[Currently, it's "Phoenix". Wife #2, Cindy is called "Parasol".]The following is from the nonprofit Web site,
www.UnfitMcCain.com. In McCain’s 1999 autobiography, Faith of My Fathers, he admitted to smoking cigarettes provided him by his captors, a violation of the Code of Conduct for U.S. prisoners of war. It is reasonable to assume the North Vietnamese weren’t aware he was addicted to nicotine. Thus, if McCain, a two-packs a day smoker, had initially refused the tobacco favor, nothing would’ve been said or inferred.
On the other hand, when he took that first puff, his captors knew instantly McCain had a weakness that could make him more vulnerable to disclosing military secrets during interrogations, which he did.
In return for medical treatment at a civilian hospital, a privilege never granted to other injured POWs, McCain reportedly told NVA interrogators the name of his aircraft carrier, how many Navy pilots had been lost, the number of planes in his flight formation, tactics used during bomb runs and the location of rescue ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Because of the revelations which McCain repeated in propaganda radio broadcasts, the North Vietnamese contemptuously nicknamed him “Songbird.”
On June 4, 1969, a U.S. wire service story headlined, “PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral,” described one of McCain’s radio recordings: “Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of the United States commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner.”
During his six-week hospital stay and for months afterwards, McCain continued to cooperate with NVA interrogators. He made more radio broadcasts for the enemy and met with foreign dignitaries, enjoying hot tea, coffee and cigarettes in posh settings while back at the Hanoi Hilton and other internment camps, his fellow POWs struggled to stay alive.
In one case, while meeting with Cuban journalist Fernando Barral in 1970, after McCain was no longer being physically abused by his captors, he voluntarily spoke in Spanish, even though he was obligated as an American POW to be evasive during their conversation. Had McCain feigned ignorance of Barral's native language, the one-hour interview, which North Vietnam exploited for propaganda purposes, might not have lasted five minutes.
Although McCain claimed he didn’t discuss military matters with Barral, the Hanoi Hilton's U.S. commander, SRO Jeremiah Denton, later issued an order forbidding POWs to be interviewed by visitors.
