"The issue of Americans missing in Southeast Asia is clouded by many stories that will never die.   On their face, these stories are believable and logical. In most of them, a person who seems to be perfectly credible, with no hidden motives, tells a straightforward tale of having encountered American prisoners still held in SEAsia long after the end of the war.   After the story becomes known publicly, the source of the story often becomes something of a folk hero among the POW-MIA true believers.   Then, after some period of investigation, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) or, now, the Defense POW-MIA Office ( DPMO ), releases the results of their investigation and concludes that the story is bogus.   This conclusion does nothing to sway the true believers who howl that this conclusion is just another example of debunking a source and covering up the presence of an American prisoner."