News-Info-Alerts

Re: Austalian Ambassador Saw 'Speicher Dossier'

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 05, 2002

"Don't give up on Speicher, expert says

By Paul Pinkham
Times-Union staff writer

Chances a missing Jacksonville Navy pilot is alive 11 years after being shot down over Iraq are "not small," the United Nations' former chief weapons inspector in Iraq told U.S. senators during a hearing in Washington this week.

Richard Butler said his conclusion is based on information that has been made public and documents he has seen related to Capt. Scott Speicher.

"There are individuals who are interested in his welfare and who keep a dossier on all of this, and I have seen all of those materials," Butler testified Wednesday before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq. He didn't elaborate on the dossier.

Speicher was left for dead after his FA-18 Hornet was shot down on the first night of the Persian Gulf War. But intelligence officials concluded he survived the crash and was captured by the Iraqis. The Navy changed his status last year from killed to missing in action.

Butler, formerly Australia's U.N. ambassador, was executive chairman of the U.N. Special Committee on Iraq from 1997 to 1999. The committee was created after the Persian Gulf War to monitor and eliminate Iraq's chemical, ballistic and biological weapons.

Following his testimony, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked if he had information on Speicher's condition or whereabouts. Butler said he didn't but added: "The possibility that he is alive is not small, and I therefore do not believe that we should give up on him."

Butler couldn't be reached yesterday, but colleagues said the dossier he referred to probably was intelligence he received as part of his duties in Iraq.

"He is one of the most expert people on how Iraq works," said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin. "He's stating publicly ... that Speicher may be alive."

Jacksonville attorney Cindy Laquidara, representing Speicher's family in Orange Park, was encouraged by Butler's remarks but disappointed at continued delays on Speicher's case.

"In the national discussion on Iraq, there has not been any recognition that we have an MIA over there," she said. "If he is alive, he can't survive there forever. If he is alive, he has served 11 years under horrific conditions."

Staff writer Paul Pinkham can be reached at (904) 359-4107 or ppinkhamjacksonville.com."