Send a letter to Congress
As you know, the Senate will vote soon on ratification of the proposed NATO treaties for Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. During the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, when these countries were loyal to the former Soviet Union, they cooperated with, and participated in, a covert plan to exploit American servicemen from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Today there are more than 10,000 American POW/MIAs who have not been accounted for from these two wars. There is considerable and ever-increasing evidence that many of these men were captured alive and withheld by the communists at the end of these conflicts. What's more, throughout the decades since these wars, there have been numerous live sighting reports relative to these same men, which our own government claims it cannot substantiate nor disprove.
These former East Bloc countries now wish to join NATO and enjoy the benefits of that military alliance, yet they have not come forward in any meaningful way with information and/or documents that will assist in American efforts to gain a full accounting for our missing men. Though these countries have voiced an intent to cooperate on this matter, they have it within their power to produce significant information yet they have not done so. Lip service to cooperation will not produce answers and is an insult to the American people.
For years the United States has tried a policy of "engagement" with the countries that possess the information we need about our POW/MIAs. Always cited is the theory that improved relations would bring more answers. This policy clearly has not worked. While there has been some progress in the area of remains recovery, none of the governments involved has provided answers about the men who were known to be alive in enemy custody but not returned.
Military alliance with the United States is a privilege that should not be granted to countries that continue to withhold information about American POW/MIAs. This does not reflect a desire to "punish" the people of these countries. It reflects a loyalty to those Americans who made the most difficult of sacrifices for their country, any one of whom could still be alive in captivity today, waiting to be reunited with his family and his country.
The Czech, Polish, and Hungarian governments have it within their power to help us find out what happened to our missing men. They have the opportunity now to disavow the tragic policy of withholding American prisoners of war. We have the opportunity now to demand their cooperation. We should not agree to send American men and women into harm's way on behalf of countries that will not honor and protect the very military from whom they seek protection.
Consider this unique opportunity to get answers. Let honor, loyalty, and the truth prevail for once over politics and economics. Please vote against a NATO treaty for any country that will not FIRST come forward in full cooperation with the accounting effort for American POW/MIAs.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to learning of your vote on this matter.
Sincerely,