News-Info-Alerts

Re: NIraq Ready To Discuss Speicher

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: March 24, 2002

"Monday, March 25, 2002 Nisan 12, 5762 Israel Time:  (GMT+2)

Iraq ready to accept U.S. team to probe pilot's fate
By Reuters

BAGHDAD - Iraq said on Sunday it was ready to receive an American team to probe the fate of a U.S. pilot shot down over Iraq at the start of the Gulf War in 1991.

Lieutenant Commander Michael Scott Speicher was lost on the first day of the war when his Navy F-18 attack jet was apparently hit and crashed in a fireball over Iraq on January 17, 1991. Washington listed him as the first casualty of the war, but re-classed him as "missing in action" in January 2001 following evidence he might have survived the crash.

Iraq says Speicher is dead, but Washington says Baghdad has ignored requests for an explanation as to his fate after the crash. "To prove our good will in this regard and to refute repeated American allegations against Iraq, we express readiness of concerned Iraqi parties to receive an American team to visit Iraq to probe into the (U.S. pilot) issue," an Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

He said the investigation had "to be accompanied by an American media team for coverage and documentation under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross."

It must also include the former leader of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq, Scott Ritter, now a vocal critic of American policy on Iraq.

U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney told CBS's "Face the Nation" program he was unaware of the offer. "I would have to take a look at the report...and see whether or not this is a serious proposition...," he said.

The Washington Times newspaper reported on March 11 that U.S. intelligence agencies had obtained new information indicating Speicher was alive and in captivity in Iraq. But a U.S. official, who asked not to be named, disputed the report. "There is no evidence indicating he is still alive," he said.

Although no wreckage was initially found, defense officials said Pentagon documents showed U.S. spy satellites had later detected what was described as a man-made symbol at the crash site. They declined to give details.

Iraq's announcement comes two weeks after the United States brought up the subject of Speicher at a meeting in Geneva of a Tripartite Commission grouping Iraq, the International Red Cross and the Gulf War allies.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said afterwards the U.S. delegation had "underscored that Iraq continued to shirk its responsibility to answer the many unresolved questions about Speicher's fate."

The United States has warned Iraq could become the next target in the war on terror unless it allows UN weapons inspectors back in the country to verify it is not holding any weapons of mass destruction. Iraq, which has barred inspectors since they left in December 1988, insists it has destroyed all such weapons.

©2002 Ha`aretz Daily"

24 Mar 2002 22:37 UTC

Mideast
Iraq Offers Talks on Missing Pilot
VOA News
24 Mar 2002 19:47 UTC

Iraq says it is ready to receive a U.S. delegation to discuss the fate of an American pilot shot down over Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Baghdad says the team should be accompanied by U.S. news media and the talks should be held under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The missing pilot, 33-year-old Michael Speicher, was lost when his Navy Hornet jet was shot down on January 17, 1991, the first night of the war. He had been listed as the first casualty of the Gulf War but last year the Defense Department changed his status from killed in action to missing in action, after persistent reports he survived and is being held captive.

In a search of the crash site in December 1995, investigators found the canopy, which ejects with the pilot, and other gear, including a tattered flight suit but no traces of Speicher. Iraq says he was killed without ejecting.

In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney told a television interviewer that he was unaware of the Iraqi offer and would have to see whether this is a serious proposition or whether Iraq's President Saddam Hussein "is simply trying to change the subject." "