For Those Who Have Not Heard - We lost some dear friends, in recent days, with the passing of Col. Earl Hopper, father of POW/MIA Earl Hopper Jr., Virginia Hendrix, wife of Dave Hendrix, former editor of the Riverside Free Press and Maj. Gen. Delos H. Burks USAF Ret., father of Marsha Burks-Megehee, long time POW/MIA advocate.

To the Hopper, Hendrix and Burks-Megehee families we offer our deepest sympathy.

Remains Recovered - On July 10th the families of Sgt. Alex Jimenez and PFC Byron Fouty announced the sad news that the remains of both soldiers had been recovered and identified. That information was confirmed by the Pentagon on July 11th in a formal statement. This was not the news we had hoped for. To the Jimenez and Fouty families we offer our deepest sympathies. Condolences may be sent to the families, at the addresses below:

Did 9 Hours and 38 Minutes Make the Difference Between Life and Death for Joseph Anzack, Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez -- When the three soldiers were captured in May 2007, military search teams where initially prohibited from using all means available to locate the missing men. Instead they had to await a decision from lawyers in Washington D.C. They waited almost 10 hours, while the lawyers debated and changes for rescuing the captured soldiers diminished with each tick of the clock.

According to an article published October 15th 2007, in the New York Post, Charles Hurt wrote: "U.S. intelligence officials got mired for nearly 10 hours seeking approval to use wiretaps against al Qaeda terrorists suspected of kidnapping Queens Soldier Alex Jimenez in Iraq earlier this year, The Post has learned...."

"A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers - obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance - cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers. Starting at 10 a.m. on May 15, according to a time line provided to Congress by the director of national intelligence, lawyers for the National Security Agency met and determined that special approval from the attorney general would be required first."

"For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the "probable cause" necessary for the attorney general to grant such "emergency" permission."

"Finally, approval was granted and, at 7:38 that night, surveillance began. "The intelligence community was forced to abandon our soldiers because of the law," a senior congressional staffer with access to the classified case told The Post. "How many lawyers does it take to rescue our soldiers?" he asked. "It should be zero."

"The FISA law applies even to a cell phone conversation between two people in Iraq, because those communications zip along wires through U.S. hubs, which is where the taps are typically applied. U.S. officials had no way of knowing if Jimenez and his fellow soldiers were still alive during the nearly 10-hour delay...."

"This is terrible. If they would have acted sooner, maybe they would have found something out and been able to find my son," said Jimenez's mother, Maria Duran. "Oh my God. I just keep asking myself, where is my son? What could have happened to him?"

"Duran said she was especially frustrated, "because I thought they were doing everything possible to find him." "You know that this is how this country is - everything is by the law. They just did not want to break the law, and I understand that. They should change the law, because God only knows what type of information they could have found during that time period."

9 Hours 38 Minutes - It is pretty clear that at least Jimenez and Fouty were alive during the 9 hours 38 minutes lawyers debated the use of wiretaps. As Alex Jimenez's mother stated as quoted in the October 15th 2007 article; "They should change the law, because God only knows what type of information they could have found during that time period."

Indeed, only God knows….

Military Sub-Committee Hearings - On July 10th, for the first time in 10 years, the House Military Sub-Committee on Personnel held a hearing on POW/MIA matters. Presenting testimony and answering questions was Admiral Donna Crisp, of JPAC and Charles Ray Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs. The full text of Admiral Crisps' and Secretary Rays' statements is available on our website at www.nationalalliance.org/hearings/hearings.htm One interesting exchange came during the Q&A when Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter asked Secretary Ray the DPMO position on H.Res 111. The exchange went this way.

SHEA-PORTER: OK. And I'm sure you're aware of a piece of legislation introduced in the House calling for a select committee on POW/MIA affairs. And both of you have made a career as members of the armed services. Now this part of your job requires you to bring the remains of service members and heroes home to us. In your professional and personal opinion, do you believe that creating a select committee in Congress would benefit your mission or detract from it?

RAY: Ma'am, I have to -- there is recently a Department of Defense position provided to a member of Congress on that. We oppose the establishment of a select committee. From a professional standpoint, I fear that such a committee would be a distraction, could cause us to have to diminish our efforts to our core mission as we respond to the requirements. And from my own, I have frequent contact, as do people from JPAC, with this committee. We feel that the current level of interchange and oversight serves the purpose of ensuring that we are doing -- that we're following the congressional intent, and that we are doing what we can with available resources to serve the American people. And so the bottom line is that, we oppose any such establishment.

Misleading Congress - It is a matter of record that archival research, case investigations, remains recovery, and identifications were ongoing and robust during the life of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. That committee's effort had no impact on operations of any kind. To suggest that a House Select Committee could have an adverse impact on ongoing operations is a deliberate attempt to mislead Congress.

2008 POW/MIA Recognition Day Poster - Look up the word inappropriate in your dictionary and next to it you will find a photo of DPMO's 2008 Recognition Day Poster. The photo, depicting a cemetery, clearly voices the DPMO mindset. All the POWs are dead! The caption, which is washed out in the blue sky, reads; "In these gardens are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and whose earthly resting place is known only to God"

No live POWs. Not even the possibility of Live POWs, just a photo of a cemetery. In DPMO they are all dead. No matter what they say. There minds are closed on the subject of LIVE POWs and the 2008 Recognition Day Poster represents that closed mindset.

During the July 10th hearing Secretary Ray was asked about efforts on behalf of live POWs. Here is his response. "On the issue, sir, of possible living personnel and their recovery, we have not broken down what is spent on that effort. And the reason for that is that, that shapes everything we do."

"Every contact we have with governments on this issue, that's the number one priority. It's also difficult for us to break down how this is funded because there are other agencies besides R2 that are involved in it."

"The intelligence agencies have standing requirements on this issue. Most embassies in areas of interest, these are pieces of information that they would be responding to for us. So this effort, what we spend on recoveries of remains across the various conflicts has no impact on what we do to try and recovery any living people. And if we should find someone alive, you can bet that everything else would stop while we took effort to get that person back."

Is the 2008 POW/MIA Recognition Day Poster an indication, in Secretary Ray's words that "possible living personnel…. Shapes everything we do….."

We're interested in your opinion. What do you think of the 2008 POW/MIA Recognition Day Poster? Does this poster properly represent the issue of Live POWs and MIAs? Cast your vote at www.nationalalliance.org/vote/poster.htm

Why Does Johnie Webb still have his job????????????

North Korea and American POWs - In response to President Bush's exclusion of American POWs during his June 26th comments removing North Korea from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, the National Alliance of Families and the Korea Cold War Families of the Missing issued the following Press Release:

Bellevue, Washington (June 30, 2008) As the U.S. government marches toward improved relations with North Korea, it is ignoring one of its most important obligations - requiring North Korea to account for over 8,000 American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Korean War (1950-3.) The leading groups representing family members of the captured and missing and concerned veterans and citizens are calling on the Bush Administration to demand answers from North Korea immediately -- before any more concessions are granted.

After the end of the war, the United States government demanded an accounting for hundreds of Americans reported captured by the enemy but never returned or accounted for, plus thousands of missing men whose fates are a total mystery. The North Koreans and their Chinese allies refused to provide any credible response. In 1957, a "Sense of the Congress" resolution was passed that stated an accounting and/or return of U.S. POWs and MIAs from Korea should be "a primary objective of the foreign policy of the United States." In recent years, escapees from North Korea have described seeing men they believe were U.S. prisoners and North Korean officials have mentioned the presence of living "survivors" or "war criminals" from the conflict. Pentagon investigators have also uncovered evidence supporting wartime claims that U.S. prisoners were shipped from North Korea to secret prisons in China and the Soviet Union, from which they never returned. Just two weeks ago, a Chinese government report was revealed that admitted -- breaking 50 years of Chinese and North Korean denials -- Sgt. Richard Desautels was taken from North Korea to China, where Beijing now claims his remains cannot be found. (View fact sheet on US POW/MIAs in North Korea at www.nationalalliance.org/korea/koreapowfacts.htm).

"The United States must not drop North Korea as a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism' until it takes a significant first step in accounting for our lost heroes and agrees to a detailed program of accounting for American POWs and MIAs, starting with those captured alive but not returned at the end of the war and the 'survivors' and 'war criminals' mentioned by the North as remaining alive after the war," said the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen (National Alliance of Families/NAF) and Korea-Cold War Families of the Missing.

"My father would be astonished to know North Korea has been dropped from 'Trading with the Enemy' status and is now poised to get other major diplomatic concessions with absolutely no requirement to account for him and his lost colleagues," said Bill Sowles, son of Korean War POW/MIA SFC Lewis Sowles, who disappeared in North Korea during 1950.

Despite this, current negotiations with North Korea do not include U.S. POWs and MIAs. Instead, the U.S. has focused on accounting for Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. Last week, President Bush stated: "The United States will never forget the abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans. We will continue to closely cooperate and coordinate with Japan and press North Korea to swiftly resolve the abduction issue."

The POW/MIA family groups strongly support an accounting for Japanese abductees, but call upon President Bush and Congress to honor America's promise to its lost heroes, our Prisoners and Missing from the Korean War.