Can't believe the Nation would publish this bilge. The so-called evidence is long debunked. The left behind POW/MIA myth is one of the most toxic in American history, and has prevented us from learning the real lessons of the war (uh, hello? we were the bad guys).

This is a case of the Nation stooping to any length to smear McCain (I'm an Obama contributor, doorknocker and phonebanker), even to the point of rehashing idiotic, and extremely dangerous historic myths. Shame on Schanberg and van den Heuvel for this.

I don't disagree with you. Most people think that the whole "POW's left behind" issue was one made up by pro-war people in order to advance their meme of the American left forcing the US to turn tail and run from Vietnam.

McCain still blocked the documents, and one has to wonder: why? What of military significance could possibly be hidden in documents about POW's?

Classified information is less often necessary than it is convenient.

Actually, as far as I'm concerned there were almost assuredly some troops left behind, there's just now way the US could have accounted for every single MIA in the chaotic waning days of the war, not in that political and military atmosphere.

But this article is simply disgusting, to suggest that McCain is purposely hiding information related to MIA's from Vietnam to cover his own ass politically. This ranks, and I do mean ranks, up there with any hit piece on Obama being a secret Muslim out to destroy America.

Also, if McCain is following the lead of every administration since Nixon, that includes a couple of Democratic administrations as well. So was Clinton in on the cover up too?

That this drivel is being pushed in XX Factor is no surpise to me this election, none at all.

It is a lame attempt at swift boating, and one almost sure to backfire. Bringing attention to John McCain's military service will not help Senator Obama. Attacking it will almost certainly hurt.

You're acting like Obama wrote, or had anything to do with this. By that standard, can i say that anything the KKK says about Obama is attributable to McCain?

But the questions that throw off your entire little spiel here:

If there's nobody to worry about, why keep the records confidential? Why have hearings about them in the first place? And why would a POW oppose it so roundly, SO long after the wardrums have been beating for Vietnam?

And by the way, it was Nixon who withdrew from Vietnam, a Republican. Do you have any idea what you're talking about???

TheChiClops:

You're acting like Obama wrote, or had anything to do with this. By that standard, can i say that anything the KKK says about Obama is attributable to McCain?

If it's published as an article in Slate, sure.

US troops in Vietnam are the best-accounted for losers in the history of warfare. They can't even find an unknown soldier.

Schanberg perpetuates a toxic right-wing myth by implying that "hundreds" or even thousands were left behind, not a few.

Should mccain have released documents? I guess so. But the record on this is so full of forgeries and other crap, that we likely wouldn't have learned anything. Every major piece of evidence on this has been debunked. The pictures, the phony NVA documents, on and on, all turn out to be phony when pressed, and when the initial headlines fade.