News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Accounting For Persian Gulf POW-MIA?

Date: March 29, 1999

March 19, 1999

The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to express our grave concerns that you and your Administration have not done more to gain an accounting from the Government of Iraq for U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Michael Scott Speicher. Lt. Cmdr. Speicher was the first American pilot shot down by Iraqi forces during the 1991 Gulf War, and we understand he is the only serviceman still unaccounted for from that conflict, even though his crashsite in Iraq was examined by U.S. military specialists in 1995. Moreover, there is deeply troubling evidence that the Government of Iraq could provide additional information to the United States bearing on Lt. Cmdr. Speicher's fate if it made the political decision to do so.

We understand that requests by Department of Defense officials to have this matter further pursued with the Iraqi Government through the International Committee of the Red Cross have been placed on hold by your Administration for three years now "because of the state of U.S.-Iraqi bilateral relations." We further understand that your National Security Council may not have focused on this matter at all during the last several years.

Mr. President, as the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces, you have ultimate responsibility to ensure that you and your Administration are actively pursuing the fullest possible accounting for Lt. Cmdr. Speicher, taking into account the full range of options available to you. We implore you to exercise that responsibility vigorously, and we would like to know as soon as possible the actions you have already taken and will be taking in the future with respect to this very serious matter.

Sincerely yours,

BOB SMITH
United States Senator

ROD GRAMS
United States Senator