News-Info-Alerts

Re: Speicher - Change of Status In the Works

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 16, 2002

"Move could elicit data on Speicher
Status of pilot may change to POW

By Paul Pinkham Times-Union staff writer

A change in the status of a Jacksonville Navy pilot from missing in action to prisoner of war 11 years after his disappearance over Iraq is in the works at the Pentagon, officials confirmed yesterday.

Capt. Scott Speicher's status already has been changed once, from killed in action to missing in action last year, the first U.S. serviceman to receive such a change. But now paperwork that would lead to a further change in his status has been forwarded to secretary of the Navy's office, said congressional sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Officially, the change would be from missing in action to missing-captured, commonly referred to as POW.

Cindy Laquidara, a City Hall attorney representing Speicher's family free, said she was told the proposed change has been passed to Navy Secretary Gordon England for a determination. England will be in Jacksonville tomorrow to address the Navy League Centennial Luncheon.

Pentagon officials said England hadn't made a decision.

"Obviously his status is of particular interest and it is an ongoing investigation for the Navy. But as of now, there is no change in his status of MIA," said a Navy official who requested anonymity.

A change in Speicher's status to POW has been pushed for months by U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a member of the Intelligence Committee. Roberts wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in February requesting the status change.

"Nobody has called us to say that the designation is going to be made this week," said Sarah Ross, a spokeswoman for Roberts. "We've been assured by the Pentagon that it was on Rumsfeld's desk ... but we sent that letter in February."

Speicher was presumed dead after his FA-18 Hornet was shot down over the Iraqi desert the first night of the Persian Gulf War. But defense and intelligence information, including the discovery of his intact plane and reported sightings by Iraqi evacuees, led the Navy to reclassify him as missing in action last year.

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, Rumsfeld said he agreed with Powell's suggestion that a note be delivered ''to confirm Iraq's intention to provide new information.''

Laquidara said that by the Pentagon's own definitions, Speicher should be reclassified a POW because he was believed captured in hostile territory and Baghdad can account for his whereabouts.

"We're just asking, as we've been asking ... that the rules be followed and that they be applied to Scott," she said.

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, The Associated Press reported yesterday. Others believe it would put pressure on Iraq to provide more information about his fate, officials said.

But if the United States attacks without resolving Speicher's fate, "what are we telling the tens of thousands of young men and women who will be going into that country?" Laquidara wondered.

Times-Union staff writer Rachel Davis contributed to this report.

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

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