News-Info-Alerts

Re: Speicher Update - West Defense

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: December 19, 2003

"Inside the Ring

By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Speicher update
    One of the first questions put to Saddam was whether he had any information on the fate of U.S. Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher.
    The initial answer from the dictator was that he knew nothing about the missing pilot, whose F-18 was shot down over Iraq on the first night of the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
    Cindy Laquidara, a lawyer representing Capt. Speicher's family, said the Pentagon informed her Monday about Saddam's remark. "It was a preliminary interview, cold, and I would not have expected any other answer than that," she said. "[Saddam] was hardly going to admit to a war crime, without even attempting to get something in return."
    Mrs. Laquidara said the special group in Iraq that is searching for the pilot has made some progress in getting information from Iraqis. She said she believes that some of the Iraqis being held by coalition forces have information about Capt. Speicher.
    The Navy initially listed Capt. Speicher as killed in action but then changed his status twice, most recently to missing in action, based on numerous intelligence reports that Iraq was holding an American pilot in captivity.
    
    Col. West's defense
    We've gotten a host of e-mails asking how to contribute to Lt. Col. Allen B. West's defense fund. Col. West, as many of you know, was fined $5,000 last week for firing his weapon twice to scare an Iraqi detainee. Col. West says he resorted to the tactic only to force the Iraqi to fess up about a planned ambush. The colonel already had been the target of one assassination attempt.
    Here's the address: The Allen West Defense Fund, c/o Angela West, 6823 Coleman Road, Fort Hood, TX 76544.
    
    Col. West's defense II
    Here are some excerpts from the preliminary hearing officer's report recommending administration punishment, not a court-martial:
    •"The nature of the threat as an assassination attempt against Lt. Col. West and his men led Lt. Col. West to believe that he had to act expeditiously. In Lt. Col. West's testimony, he determined that grievous bodily harm was about to be done to his unit. They key word here is 'about.' [His commanding officer] directed Lt. Col. West to remain on post until the situation could be developed. Since the threat was assassination or [bomb] attack, he could have avoided the threat simply by not going down the route."
    • "Lt. Col. West also believed that the force used was necessary to protect his men. Lt. Col. West acted at his own peril to get information to protect his unit. ... The immediacy of the threat remains the question, not whether or not he had the authority to act for his men."
    • "It appears that remedies to avoid the threat were not considered. However, Lt. Col. West may have believed there were no alternatives. Lt. Col. West stated that he took the plot too lightly at first, an oversight that may have caused him to react more forcibly." "