On Thursday, July 14, 2005, at 1pm, the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition, represented by the Coalition's general secretary, Ted Streeter, Executive Assistant, Barbara Lee Rowe, and Chairman, John J. Molloy, Jr., attended the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) briefing held in their offices in Crystal City, Virginia.  Joining the briefing also were Rich Sanders, National President of VietNow and Coalition treasurer, and Bill Kessling, National Chairman of VietNow's POW/MIA committee and also National Secretary.  Also in attendance were representatives of the American Legion, VFW, DAV, and VVA.

     Presiding over the briefing were Adrian Cronauer, Esq., Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Jerry Jennings, who was on medical leave, and Mel Richmond, DPMO Chief of Staff.  The briefings were rendered by DPMO representatives for different geographic locations, i.e. Southeast Asia, East Asia, Russia, etc., explaining the difficulties and successes in their recovery efforts in certain areas as they are affected by terrain, climate, weather, and politics.  The briefings were well done, as should be expected, and some progress has been made in the recovery of remains.  Unfortunately, these successes are at least 30 years too late and should be measured against the total return of live Americans remaining in enemy (communist) hands after World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

     Once the briefing was completed, the session was opened to questions from the groups in attendance.  The coalition chairman was recognized and spoke initially regarding philosophy.  While he thanked DPMO for the briefing and the recently published fifth edition of the Gulag Report, he pointed out that while DPMO's mission is the recovery of remains and accounting for our missing men, it is still an arm of the federal government whose primary objective is to protect its citizens.  Were we to recognize that in the military the success of the mission takes precedence over the welfare of the men, we would be better able to realize what is actually going on.   DPMO's mission is subordinate to the objectives of our government.

     Using the map of Asia, Chairman Molloy pointed out that "we" recognize that China is our greatest potential adversary, which DPMO denied.  The People's Republic of China is surrounded by our "allies" Thailand, Vietnam(?), the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, whose populations, when combined with our own, become nearly a match against China's manpower.  In order to maintain friendly relations with these nations and thereby contain China's expansionist ambitions, it becomes necessary to overlook certain transgressions.  In the case of Vietnam, we must overlook the fact that Vietnam failed to return ALL American prisoners of war.  Rather than humiliate the repressive communist government of Vietnam, we engage in joint efforts to recover remains.  Accordingly, our missing servicemen are expendable if we are to contain the "sleeping" dragon.  Those Americans who were left behind took an oath to defend our nation and if aware of the consequences of alienating Vietnam realize that they are, in fact, a political expedient.  In that connection we have long pondered the myth/reality of the "Secret Returnee Program."  Those live prisoners who may have been returned secretly would realize that their breaking any oath of secrecy that they may have made would severely jeopardize US-Vietnamese relations and drive our Vietnamese communist "allies" toward closer relation with China.  Consequently, we can only ask to be provided with the truth.  Unfortunately, the truth, once divulged, will not set us free but could possibly lead to very bitter consequences and, perhaps, even to hostilities.  So here we have the predicament--POWS or national security.  Please keep in mind that this situation would never have existed had we challenged Stalin and demanded the return of the over 60,000 American, British, and Australian POWs repatriated to the USSR from Nazi POW camps.

     Our hosts at DPMO did not agree with the analysis, but could they? 

     Questions were later asked by Rich Sanders and Bill Kessler and representatives of the other groups.  John Molloy then indicated that he had brought along a map of the Quang Ngai area in the former I Corps military region in the former Republic of Vietnam to question whether a POW camp that he had raided in April of 1968 had yielded any remains or other clues.  The map was reviewed by Paul Mather after the meeting.

     Prior to adjourning the meeting, the representatives of the VFW and VVA indicated how grateful they were to have been able to meet with Pham Van Khai, the prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, on Wednesday, June 22, 2005.  At that conjucture the Coalition's chairman indicated that he was appalled at such conduct as the Vietnamese prime minister was a former Viet Cong (read terrorist).  The chairman, who lost 95 co-workers in the World Trade Center, was especially incensed that they deigned to associate with Khai, whom after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, stated that "America got what it deserved."

     Thereafter, everyone departed.