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Re: NAF Bits 'N' Pieces
To: ALL
From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)
Date: May 05, 2002
"
BITS 'N' PIECES
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES
FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICA'S MISSING SERVICEMEN
+ WORLD WAR II + KOREA + COLD WAR + VIETNAM + GULF WAR +
Will Scott Speicher Be Abandoned A Second Time - Time is running out on S 1339, also known as the "Speicher Bill." As of this date only 7 Senators have signed on to this bill. They are Senators Miller of GA, Bunning and McConnell of KY, Smith of NH, Torricelli of NJ, Inouye of Hawaii and Bennett of Utah.
A Capitol Hill source tells us that at this rate of co-sponsorship, 7 Senators in 10 months, S 1339 is dead. With this years short session, due the upcoming summer recess and the November elections, it will be almost impossible to bring the number of co-sponsors on board to pass this legislation.
Well folks, we love a challenge and our membership and readers love a challenge. If we didn't we'd all be out whale watching or something. Telling us something is "almost impossible" is like waving a red flag. We've done the impossible before and we can do it again.
Based on passed support of our membership and the readers of Bits N Piece, the National Alliance of Families has accepted a challenge. That challenge is to add 44 co-sponsors to S 1339, by June 30th. It will be difficult but it can be done. Our membership and our reader have never failed us and more importantly they have never failed our POW/MIAs.
The "Speicher Bill" is important for several reasons. It sends a message and it is a simple one. The American people do not condone the abandonment of their Servicemen and women. When service personnel are left behind, as Capt Speicher was, we want our government to do anything and everything they can to get them back.
The "Speicher Bill" also sends a message to the men and women serving our country in the War on Terrorism. The message is.... if captured, if you go missing or if you are accidently left behind, we will do whatever it takes to get you back.
Obviously, the Senate doesn't understand the importance of that message. It is our job to make sure the 93 Senators who have not co-sponsored S 1339 get the message.
What Would S 1339, The "Speicher Bill" Do - In simple terms, the "Speicher Bill" an amendment to the "Bring Him Home Alive Act of 2000" would provide United States citizenship to any Iraqi or foreign national and their family who turns Scott Speicher alive, over to a representative of the United States. Any cost associated with this legislation comes ONLY when Capt. Speicher is returned to the United States alive.
Our Goal - Passage of S 1339, the "Speicher Bill."
What We Need To Reach Our Goal - 51 co-sponsors by June 30th. If we make that goal, S 1339 lives. We have seven Senators already on board, so we need to pick up 44 Senators in 57 days. It's a difficult goal but we know we can count on our readers. You have never failed us and more importantly, you have never failed our POW/MIAs.
Our Tactics - Our Capital Hill source suggests we also place calls to the local offices of our Senators. Tell the staffer who handles your call, that you would like to know 3 things.
1. Is the Senator a co-sponsor of S 1339.
2. If the Senator is not a co-sponsor of S 1339, ask that he/she become one as quickly as possible.
3. If the Senator chooses not to co-sponsor S 1339, ask why.
We've been told that staffers in the local offices have to contact the D.C. office for answers. They get first priority which means you get an answer. However, some local Senate Offices do not deal with legislative matters and you will be directed back to the D.C. office. That is how it works in New York. Your Senators offices may operate differently. You won't know until you call.
Unfortunately, we do not have the phone number for all the local Senate offices. You can find those number in the front of your phone book, listed under U.S. government, or you can call your local information. Remember each state has two Senators. That means two calls.
Special Targets - This bill has to go through the Judiciary Committee. Therefore it is important that members of that committee are among S 1339's co-sponsors. If your Senator is listed below it is especially important that they become co-sponsors.
Patrick J. Leahy - Chairman, Vermont Orrin G. Hatch - Ranking Republican Member, Utah
Edward M. Kennedy - Massachusetts Strom Thurmond - South Carolina
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - Delaware Charles E. Grassley - Iowa
Herbert Kohl - Wisconsin Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania
Dianne Feinstein - California Jon Kyl - Arizona
Russell D. Feingold - Wisconsin Mike Dewine - Ohio
Charles E. Schumer - New York Jeff Sessions - Alabama
Richard J. Durbin - Illinois Sam Brownback - Kansas
Maria Cantwell - Washington Mitch McConnell - Kentucky [Co-sponsor]
John Edwards - North Carolina
We need to contact every Senator, at both their local office and the D.C. office again and again,
until they Co-sponsor. We can't allow S 1339 to die.
Don't delay. Make your call now!
44 Co-sponsors in 57 Days!
We can do it!
Senate List - We have posted a list of Senators, by State along with their fax number on our web site at http://www.nationalalliance.org/gulf/senators.htm Senator listed in Green are already cosponsors of S 1339 and do not need to be contacted.
Have You Signed The Petition To Bring Scott Speicher Home - If you haven't signed the online petition, please go to http://www.petitiononline.com/Speicher/petition.html and add your name to the growing list calling for action to bring Scott Speicher Home.
Remember -- Scott Speicher Is Not The Only POW Abandoned By Our Government!
Sometimes We Forget - In the rush to bring critical information to our reader, as in the case of the "Speicher Bill" we sometimes forget to say thank you to the person or persons who give us opportunities to help and protect POW/MIA of the past and safeguard any future POW/MIAs.
In this case we owe a HUGE THANK YOU to Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and his staff for their work on the "Speicher Bill" and their extraordinary dedication to the POW/MIA issue.
To Senator Campbell and his staff, a thousand times THANK YOU!
Following The Pack - On March 20, 2002 President George W. Bush certified Vietnamese full cooperation on the POW/MIA issue. According to the statement "... I hereby determine, based on all information available to the United States Government, that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is fully cooperating in good faith with the United States in the following four areas related to achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans unaccounted for as a result of the Vietnam War:
1) resolving discrepancy cases, live sightings, and field activities;
2) recovering and repatriating American remains;
3) accelerating efforts to provide documents that will help lead to the fullest possible accounting of prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/ MIAs); and
4) providing further assistance in implementing trilateral investigations with Laos."
"I further determine that the appropriate laboratories associated with POW/MIA accounting are thoroughly analyzing remains, material, and other information and fulfilling their responsibilities as set forth in subsection (B) of section 609 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, which is incorporated by reference in section 610."
The certification goes on to state: "In making this determination, I have taken into account all information available to the United States Government as reported to me, the full range of ongoing accounting activities in Vietnam, including joint and unilateral Vietnamese efforts, and the concrete results we have attained as a result. As we look to further strengthen cooperation, Vietnam's unilateral provision of POW/MIA-related documents and records should be improved, focused initially on archival data pertaining to Americans captured, missing, or killed in areas of Laos and Cambodia under wartime Vietnamese control. Vietnam should also focus greater attention on locating and providing information on discrepancy cases, with priority on those last known alive in captivity or in immediate proximity to capture, and to locating and repatriating the remains of those who died while in Vietnamese control that have not yet been returned.
"Finally, in making this determination, I wish to reaffirm my continuing personal commitment to the entire POW/MIA community, especially to the immediate families, relatives, friends, and supporters of these brave individuals, and to reconfirm that achieving the fullest possible accounting of our prisoners of war and missing in action remains one of the most important priorities in our relations with Vietnam."
"As Reported To Me.... Further Strengthen Cooperation.... Should Be Improved..... - The President signed this certification based on "all information available to the United States Government as reported to me..." Well Mr. President, you haven't been told everything.
As for Vietnam's "fully cooperating...." Well if they are fully cooperating, why do they need to strengthen cooperation and why is improvement needed?
The biggest myth of the POW/MIA issue is Vietnamese "full cooperation."
Keeping Vietnam and Korean/Cold War Families Apart - For many years, the DPMO held POW/MIA briefings for Vietnam, Korea and Cold War families, at the same time. This yearly meeting gave families the opportunity to share information and experiences. Sadly, three years ago, DPMO concluded they were incapable of continuing the simultaneous briefing of Vietnam, Korea and Cold War families. Now, the Vietnam families meet in June and the Korean - Cold War families meet in July. It is a loss to both as separate meetings cut down the exchange of information between families.
Today, we are going to cite one example of the importance of that exchange of information.
As regular readers of Bits N Pieces know, the family of Korean War MIA, Louis Mutta believes that he is buried in the National Cemetery of the Pacific (the Punchbowl) as a Korean War Unknown designated X-656. The family, led by Mutta's niece Patricia Johnson, has written many letters requesting the exhumation of the remains, for the purpose of mt-DNA testing.
Their first request was denied. According to government representatives the remains were burnt and therefore unsuitable for mt-DNA testing. The family subsequently learned there had been some successful mt-DNA testing on burnt remains. Again, they made their request. Once again, their request was denied.
The last response from the Army attempted to assure the Mutta family that the remains could not be tested due to their condition. A "Memorandum thru the Scientific Director, United States Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii," dated 1 June 2001 and signed by John E. Byrd, PhD, as Laboratory Manager/Anthropologist proves interesting reading.
According to this memo "The identification of remains requires a combination of independent lines of evidence that point unequivocally to a single person as the identity of the remains. This evidence will ideally include strong contextual information from the recovery site, material evidence (i.e. identification tags) that associates the remains with a person, and biological evidence that indicates that numerous physical characteristics (height, age, race, etc.) are consistent with the individual. Mitochondrial DNA sequences obtained from bone samples are compared to family reference samples (FRSs) are a new form of biological evidence which can support an identification. Where any one of these lines of evidence is lacking, the other lines of evidence must be more convincing."
Well, there's a policy violated on a daily basis... but more on that another time.
After reading the memo, we conclude it was written to reassure the Mutta family that the remains had been properly examined and exhumation and mt-DNA testing would yield no results. In fact the memo states: "The case of X-656 remains were originally analyzed by anthropologists working for the U.S. Army Central Identification Unit, Kokura Japan. The report, written by Mr. Tadao Furue...."
That's right the remains designated X-656 was examined, in 1951 by Tadao Furue. It was Furue's "observations that the remains consist of bone material that is burned to the point that only a single fragment can be identified as to element and side[sic]."
The memo continues describing the stages of burning. According to the memo "the descriptions made by the anthropologist Furue and examination of the pubic symphysis... indicates that these remains were probably in Stages IV and V. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that they were heated to extreme temperatures for an extended length of time."
"The anthropologist Furue...." Stop right there! Furue and his voodoo science is well known among Vietnam POW/MIA family members. Furue was NOT an anthropologist. He had no degree in anthropology. How the self taught, learn as you go Furue ended up as the chief "anthropologist" at CIL-HI during the 1980's, is one of the many mysteries of the POW/MIA issue. He misrepresented himself from day one. Few realize that day one goes back to the early 1950's.
Furue applied his voodoo science to some of the most controversial identification in the history of remains identifications, including the infamous Pakse identification.
In the Pakse case it was determined that only two of thirteen identification could be scientifically supported. Two families went as far as requesting the identification be rescinded. Their request was granted and the identifications of Thomas Hart and George MacDonald were rescinded, by the Armed Services Graves Registration Office (ASGRO), in January 1987. Thanks to Jennifer Martinez we have a copy of the government document rescinding the identification of George MacDonald. You can view the document at http://www.nationalalliance.org/remains/asgro.htm To learn more about the case of George MacDonald visit
http://www.jenmartinez.com/george.html
So why does the DPMO web site list both Mac Donald and Hart as "remains recovered/remains returned" with an ID date of July 1, 1985? But that's another story.....
To a family unaware of the infamous Furue, a report quoting the "anthropologist Furue" might tend to reassure them that all scientific methods had been exhausted in determining the status of remains. Unfortunately, that is simply not true, as Furue had no training to make any anthropological determinations. Far from reassuring anyone, the association of Furue with any identification or determination of condition of remains must be seriously questioned. The fact that Furue is associated with these remains, is more than enough reason for exhumation.
The only way to truly determine the condition of the remains of X-656 is to exhume the remains as requested by the Mutta family.
Today's question is - why would CIL-HI represent Tadao Furue as an anthropologist, to the Mutta family? Maybe they thought by keeping Vietnam and Korean - Cold War families apart, no one would find out.
Furue Exposed - In 1986, with CIL-HI mired in unscientific procedures, an investigation was conducted. Sweeping recommendations were recommended to correct CIL-HI operations. Some were carried out. Others were not. This was revealed by another investigation conducted, in the early 1990's, by the General Accounting Office.
Most telling is a letter of resignation from Dr. Samuel Dunlap Ph.D., dated 10 July 1986. Dr. Dunlap along with two other anthropologists (real ones) where hired by the Dept. of Army, in 1985, to evaluate the operations of CIL-HI and "assist in the identification of MIAs' from the Vietnam War." Dr. Dunlap referred to a "US Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID) probe of irregularities and fraud involved in the identifications and procedures carried out by personnel a the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii on American Servicemen who died in the Pakse, Laos crash during the Vietnam War...." (Note: this CID investigation was stopped on orders of the Secretary of the Army, John O. Marsh. If the name sounds familiar, you are correct. His name appears on documents associated with the selection of the Vietnam Known.)
Dr. Dunlap stated: "The issue of misidentifications, fraudulent identification, lack of professional ethics and incompetence at CILHI are very serious matters." According to his letter, Dr. Dunlap was led to the "inescapable conclusion that Lt. Col. Webb, Mr. Helgesen and Mr. Furue are incompetent at best."
Why Does Johnnie Webb Still Have A Job??????????
More On Speicher - from the Washington Times "Inside the Ring" by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough - "Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, has asked Syria's President Bashar Assad, to use the Syrian intelligence service to help resolve the case of missing U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher. Mr. Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said in a floor speech Monday that Mr. Assad had agreed to help during a recent meeting in Damascus."
"I asked the Syrian president if he would use his good offices and task his intelligence apparatus to see what they could find out from Iraq and their contacts with Iraqi intelligence activities," Mr. Nelson said."
"Mr. Nelson said he spoke to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this week about the case of the missing pilot. Cmdr. Speicher was declared killed in action in 1991, then reclassified as missing in action by the Pentagon last year."
"The Pentagon is mulling an offer from Baghdad to send a team of investigators to Iraq to look for Cmdr. Speicher, who according to intelligence reports was seen alive last year. Mr. Nelson is the first Democrat to speak out on behalf of Cmdr. Speicher. The Speicher family lives in his home state of Florida. Until Monday, the only senators who have taken up the cause are Republican Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama."
"What we need to do," Mr. Nelson said, "is to use every avenue to try to find out, is he alive? Is he in Iraq? If he is, we need to get him out. If he is not, we need to find out the specific circumstances that led to his death after his apparent surviving being shot down in the Iraqi desert."
"Mr. Nelson said any delegation sent to Iraq should be a "high-level" team that can investigate one eyewitness report that said Cmdr. Speicher was driven to a hospital from his crash site in 1991."
The National Alliance Of Families Thirteenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 20th - 22nd, 2002. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years government briefings, for Vietnam family members. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings.
This years meeting will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel (same as last year) The hotel is located at 1489 Jefferson Davis Highway, Crystal City Va. Room rates are $106.00 + tax, per night for a single or double room. Parking is $5.00 per night. Transportation to the government briefings will be available. To make your reservations call 703-416-1600. Remember to say you are with the National Alliance of Families to get the special rate.
The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations may be mailed to:
National Alliance Of Families
P.O. Box 40327
Bellevue, Wa. 98015.
DOLORES ALFOND - National Chairperson
(dolores@nationalalliance.org)
425-881-1499
LYNN O'SHEA - Director of Research
(lynn@nationalalliance.org)
718-846-4350
Remember all contributions are tax deductible."
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