Just imagine if McCain, as POTUS, is visiting Vietnam (or one of their embassies) and sees or meets one of his former torturers? I imagine it would be exceedingly unsettling for him to even have one just standing there in the background, not even a member of the Vietnamese negotiating team, which would give the Vietnamese an advantage.
How says the Dope?
What if we are attacked by robots from the future?
Don’t be ridiculous. Sharks with laser beams are far more likely.
I’d pick Batman, if he has time to prepare.
In seriousness to the OP, when was the last time a US President visited Vietnam? In the highly unlikely event that McCain would actually go to Vietnam (why?) I seriously doubt the Vietnamese would be stupid enough to put one of his former torturers on the greeting and meeting team (even if any of them are high up in the current government…McCain is a bit long in the tooth and my guess is the guys who tortured him probably are as well).
-XT
My take on it as well - - if anyone formerly involved in Hanoi Hilton Housekeeping during Mac’s visit were to be (a) still alive, kicking and working for the government and (b) for any reason likely to bump into a visiting bigshot, he would find himself suddenly on assignment to some location well out of the way of the POTUS itinerary. And for good measure the retirees would probably be advised to keep a low profile.
As to why would Mac go? Well, HE may not be the guy, but eventually some POTUS will go just to make the the point, a grand gesture and all that, complete with press conference with the PM where both read trite statements about remembering the past and looking forward to the future, blah, blah, blah…
Both Bush II and Clinton went to Vietnam (while they were presidents) as part of the re-normalization of relations there. Bush’s visit was fairly recent, I think. (pauses to let readers insert their own Clinton/Bush draft dodger joke)
McCain (with Kerry) has also visited as a senator. In general, the Vietnamese gov’t has been sucking up to the US in an attempt to increase trade and become part of the wider Asian economic boom in growth. If McCain ever sees his tormentors again, I imagine it would just be in the form of severed heads presented to him by the Vietnamese gov’t in an attempt to get on his good side (a joke, obviously).
The risk isn’t in McCain seeing his former captors.
It’s in them suggesting he pass the time with a nice game of solitaire.
McCain has every reason to hate the people who tortured him. But I don’t think it’s likely he’ll ever meet them and even if he does, it’s not like he’d grab a gun from one of his Secret Service agents and start shooting.
As for the Vietnamese government doing it intentionally for a psychological advantage in some negotiation, I think they’d be nuts to try it. Vietnam is not going to negotiate with the United States on an equal basis, so the only likely effect of pissing off the President of the United States would be to make the Americans push harder against the Vietnamese.