While Americans' attention has quite understandably been focused on the release of the 576 U.S. prisoners of war, a much larger, more complicated and more rancorous exchange of captives has been taking place among the Vietnamese themselves. From both sides, prisoners are emerging with tales of torture and suffering that go beyond any told by returning Americans, but that seem nonetheless to be accepted as almost commonplace in this cruel war.
The first stage went smoothly enough, with the North releasing 1,032 captives in return for some 7,000 Communists held in the South....