October, 15 2008, 01:02pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020;
or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Bomber Pilot McCain: War Heroism or War Crimes?
ROBERT RICHTER
Richter is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and was political
director for CBS News from 1965 to 1968. He notes that McCain has
repeatedly invoked his record in the Vietnam War during the campaign,
but that the effect of bomber pilots like McCain and of the Rolling
Thunder bombing campaign has not been sufficiently scrutinized.
WASHINGTON
ROBERT RICHTER
Richter is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and was political
director for CBS News from 1965 to 1968. He notes that McCain has
repeatedly invoked his record in the Vietnam War during the campaign,
but that the effect of bomber pilots like McCain and of the Rolling
Thunder bombing campaign has not been sufficiently scrutinized.
Richter recently wrote the piece "McCain: War Hero or War Criminal?"
which states: "I will never forget how stunned I was when Gen. Telford
Taylor, a chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials after World War
Two, told me that he strongly supported the idea of trying the U.S.
pilots captured in North Vietnam as war criminals -- and that he would
be proud to lead in their prosecution.
"An ardent opponent of the Vietnam conflict, Taylor spoke with me in
the fall of 1966 when I was looking into producing a documentary on
this controversy for CBS News, where I was their National Political
Editor. While he did not mention any pilot's name, then U.S. Navy
Lieut. Commander John McCain, who was captured a year later, would have
been among the group Taylor wanted to prosecute. ...
"Taylor's argument was that their actions were in violation of the
Geneva conventions that specifically forbid indiscriminate bombing that
could cause incidental loss of civilian life or damage to civilian
objects. Adding to the Geneva code, he noted, was the decision at the
Nuremberg trials after World War Two: military personnel cannot defend
themselves against such a charge with a claim that they were simply
following orders. ...
"Anti-war critics at the time claimed that despite the Pentagon's
assertion that only military targets were bombed, U.S. pilots also had
bombed hospitals and other civilian targets, a charge that turned out
to be correct and was confirmed by the New York Times' chief foreign
correspondent, Harrison Salisbury.
"In late 1966 Salisbury described the widespread devastation of
civilian neighborhoods around Hanoi by American bombs: 'Bomb damage ...
extends over an area of probably a mile or so on both sides of the
highway ... small villages and hamlets along the route [were] almost
obliterated'. ...
"In one of his autobiographies McCain wrote that he was going to bomb a
power station in 'a heavily populated part of Hanoi' when he was shot
down. ...
"When I passed along Gen. Taylor's comments to my network superiors the
program was scrapped: too hot to handle. Instead Air War Over the North
was telecast, about 'precision bombing' North Vietnam military targets
by U.S. pilots."
More Information
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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