Re: Navy Changes Mission from Rescue to Recovery

Date: April 02, 2004

"Navy changes mission to find pilot

JACKSONVILLE - (AP) -- The military is refocusing the search for missing Navy pilot Scott Speicher in Iraq from a rescue mission to a recovery mission, said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Nelson, D-Fla., told The Florida Times-Union he was informed of the change Friday by Army Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton.

Dayton is leading the team in Iraq charged with resolving the fate of the Jacksonville pilot, whose plane was shot down on the first night of the 1991 Gulf War.

''Gen. Dayton assured me that they will continue the search until they find conclusive evidence about the fate of Capt. Speicher,'' Nelson said. ``This final information is important for the Navy, important for the country but especially important for the family, which has endured so much.''

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Ken McClellan said Speicher's status has not changed. It remains missing-captured.

Cindy Laquidara, an attorney for Speicher's family, told The Associated Press that there's been no change in the pilot's status.

Nelson's spokesman, Dan McLaughlin, said the general was ''giving a heads up'' to the senator and the Speicher family.

Nelson said he was unaware of any new evidence being uncovered.

The Navy has changed its position on Speicher's status over the years.

Hours after his plane went down, the Pentagon had declared Speicher killed in action, with no body recovered. But 10 years later, in January 2001, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died.

In October 2002, the Navy changed Speicher's status from missing in action to ''missing-captured,'' although it has never said what evidence it has that he was in captivity.

Speicher was 33 when he was shot down. He held the rank of lieutenant commander at the time; he has since been promoted two grades to captain."