Reply #9: No conspiracy theory here: Deposition of David E Hendricks - SSC

[anarchy1999]

DEPOSITION OF DAVID E. HENDRIX

Thursday, October 29, 1992
U.S. Senate
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
Washington, D.C.


This excerpt is on the 3rd page of the deposition. It is a very long read.

snip:
Q. You have been involved in this issue, at least writing about it, for 8 to 10 years now. I have some just general questions that if you have any answers you'd like to share with. Why would the Vietnamese Government and/or Cambodian and/or Lao Government, hold prisoners back, in your opinion?

A. Well, in my opinion, it was originally historically the precedent with the French and that's been discussed often. They are not dumb. They probably knew American politics in 1970, '73 time frame better than we did in America. I'm sure that they knew that when they were promised $4.2 billion in money and aid from the United States by Kissinger and President Nixon that it was something that would probably have to go through Congress. And the sentiment in the United States at that time was to get done, get off of Vietnam, and it probably wouldn't come. So it was leverage.

Also, the Vietnamese were still very heavily involved with getting aid from the Soviet Union. So these people, especially some of the late arrivals with new technology were good for bartering off to either Communist China or to the Soviet Union. That was my same question when I got involved in this in late 1984. And you're right, it's coming up to 8 years now, almost. Our question used to be, why would the Vietnamese keep those people? Within about 6 months or a year after we got involved in this, our question became why would the United States not acknowledge them? And I think that those two questions have to come together.

I think that it is now moot in the mutual best interest of the United States and Vietnam and I'm talking about cynical politics more than any ethics or anything. It's to the best interests of both nations to come together, I am told and these from significant sources, because of the oil situation off the coast of Vietnam. It is my understanding and I am told that certain high level U.S. Government officials who were involved with an oil company by the name of Liberty Oil and other oil companies that had leasing and drilling rights off the coast of Vietnam -- this comes totally separate from anything that Charles Shelton and this LeBlanc friend of his.

http://www.aiipowmia.com/ssc/hndrx3.html

Once again, back to oil.