I wish we could report some significant progress in the level of cooperation by the Chinese government with efforts to account for missing American servicemen. Unfortunately, there is not much we can say. However, DPMO head Bob Jones is in China at this writing to begin an oral history program with Chinese veterans of the Korean War. DPMO hopes that this program will lead to information-ç-ut what happened to some of our POWs. In this session, investigators will interview four former POW camp guards.

These men might shed some light on administrative handling of POWs; burial of men who died in camp; camp documentation, etc. It is doubtful that they would be able to discuss, at least honestly, the secret removal of any men from camps, or the transfer of POWs from North Korea to China or elsewhere. Mr. Jones was unable to say whether reports of these interviews will be classified or not.

The U.S. delegation returns from China on September 23rd, and Mr. Jones has scheduled a briefing for family and veterans organizations on September 26th. We will be able to report more about the trip and the interviews in the next issue of the Update & Review.

Mr. Jones has asked for access to the Chinese military museum and their archives, but he reports that there has been no response from Chinese officials. The Chinese have offered access to their public libraries, although it is difficult to imagine that much would be learned from those holdings.

Meanwhile the U.S. Senate has just passed the bill that grants permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China. The Senate Bill included a provision for establishment of a commission that would monitor certain aspects of China's conduct, as part of the PNTR relationship. Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced an amendment to the Bill that would extend the scope of the commission's work to include monitoring of China's cooperation on accounting for missing servicemen.

I watched Senator Smith on C-Span during the debate of the PNTR issue. He explained how China has information about missing servicemen that has not been shared with the U.S. He underscored the debt owed to the missing men. He revealed why opponents to his amendment were against it. If the PNTR bill included an amendment, the bill would have to be negotiated with the House of Representatives in conference committee, and that might complicate its passage.

It seems that eagerness to grant PNTR and keep those trade dollars flowing outweighs, for some, interest in finding out what happened to those servicemen who were lost in defense of the freedoms we all continue to enjoy. Sixty eight Senators voted against Senator Smith's amendment. Just 30 Senators voted for it. Notably, Senator John McCain (R-Az), recent candidate for President who ran largely on his past experience as a POW, voted against the amendment. Remember that, when George W. Bush challenged McCain's commitment to the POW/MIA accounting during the primaries, McCain became indignant and lashed out at Bush as though the charge were unthinkable. Senator John Kerry (D-Ma), another Vietnam veteran who co-chaired the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs in the early 90s, also voted against the amendment. Remember that the Select Committee found that American POWs were left in the hands of the enemy after Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War.

To borrow sentiment from Senator Smith's speech, those who voted against the amendment should be ashamed. A list of the recorded votes on Senator Smith's Amendment are shown in the next column.

We encourage people to contact some or all of these Senators and ask them why they did not support this important amendment.