<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I thought in the event of cancellations / delays etc., I thought free tickets had the same "rights" as paid tickets.</font>
This may be true for same-day cancellations or delays, but it's not the case when the route is dropped well in advance of the date of travel.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> They say the miles will be credited back to my account but nothing else can be done. </font>
Have you called American Airlines? They have many international partners that would probably give you a few options. Since AA bought TWA, you could return your tickets to TWA then move them to AAdvantage account.