A Fellow POW Speaks Out on McCain

The fellow POW is Phillip Butler, former Navy pilot who spent eight years in a North Vietnam prison, and who knew John McCain.

He has an incisive, telling and profoundly moving piece on, of all places, Military.com. Here's an excerpt:

I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander.

Butler also gives lie to McCain's claim that he was tortured for five-and-a-half years. No, it was for only the first two years, since after the death of Ho Chi Minh in September of 1969 the NVA gave up on torture as an instrument of war and instead decided to use the POWs as bargaining chips. This is historical fact, but you wouldn't know it from listening to McCain.

It's one thing when someone like me, an ordinary draftee Vietnam vet, disses McCain. It's something else entirely when the criticism comes from a fellow POW.

Read the full story -- it's well worth it.