US man says no regrets about Myanmar jailing

[August 20, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- John Yettaw the father, husband and long-retired military man left southern Missouri months ago, little known beyond his friends and family. He returned as the American who swam uninvited to the home of Myanmar's detained democracy leader, landing them both in prison.

But Yettaw said he has no regrets, and indicated he still believes his bizarre visit somehow saved Aung San Suu Kyi from being assassinated.

"If I had to do it again, I would do it a hundred times, a hundred times, to save her life," an exhausted-looking Yettaw said during an interview with The Associated Press after arriving in the U.S. on Wednesday.

He added, "That they locked her up, it just breaks my heart."

Yettaw, 53, who has been ill since his arrest in Myanmar, spoke through a blue surgical mask he wore to guard against infection. He clutched a green Harrods bag as a woman pushed him in a wheelchair through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after his arrival.

The American is from the tiny south-central Missouri town of Falcon, but he generated global headlines after he was arrested and sentenced to hard labor for visiting Suu Kyi's home. Yettaw was deported Sunday after the intervention of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.

Yettaw has testified that he swam to the Nobel Laureate's house in May to warn her that he had a "vision" she would be assassinated. Though Yettaw was released, Suu Kyi and her two live-in aides remain in detention because of his visit, and Yettaw has been called a fool and a madman by some of her supporters.

As he waited in Chicago to board a flight to Springfield, Mo. -- his last destination after a nearly 24-hour journey from Bangkok -- Yettaw sat with his head in his hands, his eyes bloodshot. Bystanders snapped pictures.

His companion, who did not identify herself, said he was "very tired." When asked whether his experience in Myanmar was positive, he gave a thumbs-up and nodded vigorously. But as for further comment, Yettaw said "I wish I could talk more. I can't" and made a zipper motion across his mouth.

Yettaw did not speak to media on the flight from Chicago and was greeted by a police officer after collecting his luggage in Springfield. Yettaw thanked the officer for being there, and the two entered a nearby elevator. His companion left the airport in a taxicab.

Yettaw had flown with Webb to neighboring Thailand on a U.S. government plane Sunday and underwent two days of medical tests at a private Bangkok hospital.

Webb said Yettaw had suffered a "medical incident" just before leaving Myanmar as authorities there read him his deportation order. While in custody in a Yangon jail during his trial, he had a seizure and was hospitalized for a week. He also reportedly suffers from diabetes and asthma.

Yettaw, a Mormon who lives on a military pension from serving in the Army for about a year in 1973, traveled to Myanmar in early May and donned homemade flippers for a nighttime swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside home. The incident led to a trial that sparked global condemnation in which Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of detention for breaching the terms of her house arrest. She already has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.

Suu Kyi's lawyers have described Yettaw's release as a "very ugly" turn.

Yettaw testified that he was on a divine mission to save the democracy leader, saying he had a "vision" she was going to be assassinated and wanted to warn her. Suu Kyi testified that she repeatedly asked Yettaw to leave but relented because he complained of exhaustion and she was concerned for his safety.

[Associated Press; By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER]

Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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