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The story of the longest-held American POW

35 points by dctoedt 12y ago

brudgers 12y ago
Two long, bloody years would pass before the war ended The article shows how easily Americans slip into the mythology of the Korean War. There's still an armed border at the 60th Parallel 60 years later, US troops standing at the ready south if the DMZ with reserves in Okinawa and logistics and strategic air support in Diego Garcia. Korea has been in continuous civil conflict since the Japanese colonization in the 19th century. Over the last 20 years. the standoff has escalated to nuclear armed The Korean War: a History by Max Cummings delves into the narrative America has constructed for itself and how far it differs from a more circumspect view. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297896X/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1412253141&sr=1-5&pi=SL75 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297896X/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=...
- _sword 12y ago
  I visited the DMZ in the summer of 2013 and the militarization was astonishing. Beyond the military checkpoints, soldiers everywhere, secret tunnels dug from the north into the south, and relics of past failed relationships such as a bullet riddled locomotive, the signs along every non-paved spot of earth warning "DANGER MINES" and the overpasses rigged to detonate and drop immense concrete blocks onto the roadways (to prevent passage by invading tanks) really brought home the feeling that the two states were still at war. Not to mention having to sign a hefty waiver to visit the Joint Security Area for any injury or death that we could incur if North Korea decided to attack us while on the tour. We also had a surprise at the Joint Security Area when a tour of several dozen military officers on the north side appeared and stared back at us while we took photos of them and a semi-hidden photographer on the north took photos of all of us tourists to potentially use as propaganda.
junto 12y ago
The CIA documentary, initially made exclusively for the agency, was eventually released in 2011 through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Associated Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI This paragraph at the end is particularly poignant (considering that Downey is now a judge in the youth courts): In one instance, for example, Downey recalls watching a young girl, about 15 or 16 years old, passionately object to her prison sentence. “She got up in court and gave an eloquent speech as to why she should go home and not be in prison. And then she said, ‘You don’t know what it’s like. You can’t imagine.’ ” Downey, quietly resisting the temptation to correct her, remembers sympathizing. “I do feel I know the restrictions on a prisoner’s life,” Downey says. “Prison is a lousy experience, whether you’re there for a month or 20 years.”
cperciva 12y ago
The title "... American POW" is inaccurate, since Downey was never a POW: He was engaged in espionage, and spies have no right to POW status (https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule107 https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule107). The wording in the title in the article, "... American captive of war" is better, and should be used instead.
- dctoedt 12y ago
  > The wording in the title in the article, "... American captive of war" is better, and should be used instead. Poster here --- that's how I posted it, with the original wording.
  - cperciva 12y ago
    I guess a moderator missed the nuance and thought they were improving the title. Hopefully another moderator can restore it now that I've pointed it out...
Yardlink 12y ago
Ronald Pelton was an NSA spy who's been in prison longer for participating in war. Except he's being held in the US and is still locked up today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Pelton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Pelton
- dctoedt 12y ago
  The circumstances are a bit different: Mr. Pelton is indeed a former U.S. NSA intelligence analyst, but he's in an American prison for selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1980s during the Cold War. The Wikipedia article says he'll be released in November 2015, which is surprising inasmuch as he was given three concurrent life sentences.
TallGuyShort 12y ago
>> The United States, the communists insisted, would have to admit to the world that it had been lying about Downey all these years. For the time being, however, the U.S. government was unwilling to lose face. ... and he remained in prison. That is disgusting.

35 points by dctoedt 12y ago

Two long, bloody years would pass before the war ended The article shows how easily Americans slip into the mythology of the Korean War. There's still an armed border at the 60th Parallel 60 years later, US troops standing at the ready south if the DMZ with reserves in Okinawa and logistics and strategic air support in Diego Garcia. Korea has been in continuous civil conflict since the Japanese colonization in the 19th century. Over the last 20 years. the standoff has escalated to nuclear armed The Korean War: a History by Max Cummings delves into the narrative America has constructed for itself and how far it differs from a more circumspect view. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297896X/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1412253141&sr=1-5&pi=SL75 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297896X/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=...

_sword 12y ago
I visited the DMZ in the summer of 2013 and the militarization was astonishing. Beyond the military checkpoints, soldiers everywhere, secret tunnels dug from the north into the south, and relics of past failed relationships such as a bullet riddled locomotive, the signs along every non-paved spot of earth warning "DANGER MINES" and the overpasses rigged to detonate and drop immense concrete blocks onto the roadways (to prevent passage by invading tanks) really brought home the feeling that the two states were still at war. Not to mention having to sign a hefty waiver to visit the Joint Security Area for any injury or death that we could incur if North Korea decided to attack us while on the tour. We also had a surprise at the Joint Security Area when a tour of several dozen military officers on the north side appeared and stared back at us while we took photos of them and a semi-hidden photographer on the north took photos of all of us tourists to potentially use as propaganda.

junto 12y ago

The CIA documentary, initially made exclusively for the agency, was eventually released in 2011 through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Associated Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI This paragraph at the end is particularly poignant (considering that Downey is now a judge in the youth courts): In one instance, for example, Downey recalls watching a young girl, about 15 or 16 years old, passionately object to her prison sentence. “She got up in court and gave an eloquent speech as to why she should go home and not be in prison. And then she said, ‘You don’t know what it’s like. You can’t imagine.’ ” Downey, quietly resisting the temptation to correct her, remembers sympathizing. “I do feel I know the restrictions on a prisoner’s life,” Downey says. “Prison is a lousy experience, whether you’re there for a month or 20 years.”

cperciva 12y ago

The title "... American POW" is inaccurate, since Downey was never a POW: He was engaged in espionage, and spies have no right to POW status (https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule107 https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule107). The wording in the title in the article, "... American captive of war" is better, and should be used instead.

dctoedt 12y ago
> The wording in the title in the article, "... American captive of war" is better, and should be used instead. Poster here --- that's how I posted it, with the original wording.
- cperciva 12y ago
  I guess a moderator missed the nuance and thought they were improving the title. Hopefully another moderator can restore it now that I've pointed it out...

Yardlink 12y ago

Ronald Pelton was an NSA spy who's been in prison longer for participating in war. Except he's being held in the US and is still locked up today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Pelton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Pelton

dctoedt 12y ago
The circumstances are a bit different: Mr. Pelton is indeed a former U.S. NSA intelligence analyst, but he's in an American prison for selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1980s during the Cold War. The Wikipedia article says he'll be released in November 2015, which is surprising inasmuch as he was given three concurrent life sentences.

TallGuyShort 12y ago

>> The United States, the communists insisted, would have to admit to the world that it had been lying about Downey all these years. For the time being, however, the U.S. government was unwilling to lose face. ... and he remained in prison. That is disgusting.