Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain is a 527 Political Action Committee

527 group

A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after "Section 527" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code...

 formed in 1997. The group makes controversial allegations against Senator John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

 concerning his time as a prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 in Vietnam. The group was founded by Vietnam veterans Jerry Kiley and Ted Sampley.

The group has made a video in which Bob Smith

Robert C. Smith

Robert C. "Bob" Smith is an American politician who has served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey...

, former Republican Senator from New Hampshire, Bob Dornan

Bob Dornan

Robert Kenneth "Bob" Dornan is a Republican and former member of the United States House of Representatives from California and a vocal advocate of pro-life and social conservative causes....

, former Republican Representative from California, former Congressional staffers and others make various allegations against McCain. The group has also disseminated taped excerpts of McCain's questioning of Dolores Alfond of the National Alliance of Families

National Alliance of Families

The National Alliance Of Families For the Return of America's Missing Servicemen is an American organization founded in 1990. According the group's web site, its goal is to resolve the fates of any unreturned U.S...

 before the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs

United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs

The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs was a special committee convened by the United States Senate during the George H. W. Bush administration to investigate the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, that is, the fate of United States service personnel listed as missing in action during the Vietnam...

.

In 1974, McCain wrote his thesis, entitled The Code of Conduct and the Vietnam Prisoners of War

The Code of Conduct and the Vietnam Prisoners of War

The Code of Conduct and the Vietnam War is a report from an individual research project conducted by John McCain, Commander, United States Navy, at the National War College...

  while studying at the National War College

National War College

The National War College of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. It was officially established on July 1, 1946, as an upgraded replacement for the...

, in which he discussed the Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party or organization. Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes....

 and issues relating to the conduct of American prisoners of war in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

.