McCain Attacks Vietnam Communists HO CHI MINH CITY - John McCain, who played a key role in normalizing relations between the United States and its one-time enemy, launched a broadside against Vietnam's communist regime today and said the wrong side won the war. The ex-navy pilot and prisoner of war earlier said he has still not forgiven his captors for killing and torturing fellow prisoners of war. The comments drew fire from the Hanoi government, which accused Americans of ``horrendous crimes'' during the war. ``I think that the wrong guys won. I think that they lost millions of their best people who left by boat, thousands by execution and hundreds of thousands who went to re-education camps,'' McCain told reporters as he toured Ho Chi Minh City, known as Saigon when it was the capital of U.S.-backed South Vietnam. He also criticized what he said was increasing corruption in the country and an unwillingness on the part of some officials to improve U.S.-Vietnamese ties. ``The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a positive relationship,'' he said. ``Apparently some in the Vietnamese government don't want to do that and that's their decision. ``There's a difference in the attitude here of the government towards foreign investment, towards a trade agreement. I see the hammer and sickle out here on the banners,'' he said. ``I'm a bit concerned about both the policies and attitudes, and the increase in corruption in this country.'' Reacting to McCain's earlier comments about torture and killings of prisoners of war, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi said Americans who committed ``horrendous crimes'' in Vietnam had no right to be critical and described his claims as untrue. McCain revisited the notorious ``Hanoi Hilton'' prison in Hanoi on Wednesday. The former pilot was held captive there after his A-4 plane was shot down while on a bombing run on the North Vietnamese capital. Asked how he felt about the prison's guards, McCain said: ``I still bear them ill will, not because of what they did to me, but because of what they did to some of my friends ; including killing some of them.'' Vietnam, which denied McCain's torture allegations earlier this year, issued a stinging statement. ``It runs counter to the norms of morality that those people who brought bombs and shells to sow death among our people and wreak havoc with a country now pass themselves off as having the right to criticize their victims-cum-saviors,'' ministry spokesman Phan Thuy Thanh said in a statement made available today. Thanh said McCain contradicted statements he made during his first visit to the Hanoi Hilton in 1994 when the senator expressed thanks to Vietnam for the treatment he received as a captive. As Vietnam prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the communist victory Sunday, Vietnamese officials also say the bitter past should be laid to rest. But the Foreign Ministry statement recalled that the United States initiated a war in which almost 3 million people died and more than 4 million were wounded. ``Our people were the victims of its (American) brutal war of aggression. The Vietnamese nation's losses and suffering are wordless,'' Thanh said. Accompanied by wife Cindy and 13-year-old son Jack, McCain went shopping today for a traditional Vietnamese tonic ; rice liquor with a snake in the bottle ; and visited the Harvard Institute for International Development in Ho Chi Minh City. McCain was captured Oct. 26, 1967. He served 5 1/2 years as a prisoner, including three at the Hanoi Hilton, before being released in March 1973. Associated Press - April 28, 2000.