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Investigating John McCain’s Tragedy at Sea
truthdig.com — Troubling questions hover over Lt. Cmdr. McCain ’s actions in the catastrophic 1967 fire aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal and the period immediately afterward. His later accounts of events surrounding the accident also raise issues. American voters, after hearing so much from the senator’s campaign about his military record, deserve to know all
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- psy333che, on 10/07/2008, -3/+23 "I crashed a plane in Corpus Christi Bay one Saturday morning. The engine quit while I was practicing landings...I took a few painkillers and hit the sack to rest my aching back for a few hours....I was out carousing, injured back and all, later that evening.
--John McCain, "Faith of My Fathers."
Controversy has surrounded a series of crashes involving planes piloted by John McCain while serving in the U.S. Navy. In his autobiography, the Republican presidential candidate maintained that a couple of the accidents were caused by engine failure. But an official investigation by the Naval Aviation Safety Center makes clear that the first accident, in March 1960, was caused exclusively by pilot error.
The Facts
During the course of his flying career with the U.S. Navy, John McCain was involved in at least five major mishaps or crashes involving his plane. The most dramatic incidents occurred in 1967. He barely escaped with his life after a missile exploded aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Forrestal, in July of that year, killing 134 of his fellow crew members. In October, McCain was shot down over Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile.
U.S. Navy records make clear that no blame can be attached to McCain for either of these incidents. McCain was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on his return from Vietnam and cited for his "superb airmanship" in the abortive raid on the power plant in Hanoi that ended with his capture and imprisonment by the North Vietnamese.
Mystery has surrounded the precise circumstances of the three earlier incidents, and particularly an accident on March 12, 1960, while McCain was still in flight school at Corpus Christi in Texas. The McCain campaign has either ignored or failed to respond to requests by The Washington Post and other news organizations for the release of the candidate's full military records, which could shed light on the accidents and the pilot's personal involvement.
The official Navy report into the Corpus Christi accident on March 12, 1960, concludes that the AD-6 Skyraider trainer crashed because McCain failed to "maintain an airspeed above the stall speed." It attributed the accident to "the preoccupation of the pilot coupled with a power setting too low to maintain level flight." The single-engine prop plane sank to the bottom of Corpus Christi Bay. McCain was rescued by a helicopter after swimming to the surface.
The accident report excluded a series of other possible factors, including engine failure and disorientation of the pilot due to vertigo. It recorded pilot error as "the sole contributing factor" to the accident. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post from the Democratic National Committee, which conducted research at the Naval Historical Center in Washington. McCain's responsibility for the accident was first reported by the Los Angeles Times here.
McCain had another accident with a T-2 trainer jet in November 1965, while flying between New York City and Norfolk, Va. The Naval Aviation Safety Center was unable to determine the precise cause of the accident or the degree of pilot error. McCain wrote later that his engine "flamed out" and he had to eject.
In his autobiography, McCain recalls another mishap around December 1961 when "I knocked down some power lines while flying too low over southern Spain. My daredevil clowning had cut off electricity to a great many Spanish homes and created a small international incident." He landed his Skyraider back on the USS Intrepid after the incident, which does not appear to have triggered a safety investigation.
The Pinocchio Test
McCain's claim that he crashed into Corpus Christi Bay in December 1960 after his "engine quit" is a considerable stretch. U.S. Navy Safety records make clear that the plane crashed because his power setting was too low and he was failing to pay sufficient attention to his landing pattern. - psy333che, on 10/07/2008, -2/+20When two U.S. Army enlisted men were captured by the Viet Cong in 1963, they were plunged into an ordeal that would prove to be a relentless trial of body and spirit by torture. Once they were finally freed, however, their trials began all over again, when their statements critical of the U. S. Vietnam policy landed them in a military court facing a capital offense for violating the military Code of Conduct by "aiding the enemy."
But, if your name is John McCain and your father and grandfather were famous admirals, violating the Code of Conduct by "aiding the enemy" translates into fodder for a political career, book deals, and adulation bordering on sainthood.
Even though news reports of McCain for collaborating with the enemy continued from the time he was captured in 1967 through 1970, the Navy never considered prosecution as an option.
Instead, Pentagon pencil pushers chose a political spin that lifted McCain, the former POW turned U.S. Senator, up to a glorified pedestal where he sprouted a halo and wings and became America's "POW-hero" and today a presidential candidate.
No such luck for the two lowly "grunts."
http://www.usvetdsp.com/smith_mc.htm
Surviving crewmen and those who investigated the Forrestal fire case reported that McCain deliberately 'wet-started' his A-4E Skyhawk to shake up the guy in the F-4 Phantom behind his plane.
http://judicialinc.biz/82jjohn_mccain_and_the_uss_ ...
THE Admiral SON.
In Oct. 26, 1967, the admiral's son while flying his 23rd mission over North Vietnam, once again fell from the sky, this time landing in the hands of a brutal enemy. He was beaten and bayoneted. His shoulder was smashed and his right calf was nearly perpendicular to his knee.
The severely wounded McCain was finally thrown on the back of a truck and hauled to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison camp. Immediately, his captors began to interrogate him using sadistic methods they had perfected on hundreds of captured U.S. servicemen before him.
His interrogators demanded military information. When he refused, his guards kicked and pounded him mercilessly.
McCain admits that three to four days after he was captured, he promised the Vietnamese, "I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."
McCain also admits that the Vietnamese rushed him to a hospital, but denies he was given "special medical treatment" because of his promise.
He claims he was given medical care normally unavailable to captured Americans only because the Vietnamese learned he was the son of Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., the soon-to-be commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific including those fighting in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese figured that because POW McCain's father was of such high military rank that he was of royalty or the governing circle in the United States. Thereafter the communist bragged that they had captured "the crown prince"and treated him as a "special prisoner."
Less than two weeks after McCain was taken to a hospital, Hanoi's press began quoting him giving specific military information, including the name of the aircraft carrier on which he was based, numbers of U.S. pilots that had been lost, the number of aircraft in his flight, information about location of rescue ships and the order of which his attack was supposed to take place.
There is also evidence that McCain received "special" medical treatment from a Soviet physician.
After he was out of the hospital, McCain continued cooperating with the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. He made radio broadcasts for the communists and met with foreign delegations, including the Cubans. He was interviewed by at least two North Vietnamese generals one of whom was Vietnam's national hero, General Vo Nguyen Giap.
On June 4, 1969, a U.S. wire service story headlined "PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral," reported one of McCain's radio broadcasts: "Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of the United States commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner.
McCain says he violated the Code of Conduct only when the North Vietnamese brutally tortured him. He further claims that he was so distraught afterwards that he tried to commit suicide. He has never explained why his "aid to the enemy" continued for more than three years.
Even though there are no reports in the public record from other POWs who witnessed McCain's claims of torture and heroics or his attempted suicide, the American media has accepted his version of events word for word, no questions asked.
Yet, the same press that transformed the admiral's son into an "incredible war hero--an inspiration to all Americans," vilified the two grunts.
Comparing the incidents surrounding the fates of three POWs,' who collaborated with the enemy, makes one question why two faced possible execution for treason, while the third won acclaim as a hero fit to be President of the United States.
Once more, Lady Luck had smiled on John McCain . . . or was it the admiral?- wherearemymeds, on 10/07/2008, -1/+5psyche,
I always look forward to your comments and the wealth of info they and you offer.
Keep up the great work.
- wherearemymeds, on 10/07/2008, -1/+5psyche,
- yellowcakewalk, on 10/07/2008, -1/+20It's an interesting coincidence that in 1967, while Lt. Cmdr. John McCain was busy smashing up jet fighter planes, his daddy Admiral John McCain was busy helping cover up the murder of 180+ Americans by the Israelis aboard the USS Liberty.
http://ussliberty.org - psy333che, on 10/07/2008, -2/+20
For starters John Sidney McCain the third is an elite son and grand son of admirals with Washington D.C political and military connections. That status quo in it self gave him preferential treatment all his life.
2. His admission to the Naval Academy and subsequent graduation #895 out of 899, as per his class mate was a favor to his admiral grand father and politically/Navy Connected father, how often showed up and intervened while McCain would have been discharged and dismissed.
3. The substandard McCain was preferentially treated to enroll in the naval aviation training. His mistreatment of aircraft and destruction is a pattern unequaled by anybody in his class and unprecedented. Any body else would have lost his wings or training status after the second incident in VA, where this boozer bailed out and letting his plane crash.
4. The US Navy in most instances altered and sanitized his record. What ever has been found and collaborated by others it is clear that first three incidences were McCain's personal fault.
THIS SOB CANNOT HIDE and NOT LET THE US NAVY OPEN THESE RECORDS.
www.usvettdsp.com/jan08/mccain_military_record.html.
www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_1,00.html.
is by by Dr. Phillip Butler one of McCain's very own class mates. Who was later a POW himself.
others in this sequence include:
www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_declassified.html.
As far as the fiasco aboard the Carrier USS FORRESTAL there are unpublished US Navy reports and People like Senator WEBB the earlier Sec. OF NAVY, well aware off.
4. That McCain disobeyed direct orders to remove the oversize and overweight 1000 LB bombs that his jet fighter was not outfitted for. The fact that this hot head SOB "wet fired" his engines is a undisputed fact established but the commission that investigated the incident. The ultra hot flaming exhaust from McCain's aircraft is what set of the so called stray rocket that slammed into the awaiting jet fighter. The ensuing explosions by the two 1000 Lb bombs from McCain's aircraft and the ensuing fire killed the 134 Navy personnel, maimed, crippled and severely injured 161 other and causing tens of billions in damage to the Carrier is McCain's fault. That SOB should have been COURT MARTIALLED. BUt this was Vietnam Era and he was a son of the admiral with political and Navy connections.
5. The Clip http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7610891/stm.
recently discovered by a Swedish reporter but avoided by the US media is sufficient proof that (a) McCain at the time of his release did not suffer and problems with his arms and is clearly shown performing a full salute twice. Let the world see that if this SOB deny that fact and also the state of his stolid state then. He disembarks from a Bush unaided ( no crutches) but limping, on account of his injuries suffered when he bailed out. This was about the 3rd or 4th time that he bailed out and this time in a real war situation and as they say in the Navy bought his lunch.
6. Let us see the Navy/ US Air Force and the high ranking Air force deny this particular. Clip
5. There are other much higher Military officers who were POW much longer then McCain that dispute McCain's version of the FIVE Years, as does the Vietnamese Prison Commander, who later McCain hugged. These contradictions just prove that McCain the fake war hero his a pure simple LAIR.
6. About a month after his release McCain is shown in pictures as he was ushered before Nixon. Now he is on crutches and in Uniform three sizes too big. Around this time the SOB was declared 100% disabled and as per Navy and DOD regulations, he should have been discharged, as were others. But at this time to save face the Nixon Administration that accepted defeat needed war heroes to appease the US public and McCain, the son of the admiral with his hideous and dubious conduct was a prefect candidate for such honors of getting wrapped in the flag and farting patriotism, that he and other like him have been doing ever since. While the real over 58,000 are listed on that Vietnam memorial and over million others are rotting in the slums, skid rows and homeless ward of the streets of this great country of ours. It was the great conservative republican Reagan that dumped these misfits of that crazy Asian war on the streets of Washington and other great cities of this country. McCain for his part has always voted against benefits for these poor refuse of America.
7. The US Navy should explain why was McCain decorated with 28 medals for his 25 hours of bombing missions, cherry picking civilian targets over Hanoi and N. Vietnam, which resulted in the death of thousands of poor women and children, that McCain the hot shot gun ho bombed from the air. Following the orders of then Commander in Chief LBJ. The premise of this all out bombing was that cooked up attack on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. That actually never took place. Hence decorating the SOBs like McCain at that time was just par for course for the Nixon Administration to save face.
8. McCain may have been entitled to a promotion to a full commander, but the son of the admiral was not entitled to name his own assignment and admission to the War College, a place where only high ranking military officers with merit and distinction were admitted. McCain's were #895 out 0f 899 in his class at the academy, destruction of five aircraft and 5 years as a POW.
9. After 9 months of R and R at the War College, with out any merits or doing absolutely nothing the son of the admiral was again promoted to the rank of full captain and appointed Naval Liaison to the US Senate. A job for which the SOB had no training or experience. In fact, he was nothing but a special aid to that other Navy hack, the boozer and womanizer Senator John Tower, the then Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain as his aid gained all that foreign policy experience buy providing booze and women for John Tower and Gart Hart in places like Saudi Arabia.
10 To preserve and protect his code of honor and being a gentleman and an officer, McCain ditched his crippled wife in favor of the rich rodeo queen Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his Jr. The daughter of Jim Hensley, the felon and AZ / Las Vegas mafia associate. Who along with his brother were convicted by a federal jury. Let the world see if either McCain or his drug addict criminal wife deny this.
http://www. dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html/
Let McCain the same SOB who called his wife a Cu** also deny
www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/arachives/13582.html.
As far as the Pentecostal Evangelical, hypocrite Sunday Christian the madam Palin the Governor with her lying big mouth all decent folk absolutely need to read the following editorial from her Anchorage Daily News.
www.adn.com/opinion/story/537723.html
Posted by: winemaster2 | October 7, 2008 3:37 AM
Ever wonder why the campaign will not release his complete Service Record?
PAST IS PROLOG
There were over 400 men held by the NVC. The torture they inflicted on these men was harsh, but they stuck to the Code of Honor. Then came a young man a pilot who was shot down. He was in need of medical help, so to get the help he wanted he abandoned the CODE. With information from that man, the NVC moved their anti-aircraft guns to the flight paths provided by this man and many a pilot died. When the prisoners were released they were given promotions for their time in prison. John Sydney McCain when released was NOT provided with a promotion. Do you dare take a jab at the reason?
McCain / Palin
LIES before HONOR - wherearemymeds, on 10/07/2008, -1/+18These articles make me wonder: if you took away McCain's idealized version of his POW years, what would be left to admire? Or hang a career onto?
No wonder he makes such a mission out of keeping it alive. Being a 'hero' is the one aberration in his otherwise misspent life.
McCain/Palin --SPIN, BABY, SPIN!!!!!!! - ratcatcher2, on 10/07/2008, -1/+13"These articles make me wonder: if you took away McCain's idealized version of his POW years, what would be left to admire? Or hang a career onto?
No wonder he makes such a mission out of keeping it alive. Being a 'hero' is the one aberration in his otherwise misspent life. McCain/Palin --SPIN, BABY, SPIN!!!!!!!"
Very well put. You'd have thought that having been a 'leader' in the fiasco of Vietnam would be a No No to be elected to the highest office even if serving in the military is a necessary criteria. If you were one of the grunts doing the living and the dying on the ground, then Vietnam would be noteworthy. It strikes me that this is yet another attempt of a certain large group in America who wish to rewrite history. Their banner is that the Vietnam War was not lost.
The swiftboaters sunk the chances of Kerry's, a true Vietnam up-close-and-personal hero, preferring an AWOL president. Ironic now that the same ***** might now elect instead someone who single-handedly did more damage to the US Navy than anyone in the Vietnam army!!! Five planes, was it? I don't believe the rumour that the Navy told the Viennese to keep him and when the Vietnamese understood why they tried their best to get rid of him. Some POW!!! Some president?! Should I laugh or cry? The ultimate Vietnamese revenge for how badly America treats its previous opponents who don't roll-over and yield but fight like Iran and Cuba, would be electing the chipmunk and the failing beauty queen for sitting out the war like Bush. - MercyPolitics, on 10/07/2008, -0/+6The more you look into McCain's background...the less he seems to be an " honorable man ". The Dems should really stop calling him that.
- Omnilector, on 10/24/2008, -0/+1John McCain is a liar. This is verifiable in so many ways. He's been caught lying dozens of times because of the "You tubes" and the "Inter Nets." Please, tell me what is the surprise in finding that he lied about his military career? I would only be surprised if I caught McCain in a "truth." But I don't think there's much chance of that.
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