News-Info-Alerts

Re: US Dismisses Speicher Story from Iraq

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: April 04, 2002

"U.S. dismisses Iraqi story on Speicher
Claim of inviting delegates refuted

By Paul Pinkham
Times-Union staff writer

The State Department is dismissing an Iraqi newspaper's report that Baghdad has formally invited a U.S. delegation to investigate the fate of a Jacksonville Navy pilot missing since he was shot down over Iraq during the Gulf War 11 years ago.

The weekly newspaper, al-Rafidain, reported Tuesday that Iraq's foreign minister handed an official letter Sunday to the U.S. interests section of the Polish embassy in Baghdad. The weekly, owned by Iraq President Saddam Hussein's son, said it was the first time the Iraqi government had contacted the U.S. interests section since diplomatic relations were severed as a result of the Gulf War.

But a State Department spokeswoman said yesterday no such notification was made.

"There has been no official notification, neither through the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] nor the Polish interests section," said spokeswoman Susan Pittman.

The report was the third in a week about Iraqi invitations to probe the disappearance of Cmdr. Scott Speicher, shot down on the first night of the war. Speicher was presumed dead, but subsequent intelligence reports led the Pentagon to reclassify him as missing in action last year. Recent reports have suggested he survived the crash and was captured by the Iraqis. Iraq has maintained Speicher is dead, probably devoured by wolves in the desert.

The first two invitations were made via a foreign ministry radio address and to foreign media. One appeared on the Iraq Foreign Ministry Internet site March 25. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said those invitations were probably propaganda.

"There is an established mechanism for resolving humanitarian issues related to POWs and MIAs," Pittman said yesterday.

Pittman noted that Iraq hasn't attended a meeting of the Tripartite Commission, a diplomatic group formed to resolve issues related to Gulf War MIAs and POWs, in two years, including one last month.

"We have sent numerous communications to Iraq for specific information and answers to specific questions regarding the shootdown of Cmdr. Speicher's aircraft," Pittman said. Those requests have gone unanswered, she said.

Cindy Laquidara, a Jacksonville attorney representing Speicher's family, wouldn't discuss the Iraqi invitations but said she met this week with the undersecretary of the Navy.

Staff writer Paul Pinkham can be reached at (904) 359-4107 or via e-mail at ppinkham@jacksonville.com."