One of the senior American officers in the North Vietnamese prison camps said today that the prisoners “forced” their captors “to be brutal to us” by resisting their demands to the last possible point of human endurance.
Navy Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton, who has been nominated for promotion to admiral, said the policy of resistance was designed to provoke a public outcry against the North Vietnamese and put pressure on them into improving camp conditions.
Those conditions improved dramatically in October, 1969, and many observers give the credit to protests mounted by the Government and the families of the prisoners.
Captain Denton’s comments came as more former P.O.W.’s elaborated on charges of torture and brutality made by other prisoners yesterday. For example, Lieut. Comdr. Paul E. Galanti of Richmond said he had been drugged and suffered allucinations for months afterward.
