Sen. John McCain is not a war hero

I wanted to start this essay by getting the most obvious out of the way.  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is not a war hero, Vietnam or otherwise.  It is not entirely for the reasons you think.  To understand the real issues of Sen. McCain's purported 6 years as a Prisoner Of War, you need to look back at the events surrounding the US Military during the crucial year 1967. 

It was in 1967 that in the midst of both Vietnam and the Six-Day War, near the Strait of Hormuz, a military mishap occurred that until 2002 was unknown to many.  On June 8, 1967, the Naval ship USS Liberty was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Egypt when an Israeli Naval ship approached the Liberty.  Thinking that the Liberty was an Egyptian Naval vessel, or so it was told, the IDF authorized the blockade and attack on the USS Liberty.  It resulted in the death of 34 crew members, mostly Naval officers; and another 141 wounded.  This is in addition to the destruction of the Liberty itself.  For all intents and purposes, and due to the United States supporting Israel in the Six-Day War, the incident was minimized considerably.  One surviving crew member, for instance, was awarded a Medal of Honor; the ceremony took place privately without the involvement of President Lyndon Johnson.  That is the only time a Medal of Honor recipient did not have his ceremony take place at the White House. 

To this day, many of the surviving crew members and a number of journalists and political figures in the US have expressed their opinions that a cover-up had and may still be taking place.  I happen to think the IDF attack was deliberate; a ploy to essentially tell the US Military to back off from Israel's advancement of territory and prominence in the aftermath of the Six-Day War.  A fairly well made report on the incident was presented by the BBC some years back.  Here is the video:

Now what does this have to do with Sen. John McCain?  Well, it directly has to deal with Rear Admiral John V. McCain, Sen. McCain's father and a prominent Defense Department leader in 1967.  It was Adm. McCain that essentially authorized the official cover-up by the Navy in the aftermath of the Liberty assault.  At the same time, Adm. McCain's son, Sen. McCain, was a fighter pilot with little accomplishment during the Vietnam War.  I am certain a deal was made in the DOD involving Adm. McCain to save face and avoid calls for dismissal by orchestrating a POW matter to take place wherein Sen. McCain would be held captive by Viet Cong leadership for an indefinite amount of time until the end of the US involvement in Vietnam.  That end would come in 1973.  In the interim, Adm. McCain would be able to avoid questioning because, after all, his son was a POW.  And in the Vietnam era, most US citizens would not be prone to asking questions about their leadership.  I say most citizens; there were a number that did question these motives back then, and are proven right today. 

Fortunately nowadays, the informed public does not give special treatment to a war veteran just because he or she is a war veteran.  While Sen. McCain may prove different, his Vietnam record does not have an affect on the past 30 years of Sen. McCain's life.  Come to think of it; being a war veteran does not give a person the prerequisite to run for political office.  I look at any and every candidate running for President of the United States, including pres. Barack Obama running for re-election.  Not one of them was ever in the military.  That for me is a positive trajectory; showing that the immediate reactive mindset of military procedure does not come into fruition from these individuals.

Sen. John McCain is, to say this yet again, not a war hero.  The USS Liberty cover-up tells the tale of why, in a related manner, Sen. McCain stayed captive.  By the way, does not Sen. McCain have a re-election campaign to run?  Well, if the public is not buying the war hero talk, they may not buy Sen. McCain staying in the Senate.  And this could come in a primary.

I will have more to say regarding this presidential race in the days ahead.  Being honest, I would rather prefer a Westminster style form of governance; along with a royal family, preferably the Clinton family.  Yes, that would go against US laws and precedents.  None the less; you try invoking the Bill of Rights in a family squabble.  It will never work, because reality does not function that way. 

Before I go, I want to show you a police interrogation that would lead to an African American, Sandra Bland, to her death.  It appears DWB (Driving While Black) can inadvertently result in a fatality. Word of advise to white cops:  do not do anything to a minority, ever.  Go after your own people in the force, which of course you do not do.  Also, to anyone wanting to be a cop:  Do not even think about it. 

Talk to you soon on something a bit lighter:),

Robert