Heroes or Dupes

[JBeee]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance140.html

 

[Colpy]

I googled Vance, to see what kind of a leftist moron wrote this trash.........and discovered that Laurence M. Vance appears to be a rarity........a true believer, a pacifist Christian, a historian, an academic......a scholar.

Okay.

He has my respect.

He disagrees with me, but that just means he is wrong.

He should be deeply ashamed of part of this article, however.

John McCain is NOT a hero simply because he was unlucky enough to fly his A-4 in front of a missle. Nor did he just sit in a POW camp.....his actions in that camp are what makes him a hero....and he should not have to bear the scorn of a man whose courage has been completely untested.

From Wikipedia:

In July 1968, McCain's father was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater.[2] McCain was immediately offered early release.[37] The North Vietnamese wanted a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful, and also wanted to show other POWs that elites like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially.[42] McCain turned down the offer of repatriation; he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.[48]
In August of 1968, a program of severe torture began on McCain, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery,[42][37] and McCain made an anti-American propaganda "confession".[37] He has always felt that his statement was dishonorable,[49] but as he would later write, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine."[42] His injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head.[50] He subsequently received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements.[51] Other American POWs were similarly tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions" and propaganda statements,[42] with many enduring even worse treatment than McCain.[52]
McCain refused to meet with various anti-war groups seeking peace in Hanoi, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory

my emphasis