With big busine$$'$ continued pressure to open the Vietnamese market, it was inevitable that an American President would eventually visit Vietnam. But, did it have to be Bill Clinton?

In an article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, for the International Herald Tribune via Washington Post Service Wednesday, November 15, 2000 titled "In Vietnam, Clinton Is a Hero for His Anti-War Protest Days" J.D. Wetterling, former fighter pilot who holds of two Distinguished Flying Crosses, earned during the Vietnam War, stated; "The first president to visit Vietnam since the end of the war should not be a president who was a draft dodger of this very war,"

Nowhere in the many articles published, so far, on the Clinton trip to Vietnam, was their any serious mention of the Live POW issue. In the reports we've heard, Live POWs were never mentioned. This was an opportunity to elevate the Live POW issue to its highest level.

Recovery of remains is important and the President of the United States standing at an excavation site, makes a great photo op but what about the Live POWs. What about the last known alive, servicemen and civilians.

Mr. President, why didn't you ask for the live American POWs?

Does The Monster Live????? - In our October 21st edition of "Bits N Pieces," we wrote we would continue to worry about the next form the supposed "dead" Strategic Plan would take. Now, we may have a hint. As you know, the original Strategic Plan called for an end to POW/MIA investigations, as we know them, by 2004.

Our publication of the Strategic Plan led to an outcry from POW/MIA family members, veterans groups and concerned citizen. Congressional inquiries were made, and in May of 2000 in a DPMO meeting with family, and veterans groups, we were assured the Strategic Plan was "dead."

Well, if you can't do you own dirty work, the next best thing is to get someone else to do it for you.

In an Associated Press article, dated November 14th, by Bob Burns, we found the following quote from Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs, Robert Jones. From the AP - " Jones, the Pentagon chief of POW-MIA affairs, said that although he sees no end in sight to remains recovery efforts in Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese government is reluctant to allow it to continue indefinitely. "The Vietnamese are seeking an end-date to our operations," Jones said.

"The Vietnamese are seeking an end-date to our operations." When did this happen? Did we miss the DPMO announcement that Vietnam was asking for an end date to operations? Did we miss mention of this on the DPMO web site? Did we miss this piece of news in the many handouts prepared by DPMO? Family Members, and Veterans - during your attendance at the DPMO regional meetings was this ever mentioned? Let us know. Maybe, we missed it.

Why would the Vietnamese seek "an end-date to our operations."? Recovery operations put millions into the Vietnamese treasury. In the past, they also profited from the rental of U.S. vehicles that were not in use by JTF-FA investigators. We've lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam. We've normalized relations. Recently, we signed a trade agreement with Vietnam. One of the justifications for easing sanctions against Vietnam was their supposed "full cooperation" on the POW/MIA issue. In fact, the real reason concessions were made to Vietnam was the desire of Big Bu$ine$$ to exploit the cheap labor market in Vietnam.

So, are the Vietnamese "seeking an end-date to our operations" as the AP quotes Mr. Jones as saying or is this cover for a back door to implementation of the "dead" Strategic Plan?

If the Vietnamese are "seeking an end-date to our operations" why did we sign a trade agreement with them? Why did we take another step forward while the Vietnamese are pushing for a step backwards?

If the Vietnamese are "seeking an end-date to our operations" why did the President of the United States visit Vietnam and praise their "full cooperation" when they are pushing for a step backwards?

Are the Vietnamese really "seeking an end-date to our operations" or has DPMO decided to let them do the dirty work, and end operations by 2004, as called for in the Strategic Plan?

If Vietnam calls for an end to operations, there is not much we can do. They have trade and normalization. Their world status has been elevated by a Presidential visit. Big bu$ine$$ is pouring millions into their economy and there is no way we can stop it.

If DPMO calls for an end to operations, we have a voice. We exercised that voice when we fought the Strategic Plan. We have a Congress we can turn to and in this case they just might help us.

So, how do you implement the "dead" Strategic Plan. You get someone else to do your dirty work.

The clock is still ticking......

Clinton Visits Excavation Site - From Reuters Nov 18, 2000 - By Randall Mikkelsen Tien Chau, Vietnam - "President Clinton, who opposed and avoided the Vietnam War as a young man, came face-to-face Saturday with the war's painful legacy for both sides. Clinton visited a muddy clay field northwest of Hanoi where workers are searching for a U.S. pilot shot down in 1967. The visibly moved president said the pilot's sons, who joined him at the site, deserved "finally to take their father home...."

"...Clinton spent Saturday dealing with the unfinished business of the Vietnam War, which killed more than 58,000 Americans and an estimated three million Vietnamese...."

"....Clinton began the day amid rice paddies and vegetable fields, at the site where Air Force Captain Lawrence Evert's F-105 fighter-bomber is believed to have been shot down on November 8, 1967. Joined by Evert's two sons, Daniel and David, Clinton watched as members of a joint U.S.-Vietnamese task force carried out the sad task of digging for the pilot's remains."

"The visit highlighted U.S. attempts to account for the 1,498 Americans missing in action from a conflict that ended 25 years ago. "I am honored to be here with Captain Evert's sons Dan and David," he said in a subdued voice. "We believe we owe them and all Americans like them what they came here for -- a chance finally to take their father home."

"David Evert said the brothers' childhood fantasy of returning to Vietnam and rescuing their father was, in a way, becoming real. "We kind of feel that's what we're doing right now," he said, his voice choked with emotion. Clinton said the United States was committed to seeking the fullest possible accounting for the U.S. servicemen who fell in the war and to helping Vietnam search for the estimated 300,000 Vietnamese still missing.

"Accounting for the missing has been a top priority of U.S. veterans' groups and is politically essential to Clinton's efforts to normalize U.S. relations with Vietnam...."

"....Clinton warmly thanked the Vietnamese for their help. "Once we met here as adversaries, today we work as partners," Clinton said. He pledged to help Vietnam search for its own missing, including through the release of U.S. documents...."

"....Later Saturday evening, Clinton was to attend a formal repatriation ceremony for the recovered remains of three U.S. soldiers before flying to Ho Chi Minh City, the former South Vietnamese capital Saigon. He leaves Vietnam for Washington Sunday evening.

Clinton Turns to Vietnam War's Unfinished Business - from Reuters Nov 17, 2000 by Randall Mikkelsen - HANOI - "President Clinton turns his attention Saturday, the second day of his historic visit to Vietnam, to the unfinished business of the Vietnam war. Clinton starts the day with a visit to a site where a joint U.S.-Vietnamese team is working to find remains of one of the 1,498 American servicemen still unaccounted for in Vietnam, 27 years after the United States pulled out of the war...."

"...Many of the three million U.S. veterans of the Vietnam war, in which 58,000 Americans and three million Vietnamese died, have been resentful toward Clinton over his opposition to the war and avoiding of the draft as a young man. The president has also insisted on Vietnamese cooperation in accounting for the U.S. soldiers as a condition for any expansion in ties with its former enemy. "No two nations have ever before done the things we are doing together to find the missing from the Vietnam conflict," Clinton said in a speech Friday to students at Vietnam National University in Hanoi...."

"....Friday's speech focused on his vision for new relations based on expanded trade and cooperation in areas such as science and disease control. But Clinton said the door had been opened by Vietnam's help in accounting for American soldiers missing in action. "Your cooperation in that mission over these last eight years has made it possible for America to support international lending to Vietnam, to resume trade between our countries, to establish formal diplomatic relations and, this year, to sign a pivotal trade agreement," he said."

" Clinton Saturday will visit Thien Chau village, 17 miles northwest of Hanoi, where a team of the U.S.-Vietnamese "Joint Task Force-Full Accounting" is searching for the remains of Air Force Captain Lawrence Evert...."

".... White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the president was expected to say that obtaining the fullest possible accounting of the fate of American soldiers was one of the country's top priorities. He was also expected to praise the work of the Americans and Vietnamese on the team for helping to "bring closure to what was a very difficult period...."

Didn't Anyone Tell Clinton - that according to his Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs "The Vietnamese are seeking an end-date to our operations?"

Bring Him Home Alive Act - Is now LAW! The legislation was signed into law on November 9th, 2000. This LAW provides "for the granting of refugee status in the United States to nationals of certain foreign countries in which American Vietnam War POW/MIAs or American Korean War POW/MIAs may be present, if those nationals assist in the return to the United States of those POW/MIAs alive."

Once again, our thanks to Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and his staff, for their efforts on behalf of this legislation.

U.S. Russian Joint Commission Meets - From Itar-Tass Moscow, November 14 - "The Russo-US Commission for POWs and MIAs will meet in a session in the Russian capital on Tuesday. The presidential press service said the meeting will be co-chaired from Russia by Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Valentin Sobolev."

"The commission was established in 1992. It has cleared up the fate of many Americans who were taken prisoners of war or were proclaimed missing in action in the course of the World War II, the Korean, Vietnamese and Cold Wars. The Commission also helped set free citizens of Russia and other CIS countries captured during the war in Afghanistan."

Remains Recovery in North Korea - from "US DOD: Largest MIA recovery operation concludes" - NOV 10, 2000, M2 Communications - "Remains believed to be those of 15 American soldiers, missing in action from the Korean War, will be repatriated on Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11, Korea time. This is the largest number of remains recovered during a single joint recovery operation."

"The remains will be flown on a U.S. Air Force aircraft from Pyongyang, North Korea, under escort of a uniformed U.S. honor guard to Yokota Air Base, Japan, where a United Nations Command repatriation ceremony will be held."

"A joint U.S.-North Korea team operating in Unsan and Kujang counties, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, recovered the remains during an operation that began Oct. 17. The area was the site of battles between Communist Chinese forces and the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, and 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions in November 1950."

"The 20-person U.S. team is composed primarily of specialists from the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI). This year's work in North Korea was the most productive to-date, recovering 65 sets of remains during five operations. As a result of negotiated agreements with North Korea, led by the Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), 107 sets of remains have been recovered in 17 joint recovery operations since 1996. Five servicemen have been positively identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors. Another 10 are nearing the final stages of the forensic identification process."

"Officials at DPMO have initiated contact with North Korean officials to begin preliminary planning for formal discussions in December to establish a schedule of operations for 2001.Of the 88,000 U.S. servicemembers missing in action from all conflicts, more than 8,100 are from the Korean War.

Reminder To POW/MIA Family Members - Roger Hall needs your authorization to request information on your loved ones as part of his law suit against the CIA. Any material Roger obtains, relating to specific POWs or MIAs will be immediately provided to the family of that man. Roger has assured us of this on many occasions.

It is important that every family be a part of this. We are reprinting the authorization and urge you to copy, fill out and return to Roger Hall at 8715 First Ave., Apt 827C, Silver Spring, Md. 20910. If you have any questions call Roger at 301-585-3361 or email him at Rhall8715@aol.com

Authorization Follows:

I [ PNOK name ] authorize Roger Hall to research all information regarding [ unreturned POW/MIA family member name ] withheld under the McCain Bill or for any other reason. Please include the full name of the person that is POW, MIA, or detainee, [ date person was captured or went missing ] , [ branch of service or civilian ], [ service number] , and [ social security number.

End Authorization

Remember the Authorization MUST BE NOTARIZED.

We at the National Alliance of Families

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!