News-Info-Alerts

Re: War May Resolve Speicher Fate

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: March 27, 2003

"War may determine Speicher fate
Associated Press


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A war with Iraq may help resolve questions about the fate of a Navy pilot whose FA-18 fighter jet was shot down in 1991 on the first night of the first Gulf War.

U.S. troops will be looking for Scott Speicher when they enter Iraq, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says, but the Navy airman's family is concerned that the war may complicate efforts to learn whether he survived and is being held captive.

"I know that we're going to be looking for him big time as we go into Iraq," Nelson said. "I have talked to all of our commanders and they have told me, and Sen. Pat Roberts, that at the top of their list when they go into Iraq is to try to find Scott Speicher."

"The flip side of that is if you're Saddam Hussein, and if you have Scott Speicher alive, you're probably going to use him for propaganda purposes or for some kind of shield. So, we just don't know."

Nelson, a Florida Democrat and a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, has urged the Pentagon to make finding Speicher a priority. He has worked with Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, on the Speicher issue.

Lt. Cmdr. Paula Storum, a Navy spokeswoman in Washington, said she could not discuss operational details, but said, "Resolving the fate of Capt. Speicher is always a priority for the Navy and its leadership."

An attorney for Speicher's relatives, Cindy A. Laquidara, said Wednesday that she could not discuss any possible rescue plans the government may have to free the pilot. She said the family would not be available for comment.

"It would not be good for Scott at this point," she said. "We don't want to say anything that could hurt Scott."

Laquidara said the family always knew there was the possibility for another war with Iraq.

"It's not anything we haven't prepared for. This has been on the windshield for a number of months now."

"Our goal is to bring Scott home after 12 years," she said.

Speicher and three other pilots flew off the Mayport-based USS Saratoga for a bombing run over Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991. Another of the pilots in the FA-18 Hornets saw a flash and lost sight of Speicher.

On the next morning, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney announced that Speicher's plane had been downed by an Iraqi missile. Speicher was first declared killed in action, but the Pentagon has changed his classification to missing in action, captured.

Laquidara met with Al-Douri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations last year, and asked for assistance to determining Speicher's fate.

Speicher, who spent his early years in Kansas City, grew up in Jacksonville and graduated from Forrest High School in 1975. There is a plaque in the high school lobby about Speicher's service. He graduated from Florida State University and the aquatic complex there is named after him.

Former high school classmates and former Navy pilots who flew with Speicher have formed Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher. They have staged rallies and put up signs reading, "Free Scott Speicher" around north Florida on billboards and in store windows.

The Clay County Commission has designated the 17th of each month as Scott Speicher Day in Clay County. Speicher's widow is remarried and lives in Clay County, just south of Jacksonville.

Friends Working fo Free Scott Speicher: http://freescottspeicher.com"