slicedalone:
Did the Vietnamese write a script for the captives to recite verbatim?
If so, I wonder if they had a native American speaker writing in colloquial American English, or if the statements contained odd diction and peculiar ESL syntax.
Yes they did. They probably didn’t have an expert do it, and the prisoners did various things to indicate that it was directed. And again, it didn’t matter, no one believed that the statements were voluntary.
There’s a complex political situation in the US to consider to get to the heart of the 'why’s to some of these questions. Probably not FQ material.
Again, from McCain’s account, written in 1973.
They wanted a statement saying that I was sorry for the crimes that I had committed against North Vietnamese people and that I was grateful for the treatment that I had received from them. This was the paradox—so many guys were so mistreated to get them to say they were grateful. But this is the Communist way.
I held out for four days. Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5½ years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope.
I said, O.K., I’ll write for them.
They took me up into one of the interrogation rooms, and for the next 12 hours we wrote and rewrote. The North Vietnamese interrogator, who was pretty stupid, wrote the final confession, and I signed it. It was in their language, and spoke about black crimes, and other generalities. It was unacceptable to them. But I felt just terrible about it. I kept saying to myself, “Oh, God, I really didn’t have any choice.” I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine…
Thank God they let me rest for a couple of weeks. Then they called me up again and wanted something else. I don’t remember what it was now—it was some kind of statement. This time I was able to resist. I was able to carry on. They couldn’t “bust” me again.
They almost certainly would have had him sign a request for release or filmed him asking for a release so they would have evidence that McCain had made the request.
eta: ninja’d - or I guess in this case VietCong’d.
That article, I should mention, speaks of horrific torture. It’s amazing he survived. I can’t imagine the pain and agony he had to endure.
I was down to about 100 pounds from my normal weight of 155.
I was told later on by Major Day that they didn’t expect me to live a week. I was unable to sit up. I was sleeping about 18 hours, 20 hours a day.