News-Info-Alerts

Re: Speicher - MIA to Missing/Captured Considered

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 14, 2002

"Navy May Change Pilot's Status
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy is considering changing the status of Gulf War pilot Scott Speicher from missing in action to MIA-captured, a move some believe would put pressure on Iraq to provide more information about his fate, officials said Wednesday.

The authority to change Speicher's status rests with Navy Secretary Gordon England. Aides said he had not made a decision.
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Speicher, a Navy F-18 pilot who was shot down over Iraq on the opening night of the Gulf War in January 1991, initially was listed as killed in action, with no body recovered. But in January 2001, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, given an absence of evidence that he died in the crash.

Iraq says Speicher was killed in the crash.

Earlier this year some members of Congress publicly urged the Navy to change Speicher's status to either POW or MIA-captured to reflect their belief that he was taken alive by the Iraqis.

Some in the Navy are concerned that a decision to change Speicher's status would be interpreted as a political move related to the Bush administration's search for a justification to attack Iraq.

There is no known physical evidence that Speicher was captured, but U.S. intelligence agencies believe it is a possibility. It is widely believed inside the Navy that Iraq knows more about Speicher's fate than it has acknowledged.

Last year, U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Speicher probably ejected from his plane and survived the shootdown. ``We assess Lt. Cmdr. Speicher was either captured alive or his remains were recovered and brought to Baghdad,'' the report said. In either case, the Iraqi government has concealed information about his fate, it said.

Last month the State Department sent a diplomatic note through the International Committee of the Red Cross asking whether the Iraqi government can offer new details about Speicher.

In a July 8 letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he agreed with Powell's suggestion that a note be delivered ``to confirm Iraq's intention to provide new information.''

In March, Iraq offered to meet with U.S. officials in Baghdad to discuss the case.

A U.S. excavation team visited the crash site in 1995, finding aircraft debris but no human remains. U.S. officials have said the site was tampered with because reconnaissance photos showed part of the plane removed, then returned, before the excavation team arrived.


Copyright 2002 The Associated Press"