.  After the agreement is signed and implemented, and as long
as the peace is kept, U. S. officials will relax travel restriction,s lift
the two-decade-old trade embargo against Vietnam, renew of of ficial
diplomatic ties, renew business contacts and support loans from the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund.

A second but clearly minor factor in the equation is "progress" on the
POW-MIA issue.  Until, now, "progress" has meant releasing a few teeth and
bones and sometimes even dust, which makes it appear as is U. S. officials
are "doing something" for the POW-MIA families.  If things proceed as
prescribed above, that definition of progress won't change, and one need only
look at the Pentagon's handling of photos recently emerged from Southeast
Asia to understand why.

As a petition circulated by the POW-MIA activists state, the "road map" needs
to be redrawn to give better directions to the Vietnamese: Don not pass "GO"
and collect $200 until you have resolved every case of an American known to
have been alive in captivity after 1973.  That included more tan 300
Americans who were captured alive in Laos, not one of whom ever returned and
who may be under Vietnamese control.

The second issue concerns the committee.  Sens. John Kerry and Bob Smith, the
Democrat and Republican who run it, disagree over how to approach the
Vietnamese.  Mr. Kerry wants to lift the trade embargo to bribe the
Vietnamese into a full accounting, while Mr. Smith takes a different
approach: No accounting, no aid or trade.  Mr. Smith's approach seems to be
more on target.  Notwithstanding their disagreement over the issue, the most
important thing for the committee to do is explain not only to the Senate but
also to the public the historical truth about POWs.

As has been reported in this space previously, and as the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee minority staff established in its report on the subject,
U.S. government policy failed to attend to POWs and MIAs after World War II,
Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam.  The Senate Select Committee on POWs and
MIAs must acknowledge that policy, loudly and clearly, and pressure Congress
and the Bush administration to change the way the United States takes care of
its own.

I, as they say, the goal of the administration and Congress on this issue is
to get a full accounting of missing American fighting men who may still be
alive in what's left of the communist empire, then they must adopt a policy
that links aid and trade to full cooperation on finding out what happened to
Americans who at one point were known to be alive.  Moreover, they must admit
the grave injustice done to American families for nearly half a century, then
take the appropriate steps to see it never happens again.

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