Missing Are Missing

Washington Times - Wasington, DC, USA

MISSING ARE MISSING

Some members of Congress want the Pentagon to restore the designations of prisoner of war and missing in action to those servicemen and servicewomen who are missing in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Because the United States is not officially "at war" with the nations of Afghanistan or Iraq, the Defense Department has chosen not to designate those troops who go missing in operations as prisoners of war or missing in action, instead using terms like "duty status whereabouts unknown" and "missing-captured."

Supporters of the wartime designations point out that the armed forces currently engaged in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are participants "in the larger war on terrorism, showing a incomparable level of valor and duty to the United States of America."