Sydney Schanberg Writes Massive Piece on John McCain Hiding 'POW Secrets'

Sydney H. Schanberg, the longtime New York Times reporter and editor and Newsday columnist, and author of The Killing Fields, has written a 9000-word investigative piece on John McCain and his longstanding efforts to, as Schanberg asserts in his lede, "hide from the public stunning information about the live Vietnam prisoners who, unlike him, didn't return home."  Part of the piece has just gone up on The Nation web site and appears in its Oct. 6 issue.  The full version -- with documents and graphics -- is posted at The Nation Institute site.  Schanberg, who once doubted claims about a large number of POWs left behind in VIetnam, later wrote dozens  of columns for Newsday about the subject -- and McCain's alleged inactions.  Now Schanberg criticizes the press for allowing this whole subject to be swept under the rug for so long.

The new piece details the evidence that hundreds may have been left behind, along with McCain promoting federal prohibitions that keep key evidence classified.  Schanberg also reveals that he received a personal briefing in 1992 from high-level CIA officials who said that intelligence suggested that many men were not freed -- and later executed.  He raises a few questions about why McCain has acted the way he has but, in any case, strongly  believes that McCain owes the voter "some explanations."  He also urges reporters to "dig into" the archives and complete "the historical record."    See video of McCain at a key hearing described by Schanberg.-- Greg Mitchell