Can Anyone Explain this so that it makes sense?

[Bluerthanblue]

If a person is taken as a Prisoner of War, and the country that has possession of that prisoner decides they want to let the prisoner go- for whatever reason: 'good faith', 'positive propaganda'- etc. How in the world can the "Prisoner"- who is being held 'against their will'... REFUSE?

I've heard McCain's tale over and over and over, and it just makes NO sense.

Who is really "in control" if a "prisoner" can dictate whether they remain a "prisoner" or not?


:shrug:

Thanks for any help you may have.

[MichiganVote]

1. Stop it. We don't use logic in the US until after the election.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. I keep trying to imagine

the guys from Gitmo 'refusing' release.

:shrug:

McCain's 'spin' shouldn't be accepted at 'face value'. Not given the way he's twisting present day facts.

[MichiganVote]

7. They love it there. We're making progress. Victory is around the corner

They will be greeted as liberators...er, wait, that's our guys...but, um, are they the ones who have the WMD's? God this is so confusing!

[inthebrain]

2. I'd just like to know if anyone can verify this story

Any ways, if that was a Dem they'd accuse him of giving info to the enemy. They accused Kerry of appeasing in 04.

[Bluerthanblue]

4. that's because JK had the guts

to come home and try and stop the madness that he'd seen first hand.

Have you seen "Going Upriver?"- pretty excellent.

:hi:

[karynnj]

9. I second the recommendation of watching "going up-river"

I actually think that the part on the anti-war environment and what Kerry did would be the best way to get anyone not around in the 1960s to understand it. For me, it was interesting as an adult with college age kids to see it - it makes me proud my parents understood.

[Muttocracy]

3. MichiganVote is right. These days logic will just make you confused or mad. nt

[MichiganVote]

8. Stop making so much sense.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. A TRAITOR can refuse, and probably WOULD so he won't be court-marshalled and SHOT

Think about it. What does a) his ability TO refuse, b) his admitted singing like a canary (read his book), and c) his privileged medical treatment, and d) his acknowledged better treatment than any other prisoner tell you? Think about it.

There's really only one reasonable conclusion.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. it doesn't sound very

credible to me. But he's built a kind of sacred wall around himself, and people don't dare question it.

If he's telling the unvarnished truth, he should not only have no problem with people questioning it, he should be happy to lay out the facts to settle the issue in everyones mind.

We don't do anyone any favors when we put military service in the position of 'god-like sovereignty'. I don't have a problem giving respect where it is due, and a person deserving of that respect shouldn't mind explaining the truth.

John Kerry had the facts to support his account of his time in Vietnam. Those who 'swift boated' him did so with nothing but their own 'opinions'. And they cannot support their claims today-

McCain's answer to everything seems to be "the Hanoi Hilton". I'm not willing to accept his word on this, given the way he's twisting the truth in front of us all right now.

:shrug:

[Muttocracy]

10. was the argument that it would be a special embarrassment for the U.S.

because his dad was an admiral? or was it something about the other POWs he would leave behind?

[Bluerthanblue]

13. McCain says it's because he wouldn't leave his men behind,

but someone here on DU informed me a few months ago that if he'd accepted "early release" he would have been violating the Military rules, getting out before those who'd been there longer, or because he was an Officer- (I've read so many accounts I can't keep them straight). I had never heard that, but it seems to really be against the Code of Conduct and would have been "Court-Marshal-able"

:silly:

[TwilightGardener]

12. Well, I'm not sure why they couldn't have just SENT him home--

that said, it would have been awful, and against military rules, for him to accept release ahead of other POW's. His career, his honor, his father's and grandfather's naval careers would have all been tarnished.