McCain's Vietnamese Prison Warden Endorses Him
By Bill Dupray Posted in Endorsements — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I'm thinking McCain may have some mixed emotions about this one.
Four decades ago, during the Vietnam war, Mr Duyet was in charge of the notorious Hoa Lo prison - the place where Mr McCain says he was brutally beaten and tortured during five-and-a-half years as an American prisoner of war.
"McCain is my friend," said 75-year-old Mr Duyet as he feeds the caged birds he now keeps in his garden in this coastal city.
"If I was American, I would vote for him."
But the mutual agreement between former captive and former captor that McCain should be the next American president is probably the end of group hug. The jailer denies he tortured McCain, though we'll cut him a little slack on that claim given that he does live in a Communist country where there is still no 1st Amendment, but there is a secret police.
There apparently was some intellectual banter in between the torture sessions.
Mr Duyet reminisces instead about how he often summoned the future US presidential candidate to his private office for informal chats.
"We used to argue about the war - about whether it was right or wrong," he says.
"He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal.
"He had a very interesting accent and sometimes he taught me words in English and corrected my accent. I have followed his career since he left prison."
Duyet credits McCain with the improved relations between Vietnam and the United States.
Mr McCain played a crucial role in bringing about that initial rapprochement - a fact which helps explain Mr Duyet's enthusiastic support for the McCain presidential campaign.
"I wish him success in the presidential election," he says.
"Of course the Americans started the war in Vietnam and killed so many people - but now we want to leave the past behind.
"So now I consider John McCain my friend because he did much to mend relations between our two countries. And if he becomes president he will do more to improve those ties."
McCain the charmer. Who knew?
Also find Bill Dupray at The Patriot Room.
only Commie endorsement. Obama wins the rest in a landslide.
He has actually helped bring Reconciliation between groups at odds. As opposed to Obama's undemonstrated magical ability to do this.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
And they say Obama is the candidate for unity? Ha!
I gotta ask....
Why on earth would a reporter for the BBC track down the guy in charge of the prison camp that the American Republican Party's candidate was held at during the Vietnam war?
It seems kind of odd to me that the BBC, an organization from Europe, would go interview a POW camp administrator about one of his former prisoners.
----------------------
Dependence is Slavery.
The thought of John McCain and Mr Duyet shooting the shizzle in between torture sessions and discussing Conservative values...well it just makes me laugh..
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Not sure what else to think about this one.
Now also found at The Minority Report