News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Rumsfeld on Speicher

Date: March 15, 2001

During the DOD News Briefing today, March 15 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was given a clear-cut opportunity to play fireman and put out fire burning under the Speicher story.

He did not... are the USG powers-that-be really interested in the Speicher case (now 11 years old) or is it a convenient way to go after Iraq now that Afghanistan is winding down?

"Q: Mr. Secretary, I'd like to call on your reputation as a straight-shooter, see if you can clear up something. All this week the Washington Times has run a series of articles that suggest that a pilot from the Gulf War is still alive and being held captive in Baghdad.

The public statements from government officials have been a little ambiguous. Can you tell us just straight out whether you have any credible evidence that suggests a pilot is being held alive in Iraq for more than a decade since the Gulf War?

Rumsfeld: This is a very well-known case. It is a pilot that was shot down during the Gulf War. In that general time frame, he was declared killed in action. At some later point, in more recent years, he was declared moved from "killed in action" to "missing in action." We have a very real interest in his circumstance, if he's alive -- indeed, in knowing about his circumstance, even if he's not alive. And one would hope and pray that he is a alive. We do not know.

There has been a very serious effort on the part of the United States government over a sustained period to try to gather as much information as possible. And some of it is information that is from sources that require it to be classified. Some of it isn't. Some of it's speculation. Some of it -- most of it is unauthoritative. That is to say, it is coming from people who heard from somebody about something, or believe there might be a situation that could be characterized as encouraging from our standpoint. But I do not have any -- I have not seen any intelligence on this in the last week myself.

Q: You say you hope he's alive, but do you have any evidence that would lead you to believe that he's still alive and being held at this point?

Rumsfeld: And I've answered that to the best of my ability. I have not seen -- you mentioned the articles during the course of the week. I've read them. I have not seen any current intelligence in the last week that would enable me to cast any additional light. How about you?

Q: What about prior to the last week?

Rumsfeld: Oh, I've seen intelligence over the last year on this subject, because we're interested. I don't know who asked that, but -- "