AN ENORMOUS CRIME - The Definitive Account Of American POWs Abandoned In Southeast Asia

An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, this book brilliantly reveals the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973, what these brave men have endured, and how administration after administration of their own government has turned its back on them. This authoritative expose is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. An Enormous Crime is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our history: ugly, harrowing, and true.

The dramatic history of living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and the first full account of the circumstances that left them there
 
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, An Enormous Crime brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since.
            Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act.  Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters “USA” and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters “USA” appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw (see jacket photograph).
            Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots and along trails in both Laos and Vietnam.
            An Enormous Crime is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern history: ugly, harrowing, and true.
            From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with An Enormous Crime we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America’s leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders.

 

Former U.S. Rep. BILL HENDON (R-NC) served two terms on the U.S. House POW/MIA Task Force (1981-1982 and 1985-1986); as consultant on POW/MIA Affairs with an office in the Pentagon (1983); and as a full-time intelligence investigator assigned to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1991-1992). He has traveled to South and Southeast Asia thirty-three times on behalf of America’s POWs and MIAs. Hendon is considered the nation’s foremost authority on intelligence relating to American POWs held after Operation Homecoming and an expert on the Vietnamese and Laotian prison systems. He lives in Washington, D.C.
 

ELIZABETH STEWART's father, Col. Peter J. Stewart (USAF), is missing in action in North Vietnam. His name appears on Panel 6E, Line 12, of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Stewart has spent more than two decades researching intelligence relating to American POWs and MIAs. Her efforts have taken her from Capitol Hill to Cambodia, from the South China Sea to the presidential palace in Hanoi, and to the most remote regions of northern Vietnam. An attorney, she lives in central Florida.

Kirkus Reviews

A sprawling indictment of eight U.S. administrations. The charge: sacrificing American war prisoners in the interest of focusing, as Bush aides have said, not on Vietnam's past but on its future.Beginning in 1966, write former Rep. Hendon (R-NC) and attorney Stewart, GIs captured in South Vietnam were moved north along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other routes. Cataloguing sightings with the diligence of Vincent Bugliosi-whose Reclaiming History (2007), on the JFK assassination, is something of a companion piece-Hendon and Stewart reckon that hundreds of POWs had crossed the Demilitarized Zone by the time of the Tet Offensive, their numbers swelled by pilots downed over North Vietnam. Many of these soldiers, Hendon and Stewart charge, were used as human shields against American bombing attacks on power plants, military headquarters and other strategically important venues. North Vietnam and its allies in Laos and Cambodia weren't particularly forthcoming on all these things, but the U.S. played a dirty hand, too; by the authors' account, the prisoners' ultimate release was bound up in negotiations conducted by Henry Kissinger, the surrogate president, who reneged on promises of U.S. aid owing to supposed violations of previous accords, thus closing off a diplomatic channel for repatriation. Fast forward to 1987, when Ross Perot traveled to Vietnam and told the foreign minister, who insisted that there were no POWs there, Don't embarrass yourselves, I know too much. Fruitful negotiations ensued, the authors report, only to be brushed aside by the Reagan administration-even though, they claim, at least 100 U.S. prisoners were still alive in Vietnam. Hendon and Stewart, who appearnonpartisan in their disdain for governmental inaction and double-dealing, close by offering advice to President Bush to send an army of former presidents and their staffs to negotiate the release of the remaining captives. Much of the authors' evidence is circumstantial, but there's an awful lot of it. A convincing, urgent argument.

The Dramatic History Of Living American Soldiers Left In Vietnam, And The First Full Account Of The Circumstances That Left Them There. Based On Thousands Of Pages Of Public And Previously Classified Documents, This Book Makes A Convincing Case That When The American Government Withdrew Its Forces From Vietnam, It Knowingly Abandoned Hundreds Of Pows To Their Fate. The Product Of 25 Years Of Research, It Exposes The Reasons Why These American Soldiers And Airmen Were Held Back By The North Vietnamese At Operation Homecoming In 1973 And What These Men Have Endured Since. This Is A History Of America's Leaders In Their Worst Hour; Of Life-and-death Decision Making Based On Politics, Not Intelligence; And Of Men Lost To Their Families And The Country They Serve, Betrayed By Their Own Leaders.--from Publisher Description. The Pow Hostage Plan And Its Implementation -- Hanoi Bound -- American Pows Captured By The Pathet Lao -- American Pows In North Vietnam -- 1972 : The War Draws To A Close -- January 1973 : Peace At A Very High Price -- February 1973 : A Historic Journey To Hanoi -- February-march 1973 : The Most Tortured Issue, The Toughest Sale -- Mid- To Late March 1973 : The Returnee Debriefs Tell Of Hundreds Of American Pows Held Back -- Spring 1973 : A 'cancer' On The Presidency -- Spring, Summer, And Fall 1973 : The Collapse Of The Jec Talks : The Collapse Of The Paris Peace Accords -- 1974 : The End Of The Line For Richard Nixon -- January-april 1975 : The End Of The Line For South Vietnam -- May-december 1975 : Cuba Suggested To Us To Keep Them Back : Congress Investigates The Fate Of The Pows And Mias -- 1976 : Montgomery Continues His Investigation : American Pows Seen In Captivity In Both North And South Vietnam --^ 1977 : A New President Addresses The Matter Of The Unlisted, Unreturned Pows -- 1978 : The Sightings Of The Unlisted, Unreturned Pows Continue : The Refugee Exodus Begins -- 1979: A Prison System In Chaos : Convincing Evidence Finally Reaches Washington -- 1980 : Rescue Plans -- 1981 : Gasoline -- 1982 : The Principle Of Reciprocity -- 1983 : A Dramatic Change Of Course -- 1984 : Tragedy At Arlington : A Missed Opportunity In The Oval Office -- 1985 : Progress In The Search For Remains : Freshmen, Stonewalled On Pows, Turn To Perot : Mcfarlane Drops His Guard -- 1986 : Trench Warfare -- 1987 : Perot To Hanoi : A Bombshell From General Vessey : No Evidence? -- 1988: Just Two Bar Of Silvers For Each Man -- 1989 : ... The Statute Of Limitations Has Been Reached -- 1990 : Sabotaging The Helms/grassley Investigations : The Bush Final Report On Pows : Thach's Historic Visit To Washington -- 1991 : One Last Chance To Save The Unlisted, Unreturned Pows -- 1992 : The Fragging --^ 1993-1995: The Vietnamese Know How To Count -- 1995-2005 : War Legacies -- Epilogue : A Proposal For President Bush. Bill Hendon And Elizabeth A. Stewart. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [489]-563) And Index. The dramatic history of living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and the first full account of the circumstances that left them there An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, An Enormous Crime brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since. Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act. Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters "USA" and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters "USA" appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw (see jacket photograph). Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots and along trails in both Laos and Vietnam. An Enormous Crime is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern ugly, harrowing, and true. From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with An Enormous Crime we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America's leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders. THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAn Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate.The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, this book brilliantly reveals the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973, what these brave men have endured, and how administration after administration of their own government has turned its back on them.This authoritative exposé is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. An Enormous Crime is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our history: ugly, harrowing, and true. An authoritative study of American POWs left behind in Vietnam after the war draws on declassified intelligence reports, satellite imagery, and personal interviews to recount the fate of some seven hundred POWs that remained unaccounted for and that were held back by the North Vietnamese in 1973 after the U.S. government reneged on a wartime promise. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.