News-Info-Alerts

Re: Aziz Claims Speicher Perished in Wreck

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 30, 2003

"1991 MIA FLIER DIED IN CRASH: AZIZ
By NILES LATHEM

SPEICHER
U.S. searching for him.
April 30, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has told U.S. interrogators that missing U.S. pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher was killed when his F-18 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during the opening night of the 1991 Gulf War.

U.S. military officials said last night that Aziz, the highest-profile Iraqi regime figure in American custody, denied persistent reports over the past decade that Speicher survived the crash and was imprisoned in Iraq.

Aziz said Speicher died in the crash, sources said.

But Bush administration and congressional officials said Aziz gave the same account last September, when he and Saddam Hussein were still in power, and question his honesty.



"We have pretty good evidence that Capt. Speicher did survive the crash, and this supposed new revelation by Tariq Aziz is old news," said a spokeswoman for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who has been investigating the case.

Speicher's family lawyer, Cindy Laquidara, has been briefed on Aziz's interrogation. "This may not be his final answer on the subject," she said.

©2003 NYP Holdings, Inc.
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