Thread: Cover-up on American POWs in Cuba?

Cover-up on American POWs in Cuba?

Seventeen U.S. airmen captured during the Vietnam War may have been flown to Cuba, held captive in a prison noted for holding political prisoners, and used for medical experiments on torture.

We don’t know for sure, because the Obama Pentagon is balking at requests for records.

This week we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Defense to obtain records about American POWs who may have been held captive by Cuban government or military forces on the island of Cuba. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense (No. 1:16-cv-00151)).

We filed this suit after the Defense Department failed to comply with a June 1, 2015, FOIA request seeking:

Any and all records depicting the names, service branch, ranks, Military Occupational Specialty, and dates and locations of capture of all American servicemen believed to have been held captive by Cuban government or military forces on the island of Cuba since 1960.

Responding to the suit, the Department of Defense initially claimed to have no responsive records.

An opinion piece published in Accuracy in Media by John Lowery describes at least 17 U.S. airmen captured during the Vietnam War and reportedly brought to Cuba for “medical experiments in torture techniques.”

When U.S. Navy F-4 pilot Lt. Clemmie McKinney’s plane was shot down in April 1972, he was reportedly held in the Cuban compound called Work Site Five in North Vietnam. The Department of Defense reportedly said he was killed in the crash, but a CIA document later published included a picture of McKinney standing next to Fidel Castro.

Lowery also reported:

More than 13 years later, on August 14, 1985, the North Vietnamese returned Lt. McKinney’s remains, reporting that he died in November 1972. However, a U.S. Army forensic anthropologist established the “time of death as not earlier than 1975 and probably several years later.”

The report speculated that he had been a guest at Havana’s Los Maristas prison, with his remains returned to Vietnam for repatriation. (We also paid big money for the remains—delivered in stacks of green dollars to Hanoi aboard an AF C-141 from Travis AFB, California.) Unfortunately, our servicemen held in the Cuban POW camp near Work Site Five (Cong Truong Five), along with those in two other Cuban run camps were never acknowledged nor accounted for and the prisoners simply disappeared.

In 1999, during testimony before Congress, Mike Benge, former prisoner of war (POW) and POW historian stated: “I have also uncovered evidence of the possibility that American POWs from the Vietnam War have been held in Los Maristas, a secret Cuban prison run by Castro’s G-2 intelligence service.”

American POWs describe the Cuban section of a Hanoi prison as the Zoo. Cuba reportedly provided personnel who helped improve the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was used by the communists to support military attacks against U.S. military forces in Vietnam.

The fact that we had to sue the Obama administration to get simple answers as to whether Cuba held and tortured American POWs strongly suggests that a cover-up is underway. The Obama administration admires Castro’s Cuba so much that even the fate of the regime’s victims, even American POWs, is of little concern.

I have a feeling that President Obama didn’t raise the issue with his friends in the Cuban regime during his visit.

But Judicial Watch will continue to seek answers in federal court.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-r...rruption-news/

Now O says America was "founded" by slaves, last year it was the important muslim contribution to our founding. Is this guy delusional or does he want to create delusion?

He quoted from a speech of Obama’s that he gave while visiting the communist island. Castro said Obama’s comments were alien and foreign to Cubans when Obama said, “Cuba, like the United States, was founded by slaves brought from Africa; like the United States, the Cuban people have inheritance in slaves and slaveholders.”

Days After Obama Left Cuba, Castro Just Sent Him A NASTY Surprise He Never Expected

In a written letter - "We do not need the empire..."

Kevin Whitson March 28, 2016 at 11:10am

If there were any illusions as to how President Obama’s recent visit to Cuba would be received, they may all be dispelled with Cuban leader and revolutionary Fidel Castro’s written response to Obama’s presence in Cuba. From the outset, the president’s cold reception at the Cuban airport could have served as a predictor of future relations, when he arrived only to be greeted by a subordinate of Raul Castro and not the leader himself. Now, in what The Hill called a, “diatribe,” Fidel Castro is weighing in on Obama’s visit in a written letter to, “Brother Obama.”

Castro began his letter with references to Spanish conquistadors and their, “shameful,” exploitation of the New World. He compared that exploitation to tourism and the billions of dollars associated with the industry.

Castro quoted Cuba revolutionary Maceo as saying, “Whoever attempts to conquer Cuba will only gather the dust of her soil soaked in blood, if not perish in the fight.” It’s unclear if Castro’s quote of Maceo was a veiled threat to Obama or if he were simply praising the contributions of his fellow revolutionaries.

He quoted from a speech of Obama’s that he gave while visiting the communist island. Castro said Obama’s comments were alien and foreign to Cubans when Obama said, “Cuba, like the United States, was founded by slaves brought from Africa; like the United States, the Cuban people have inheritance in slaves and slaveholders.”

Castro also made mention of the United States’ efforts to overthrow Castro and the revolutionaries in the historic Bay of Pigs invasion.

“My modest suggestion (to Obama) is that he reflect on (the turbulent history between the two countries) and don’t try to elaborate on theories about Cuban politics,” he wrote.

Describing his words as being “laced with honey,” Castro quoted Obama’s speech made in Havana:

It’s high time to forget the past and look to the future, let’s look together, a future of hope. And it will not be easy, there will be challenges, and those we will give it time; but my being here gives me more hope for what we can do together as friends, as family, as neighbors, together.

Castro said in hearing those words each Cuban runs the risk of having a heart attack in light of the 60 year old blockade which prevents Cuba from obtaining valuable resources, citing what Castro called, “mercenary” attacks on ships which attempted to run through the blockade. Castro then cited incidences of terrorism committed against the Cuban people by the Americans.

Although the average Cuban is in severe poverty, Castro insisted America will be never be able to convince the Cuban people to, “surrender the country’s glory, rights and spiritual wealth it has earned with the development of education, science and culture.”

He warned Obama that Cuba is, “able to produce food and material wealth we need,” adding the country does “not need the empire (America) to give us anything.”

http://www.westernjournalism.com/day...ever-expected/