6B
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Book says POWs were killed
Vietnamese deny reports made by officer, researcher
The Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam — Hundreds of U.S. servicemen were killed in captivity during the Vietnam War, mostly in the heat of battle but some from torture, said an American researcher who had rare access to Hanoi's war archives.
Theodore Schweitzer said yesterday that four years of studying Vietnamese documents and interviewing officials convinced him that Hanoi did not hold back prisoners in 1973, when the United States pulled out of the war.
After the Paris peace accords, Hanoi returned nearly 600 American POWs, but the fate of many others remained a mystery. Speculation that Hanoi kept some as hostages or slave labor persists even today.
The United States still lists 1,621 as missing in action. Although the
two countries are about to open liaison offices in each other's capitals. Washington says Hanoi must cooperate fully in clarifying the fate of the missing before full diplomatic relations can be established.
A book written by Malcolm McConnell on the basis of Schweitzer's research, "Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives: Solving the MIA Mystery," argues that American prisoners who didn't come back died in captivity.
Some were killed while resisting their captors or trying to escape, the book quotes a senior Vietnamese colonel as telling Schweizer.
According to the book, others were executed because they were too badly wounded to be moved or were beaten to death by angry peasants in areas heavily bombed by the Americans. Still others died in U.S. raids on the Communist units that held them, Pham Dkuc Dai was quoted as saying.
Dai and a second senior officer confirmed that a small number were tortured to death but gave no figures.
One of the most dramatic passages of the book is a quote from the second officer, identified by the
apparent pseudonym of Lt. Col.
Nguyen Van Thi.
"We killed many American prisoners in cold blood. They were tortured to death in prison or simply killed outright from fear they would try to escape," Thi is quoted as saying.
Schweitzer said, "We considered this one of the major revelations of the book, that the Vietnamese would be open enough to say hundreds died in captivity."
The passage already has generated controversy. The Foreign Ministry said yesterday the allegation that hundreds of POWs were tortured to death or killed between 1966 and 1972 was a fabrication.
"It is not the first time when there is positive progress in relations that audacious fabrications are made with ill intention to obstruct the progress," a representative said. She did not mention the book, which is not available in Vietnam, or Schweitzer by name.
Schweitzer maintained that the ministry denial applied not to the book but news reports saying it suggested hundreds of POWs may have been tortured to death. He said Dai reported the number was small.
Schweitzer, 52, from Tallahassee, Fla., said he became interested in Vietnam while trying to save Vietnamese boat people from pirates in 1979-80 as a field officer for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand.
He said a 1989 trip to Hanoi's Army Museum, which displays photos and weapons from the war, inspired him to ask the Vietnamese for research access, which they granted. Schweitzer is trained as a librarian.
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney put him on contract as a consultant so the Pentagon could share the results.
Some relatives of American MIAs have accused Vietnam of withholding information on their fate. Schweitzer said the archives held many leads to MIAs, but they were buried in the sheer volume of poorly organized material.
"I do not believe there was an act of deception by the Vietnamese leadership," he said. "I believe the leaders of this country had no idea of the extent of the information they had in their archives. I believe their opening it up to me was an act of good faith on their part."
Racist jokes not funny
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Black couple who sued over an auto accident deserve a new trial if they can prove juries made racist jokes during deliberations, the Florida Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
"It is not by chance that the words 'Equal Justice Under Law' have been placed for all to see above the entrance to this nation's highest court." Justice Harry Lee Anstead wrote for the unanimous court.
The justices ordered the trial court to hold a hearing to decide if the alleged statements were indeed made.
Derrick and Eugenia Powell sued their insurance company, Allstate, after their car was broadsideed in 1989 by an underinsured driver. Powell, then a 51-year-old electrician, suffered back injuries.
The Powells sought $235,000 but were awarded only $10,500 by the all-white jury. The next day a juror called the Powells' lawyers and said other jurors made racist comments during eight hours of deliberations.
According to the juror, others told racist jokes, speculated that the Powells' children were drug dealers, likened Blacks to chimpanzees and claimed white workers were better than Black ones.
Illegals: out-of-state rate
The Associated Press
The 2nd District Court of Appeals said Tuesday that undocumented immigrants must pay the same fees charged to California State University students from other states or countries.
LOS ANGELES — Cal State students who are illegal immigrants do not qualify for the $5,000-plus discount on fees that other California residents get, an appeals court ruled.
CSU officials estimate that 950 illegal immigrants attend the university's 20 campuses. As California residents, they have been paying $1,584 a year in
fees, compared with $7,380 for nonresidents.
Higher fees already are required for illegal immigrants attending the University of California system.
If Proposition 187 is ruled unconstitutional, "we may be able to return to this question, whether individuals who live in California and pay taxes should not gain the benefit of tax-supported services," said Robert Rubin, a lawyer for the undocumented students.
In November, California voters passed Proposition 187, which requires public schools and state-supported colleges to ban illegal immigrants.
CASH IN A FLASH
$15 Today $30 This week
By donating your life saving blood plasma
WALK-INS WELCOME!
NABI Biomedical Center
816 W 24th 749-5750
BEDS DESKS BOOKCASES Everything But Ice 936 Mass.
TIME TO GET YOUR BIKE FIXED
HAROLD'S REDXSALE
Now 'til January 29th, save even more at Harold's by deducting an X-TRA 20% from the markdown price of merchandise already reduced 25% to 50%!
EXAMPLE: Original price $70, it's on sale for $39.90... take an extra 20% off..your price is just $31.50!
LOOK FOR THE RED X TAGS & SIGNS!
HAROLD'S
Exclusively at Country Club Plaza, West 47th & Broadway