That one is easy. When one retires from a job that they've been in for decades (generic one intended) and not get the task accomplished, in the real world, they would have been canned a long time ago. Competency in the real world is measured by real accomplishments. In the "beltway," accomplishments are measured by the "intent" to accomplish a goal. If you negotiate and continue negotiating, that is progress. Only if you break off the negotiations do you count it as a failure. The POW accounting program in place has no measuring sticks for accomplishments. From Kissinger forward, the intent was to some day kill the accounting program and say, "Hey guys, they've done all they could. It's time to move on with other projects." The ones in charge have followed their orders and stuck to the script. The "mindset to debunk" came with a "playbook" for the official "party line." Personally speaking, I would have resigned my commission before I would have gone before the People's Congress and tell them the dung that has been shoveled out in the past 30 years. I value truth more than comfy jobs. And on the subject of "truth," remember this. You can tell a literal truth and be amazingly misleading if those listening are newbies to the subject. That's why you have several thousand sites to the POWs and MIAs with the same theme - they were left behind and only a handful with the "official" story. We've done our homework and don't swallow the "official line" and we don't have a "mindset to debunk."
In cruising around the web, I find that some apparently really honestly believe what they say. They will give reasons for their belief that sound like it comes from the heart. Others, sad to say, follow the old rule - If your argument will win in court - use the argument - If your argument won't win in court - attack the other side - and attack mode is their method of communicating. I will stack my arguments and those of the people I am in coalition with, against the best information the other side has to offer any day of the week. I had a challenge out 30 years ago - and have never been taken up on it yet. Prove me wrong and I will admit where I am wrong. The proof, however, has to be tangible, provable, and relevant. I started out this journey believing that there was not much of a problem. As I continued, I found out that what appears to be real on the surface often is like an iceberg, just the tip. That is why I state often, I started out believing that finding the men was the only problem to be solved. However, as Chip Beck and others of a professional nature in the intel world have said, and I believe, the POWs were caught up in many other problems and the politicians and their allies in uniform believe that POWs are not worthy of the effort to return them as there are "bigger" problems to be solved and the men are not part of the "bigger picture." To which I say, BUNK! A foreign policy that would leave men behind is the foreign policy of moral midgets. Willing allies of such a scheme are in a similar size category. A foreign policy, to be credible, has to have sufficient credibility from the military. If the polls saying over 3/4 of the military believe we left POWs behind are correct, there is a potential for disaster ready to explode. The military must know and believe they will not be left behind and forgotten if captured for them to be fully effective on the battlefield. If they believe if captured, the chances of being forgotten are greater than not, the incentive to be effective fighters, rather than worry about capture, diminish signficantly, and so does an effective part of a credible military alternative when needed.
In talking about my challenge, there are various people who have been issuing so called challenges - and never taking me up on mine - and they have received it personally - then they don't even update their own information in prominent positions - ie you have to look behind the comic section to see if "one honest person" is really two, ten, or only the one. Then if you fail to find the comic section, they'll say, see they don't tell the truth - when in fact, they are guilty of the same oversight on their part. The question here is why is this site true. I've done the best homework possible, using the best investigative techniques possible, and using time proven methods, to arrive at the closest to the truth I know how. I don't claim to know all the answers and have changed my position on items several times - adjusting to known facts as they become clear. One constant guides me - when the opposing side says they have information and we don't pursue it - ie when our intelligence leads are not followed - then we have "mindset to debunk," "conspiracy," "incompetence," or some combination of any or all of this. Remember, it was Tighe, not I, who felt betrayed by the lack of adequate followup. Will I link to sites disagreeing with me - probably - I like the intellectual challenge - and there are poor souls out there being lead astray - and may not have any other opportunity to see the light. Besides, I can hardly wait to see how many "honest" folks there are on the other side.
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