News-Info-Alerts

Re: Progress Towards Speicher's Fate

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: August 07, 2003

"Florida lawmaker says there's progress toward pilot's fate in Iraq

(Baghdad, Iraq-AP) -- A Florida congressman was in the Baghdad jail cell today where Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher (SPY'-ker) of Jacksonville may have been held.

Speicher was shot down over Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. There have been rumors that he's still alive, and that his initials -- M-S-S -- were etched into the wall of the Baghdad prison cell.

Congressman Ander Crenshaw took a look at that cell today, lighting up those initials with a flashlight.

Crenshaw reached out and touched them.

The congressman said that it made him feel sad, but also hopeful. Jacksonville is Crenshaw's district. He says he'll brief Speicher's family on his visit.
The six-foot by 10-foot cell had a hole in the floor for a toilet.

Crenshaw says the fate of the missing pilot is still unclear, but he says the C-I-A and the Defense Intelligence Agency are working in Iraq on the case. In Crenshaw's words: They're making progress and coming to closure.

They await D-N-A tests results to determine if Speicher stayed in the cell and they're combing prison documents.

©2003 Associated Press, Clear Channel"