NavyTimes.com - Springfield, VA, USA
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 11, 2009 21:33:33 EDT
The status of an F/A-18 Hornet pilot missing since the first night of the 1991 Persian Gulf War has been changed to “missing in action,” according to the Navy, which no longer believes he was captured.
The change comes as Navy Secretary Donald Winter rejected the recommendations of a Jan. 5 board that Capt. Michael Scott Speicher’s status remain “missing/captured.”
“My review of the board proceedings and the compelling evidence presented by the intelligence community causes me great concern about the reliability of the board’s recommendation, given their failure to employ a logical analytic process to their evaluation of the evidence in the intelligence assessment,” Winter wrote in a statement Tuesday.
The board’s recommendation, he wrote, was based on their conclusion that Speicher landed alive in the Western Iraqi desert after ejecting from his aircraft and was captured.
“They base this on a statistical analysis of F/A-18 ejections; however that analysis was based solely on peacetime ejections, and not the combat environment in which this ejection occurred,” Winter wrote. “They also chose to ignore the lack of any parachute sighting, emergency beacon transmission or survival radio transmissions.”
Winter wrote that all reported sightings of Speicher in captivity prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq have been discredited and that “there is currently no credible evidence” Speicher was captured.
“For Captain Speicher to be in captivity today, one would have to accept a massive conspiracy of silence and perfectly executed deception that has lasted for over 18 years and that continues today.”
But Winter stopped short of declaring Speicher officially dead, opting instead to change his status back to MIA and calling for further review in a year.
Winter has previously announced he would step down as Navy secretary later this week after agreeing to stay on a few weeks into the Obama administration.
Speicher was flying as a member of Strike Fighter Squadron 81 from the aircraft carrier Saratoga on Jan. 17, 1991, when his Hornet was downed by an enemy anti-aircraft missile during the first manned air strike of the war.
Then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney stated in a press conference hours after the strikes that an aircraft had been shot down and the pilot had been killed, becoming the first casualty of Operation Desert Storm.
The Navy listed him as MIA until the service deemed him “Killed-In-Action/Body-Not-Recovered” in May 1991. The Navy reaffirmed that finding in 1996.
But in 2001, new evidence was brought to light, causing then-Navy Secretary Richard Danzig to change the status back to MIA, and the status was further refined to missing/captured in 2002, based on reports of sightings in Iraq.
Speicher, a lieutenant commander at the time of his loss, has been promoted twice since then.
Showing posts with label Gulf War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulf War. Show all posts
11 March 2009
10 March 2009
Nelson Wants Continued Search For Downed Florida Pilot
Central Florida Political Pulse - Orlando, FL, USA
posted by Mark Matthews on Mar 10, 2009 10:44:13 AM
WASHINGTON -- A navy pilot shot down over Iraq in 1991 officially remains “missing,” according to a military review of the incident.
The designation means that the Pentagon will continue searching for Capt. Michael Scott Speicher of Jacksonville, who’s Navy F/A-18 Hornet was hit on the first night of the first Gulf war. Naval officials, however, no longer believe that Speicher is being detained by enemy troops.
“This change in status will have no effect on the ongoing search to determine Scott's fate,” said Nelson, in a statement. “And as our presence in Iraq decreases, we need to take this last opportunity to determine his fate. This is our duty as a nation to any missing service member.”
Here’s what Nelson’s office has to say about the development:
“Following a fresh review, the U.S. Navy today decided to reclassify as ‘missing’ the Florida pilot shot down over Iraq in the first Gulf War - saying there’s no evidence that he’s being held inside Iraq, or is “missing-captured.” But the decision won’t end the government’s effort to determine the pilot’s fate, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
Captain Michael Scott Speicher, of Jacksonville, was the first American lost in the 1991 war with Saddam Hussein’s forces to liberate Kuwait. On the first night of the war, Speicher, then 33, flew a combat mission from the USS Saratoga. He was piloting a Navy F/A-18 Hornet that was struck by a missile fired by an Iraqi aircraft and went down on Jan. 17.
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney was quick to declare Speicher dead. But the Navy later changed his status to "missing in action;" and, changed it again in 2002 to "missing-captured" after a review board concluded Speicher likely ejected from his aircraft and may have been captured by Iraqi forces.
Sen. Nelson, a Florida Democrat, was instrumental in pushing the Navy for the 2002 re-examination of the case on behalf Speicher’s family. Nelson also prodded the Pentagon into launching an exhaustive search for Speicher following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The family of Capt. Speicher said through a spokeswoman today they feared Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter was poised to change the pilot’s status from missing-captured to killed, which would have meant an end to the search, the family said through a spokeswoman. The family, including two college-age children who were toddlers when their father went missing, remains hopeful the Navy will be able to solve the mystery of what happened.
In an early morning telephone call to Nelson, a top Navy official said there’s no reasonable basis to determine that Speicher is being detained. The Navy secretary based his decision on his own review of the findings of a Navy board of inquiry that in early January recommended Speicher’s status be maintained as missing-captured.”
posted by Mark Matthews on Mar 10, 2009 10:44:13 AM
WASHINGTON -- A navy pilot shot down over Iraq in 1991 officially remains “missing,” according to a military review of the incident.
The designation means that the Pentagon will continue searching for Capt. Michael Scott Speicher of Jacksonville, who’s Navy F/A-18 Hornet was hit on the first night of the first Gulf war. Naval officials, however, no longer believe that Speicher is being detained by enemy troops.
“This change in status will have no effect on the ongoing search to determine Scott's fate,” said Nelson, in a statement. “And as our presence in Iraq decreases, we need to take this last opportunity to determine his fate. This is our duty as a nation to any missing service member.”
Here’s what Nelson’s office has to say about the development:
“Following a fresh review, the U.S. Navy today decided to reclassify as ‘missing’ the Florida pilot shot down over Iraq in the first Gulf War - saying there’s no evidence that he’s being held inside Iraq, or is “missing-captured.” But the decision won’t end the government’s effort to determine the pilot’s fate, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
Captain Michael Scott Speicher, of Jacksonville, was the first American lost in the 1991 war with Saddam Hussein’s forces to liberate Kuwait. On the first night of the war, Speicher, then 33, flew a combat mission from the USS Saratoga. He was piloting a Navy F/A-18 Hornet that was struck by a missile fired by an Iraqi aircraft and went down on Jan. 17.
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney was quick to declare Speicher dead. But the Navy later changed his status to "missing in action;" and, changed it again in 2002 to "missing-captured" after a review board concluded Speicher likely ejected from his aircraft and may have been captured by Iraqi forces.
Sen. Nelson, a Florida Democrat, was instrumental in pushing the Navy for the 2002 re-examination of the case on behalf Speicher’s family. Nelson also prodded the Pentagon into launching an exhaustive search for Speicher following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The family of Capt. Speicher said through a spokeswoman today they feared Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter was poised to change the pilot’s status from missing-captured to killed, which would have meant an end to the search, the family said through a spokeswoman. The family, including two college-age children who were toddlers when their father went missing, remains hopeful the Navy will be able to solve the mystery of what happened.
In an early morning telephone call to Nelson, a top Navy official said there’s no reasonable basis to determine that Speicher is being detained. The Navy secretary based his decision on his own review of the findings of a Navy board of inquiry that in early January recommended Speicher’s status be maintained as missing-captured.”
Status Of First Gulf War Casualty Changed To 'Missing In Action'
eMilitary.org - USA
Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
2009-03-10
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2009 – Calling Navy Capt. Michael “Scott” Speicher “an American hero,” Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter today announced his decision to change the status of the first Operation Desert Storm casualty from "missing/captured" to "missing in action.”
Winter made the determination after a thorough review of information about the case, including a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment and comments from the Speicher family, defense officials said.
His determination overruled recommendations of a Navy status review board, which Winter said in a message explaining his decision were based on faulty logic and false premises.
Speicher was an F/A-18 Hornet pilot stationed aboard the carrier USS Saratoga when his aircraft was shot down by enemy fire over western Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991. His mission was part of the first manned strike of the air war over Iraq.
The Defense Department declared Speicher "killed-in-action/body-not-recovered" in May 1991. However, conflicting reports and intelligence information led then-Navy Secretary Richard Danzig to change his status to “missing in action” on Jan. 11, 2001.
That status was changed again in late 2002 to “missing-captured” based on sighting reports in Iraq that have since been discredited.
The intelligence community concluded in October that Speicher is deceased, although his remains were never found. Based on that assessment, Winter convened a status review board to consider changing his status to MIA.
The board recommended retaining the “missing/captured” status. But in a statement issued today, Winter explained why he overruled it.
“My review of the board proceedings and the compelling evidence presented by the intelligence community causes me great concern about the board’s recommendation,” he said. He cited the board’s “failure to employ a logical, analytical process to their evaluation of the evidence in the intelligence assessment.”
The board’s recommendation begins with the premise that Speicher was alive after ejecting from his aircraft over Iraq, Winter said. The board findings were based on a statistical analysis of peacetime F/A-18 ejections, and didn’t consider the factors associated with ejecting in a combat environment, he said.
“They also chose to ignore the lack of any parachute sighting, emergency beacon transmission or survival radio transmissions,” he continued.
Citing failure to find Speicher despite the current U.S. presence in Iraq, and the discrediting of previous claims of seeing him in captivity, Winter concluded, “There is currently no credible evidence that Captain Speicher is ‘captured.’”
“For Captain Speicher to be in captivity today, one would have to accept a massive conspiracy of silence and perfectly executed deception that has lasted for over 18 years and that continues today,” Winter said. “Consequently, I cannot support the recommendation of the status review board.”
Winter said he believes another status review board should review the case, and recommended that the Navy reconsider the matter within the next 12 months.
“The Navy appreciates the challenges Captain Speicher’s family has faced these past 18 years,” Winter concluded. “Captain Speicher is an American hero, and bringing him home to his family and his country will remain a top priority for the Navy and the nation.”
Camp Speicher, a former Iraqi air base in Tikrit, honors Speicher’s memory. In addition, his alma mater, Florida State University, named its tennis center for Speicher, an avid player.
Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
2009-03-10
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2009 – Calling Navy Capt. Michael “Scott” Speicher “an American hero,” Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter today announced his decision to change the status of the first Operation Desert Storm casualty from "missing/captured" to "missing in action.”
Winter made the determination after a thorough review of information about the case, including a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment and comments from the Speicher family, defense officials said.
His determination overruled recommendations of a Navy status review board, which Winter said in a message explaining his decision were based on faulty logic and false premises.
Speicher was an F/A-18 Hornet pilot stationed aboard the carrier USS Saratoga when his aircraft was shot down by enemy fire over western Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991. His mission was part of the first manned strike of the air war over Iraq.
The Defense Department declared Speicher "killed-in-action/body-not-recovered" in May 1991. However, conflicting reports and intelligence information led then-Navy Secretary Richard Danzig to change his status to “missing in action” on Jan. 11, 2001.
That status was changed again in late 2002 to “missing-captured” based on sighting reports in Iraq that have since been discredited.
The intelligence community concluded in October that Speicher is deceased, although his remains were never found. Based on that assessment, Winter convened a status review board to consider changing his status to MIA.
The board recommended retaining the “missing/captured” status. But in a statement issued today, Winter explained why he overruled it.
“My review of the board proceedings and the compelling evidence presented by the intelligence community causes me great concern about the board’s recommendation,” he said. He cited the board’s “failure to employ a logical, analytical process to their evaluation of the evidence in the intelligence assessment.”
The board’s recommendation begins with the premise that Speicher was alive after ejecting from his aircraft over Iraq, Winter said. The board findings were based on a statistical analysis of peacetime F/A-18 ejections, and didn’t consider the factors associated with ejecting in a combat environment, he said.
“They also chose to ignore the lack of any parachute sighting, emergency beacon transmission or survival radio transmissions,” he continued.
Citing failure to find Speicher despite the current U.S. presence in Iraq, and the discrediting of previous claims of seeing him in captivity, Winter concluded, “There is currently no credible evidence that Captain Speicher is ‘captured.’”
“For Captain Speicher to be in captivity today, one would have to accept a massive conspiracy of silence and perfectly executed deception that has lasted for over 18 years and that continues today,” Winter said. “Consequently, I cannot support the recommendation of the status review board.”
Winter said he believes another status review board should review the case, and recommended that the Navy reconsider the matter within the next 12 months.
“The Navy appreciates the challenges Captain Speicher’s family has faced these past 18 years,” Winter concluded. “Captain Speicher is an American hero, and bringing him home to his family and his country will remain a top priority for the Navy and the nation.”
Camp Speicher, a former Iraqi air base in Tikrit, honors Speicher’s memory. In addition, his alma mater, Florida State University, named its tennis center for Speicher, an avid player.
Navy Changes Speicher Status To 'Missing In Action'
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 156-09
March 10, 2009
Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter determined today that the status of Capt. Michael Scott Speicher is changed from “Missing/Captured” to “Missing-In-Action” (MIA).
This determination was made after a review of available information; including the report and recommendation of a Status Review Board and comments provided by the Speicher family, as well as a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment.
Speicher was the first casualty of Operation Desert Storm. His F/A-18 Hornet was downed by hostile action on January 17, 1991, during the first manned air strike of the war, and he was declared “Killed-In-Action/Body-Not-Recovered” in May 1991.
His status was changed in 2001 to MIA, and then to Missing/Captured in 2002 based on sighting reports in Iraq. Those sightings have since been discredited.
In October 2008, the intelligence community concluded that Speicher is deceased, though his remains are unlocated. Based on that assessment, the Secretary of the Navy convened a Status Review Board to consider whether Speicher's status should remain Missing/Captured or should be changed.
Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at 703-697-5342.
14 January 2009
Search Continues For Missing Gulf War Pilot
Foreign Policy Passport - USA
When Michael "Scott" Speicher's F/A-18 Hornet was shot down over Baghdad in the wee hours of America's first war in Iraq, on Jan. 17, 1991, no one imagined that the story of his disappearance would end in a Washington, DC, boardroom. Fortunately, it hasn't.
The Navy pilot, father of two, and native of my own Jacksonville, Florida, was the first American lost in the first Gulf War. The night his plane crashed, the Pentagon and then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney declared him killed in action. It was a decision that Speicher's family and friends have fought for years. Because his remains were never found, many experts have been led to believe that he was captured, not killed, that fateful night. Evidence surfaced--including his initials scratched into an Iraqi prison wall--that forced the Defense Department in 2001 to declare him "Missing in Action" instead. When the more recent U.S. war and takeover of Iraq failed to explain definitively what happened to Speicher, the Pentagon prepared to close the case. His family vehemently opposed that move.
Last week, the ongoing saga over his whereabouts took a dramatic turn, when a Naval review board decided that Speicher's case should remain open and more evidence should be collected. Now, the decision will be left up to the secretary of the Navy, who will have the final decision on the case before he leaves office in less than a month.
It's an interesting case for many reasons, most important of which is that it could serve as a test case on how not to handle the recovery of missing military members during and after a time of war. We here at Passport will be watching.
When Michael "Scott" Speicher's F/A-18 Hornet was shot down over Baghdad in the wee hours of America's first war in Iraq, on Jan. 17, 1991, no one imagined that the story of his disappearance would end in a Washington, DC, boardroom. Fortunately, it hasn't.
The Navy pilot, father of two, and native of my own Jacksonville, Florida, was the first American lost in the first Gulf War. The night his plane crashed, the Pentagon and then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney declared him killed in action. It was a decision that Speicher's family and friends have fought for years. Because his remains were never found, many experts have been led to believe that he was captured, not killed, that fateful night. Evidence surfaced--including his initials scratched into an Iraqi prison wall--that forced the Defense Department in 2001 to declare him "Missing in Action" instead. When the more recent U.S. war and takeover of Iraq failed to explain definitively what happened to Speicher, the Pentagon prepared to close the case. His family vehemently opposed that move.
Last week, the ongoing saga over his whereabouts took a dramatic turn, when a Naval review board decided that Speicher's case should remain open and more evidence should be collected. Now, the decision will be left up to the secretary of the Navy, who will have the final decision on the case before he leaves office in less than a month.
It's an interesting case for many reasons, most important of which is that it could serve as a test case on how not to handle the recovery of missing military members during and after a time of war. We here at Passport will be watching.
10 January 2009
Pentagon Urged To Keep Up Probe Of Pilot Missing From 1991 Gulf War
Washington Post - United States
A Navy review board said the Pentagon should continue investigating what happened to Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, a fighter pilot who was the first American missing in action during the Persian Gulf War.
Speicher, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., has been missing since 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Gulf War.
The board's recommendation Thursday that it is not yet time to close the case now goes to the Navy secretary, who has the final decision.
"They feel that the body of evidence suggests as much that he's alive" as that he was killed, said Buddy Harris, a former Navy commander and close friend of Speicher's who has since married Speicher's ex-wife.
A Navy review board said the Pentagon should continue investigating what happened to Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, a fighter pilot who was the first American missing in action during the Persian Gulf War.
Speicher, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., has been missing since 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Gulf War.
The board's recommendation Thursday that it is not yet time to close the case now goes to the Navy secretary, who has the final decision.
"They feel that the body of evidence suggests as much that he's alive" as that he was killed, said Buddy Harris, a former Navy commander and close friend of Speicher's who has since married Speicher's ex-wife.
09 January 2009
Panel Calls For Continuing Probe Of Lost Pilot
The Associated Press
By BEN EVANS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy review board says the Pentagon should continue investigating what happened to a fighter pilot who was the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War almost 20 years ago, saying it's not yet time to close the case.
The board made the recommendation Thursday after four days of hearings, according to Buddy Harris, who has represented the family of missing Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher. It now goes to the Navy secretary, who has the final decision.
"They feel that the body of evidence suggests as much that he's alive" as that he was killed, said Harris, a former Navy commander and close friend of Speicher's who has since married Speicher's ex-wife.
Speicher, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., has been missing since 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Gulf War.
The Pentagon initially declared him killed. Dick Cheney, then the defense secretary, went on television and announced the U.S. had suffered its first casualty of the war.
But Speicher's remains were never found, leading some to believe the Pentagon gave up too quickly and he was captured by Iraqi forces.
The Navy later changed his status to missing in action, and finally to "missing/captured," although it has never cited any evidence that he was in captivity.
Speicher's family has pressed to continue searching and feared the Pentagon was preparing to close the case by declaring him killed. Harris said the family — including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher disappeared — believes more evidence will surface as Iraq becomes more stable.
"There are people that know," Harris said. "It's just a matter of getting to them."
Navy Secretary Donald Winter ordered the latest review after requesting and receiving an update from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The intelligence memo, in essence, said investigators had exhausted all current leads on who to talk to and where to look, said one official briefed on the document. Another official said Friday that it contained no new intelligence on the case. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss intelligence on the record.
Winter — or his successor — could overrule the recommendation of the board, which was made up of three officers. But he would face strong resistance, including from Capitol Hill, where Speicher's family has won support from lawmakers such as Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
"The fact is, the U.S. government walked away from a downed pilot — mistakenly the secretary of Defense declared him dead," Nelson said earlier this week. "It is our obligation to keep looking."
In a visit to Iraq, Nelson personally saw what he said were the initials "MSS" scratched into the wall of a prison shortly after the 2003 invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein — one of a number of clues the government has found.
The search also led investigators to excavate a potential grave site in Baghdad in 2005, track down Iraqis said to have information about Speicher and make numerous other inquiries in what officials say has been an exhaustive search.
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
By BEN EVANS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy review board says the Pentagon should continue investigating what happened to a fighter pilot who was the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War almost 20 years ago, saying it's not yet time to close the case.
The board made the recommendation Thursday after four days of hearings, according to Buddy Harris, who has represented the family of missing Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher. It now goes to the Navy secretary, who has the final decision.
"They feel that the body of evidence suggests as much that he's alive" as that he was killed, said Harris, a former Navy commander and close friend of Speicher's who has since married Speicher's ex-wife.
Speicher, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., has been missing since 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Gulf War.
The Pentagon initially declared him killed. Dick Cheney, then the defense secretary, went on television and announced the U.S. had suffered its first casualty of the war.
But Speicher's remains were never found, leading some to believe the Pentagon gave up too quickly and he was captured by Iraqi forces.
The Navy later changed his status to missing in action, and finally to "missing/captured," although it has never cited any evidence that he was in captivity.
Speicher's family has pressed to continue searching and feared the Pentagon was preparing to close the case by declaring him killed. Harris said the family — including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher disappeared — believes more evidence will surface as Iraq becomes more stable.
"There are people that know," Harris said. "It's just a matter of getting to them."
Navy Secretary Donald Winter ordered the latest review after requesting and receiving an update from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The intelligence memo, in essence, said investigators had exhausted all current leads on who to talk to and where to look, said one official briefed on the document. Another official said Friday that it contained no new intelligence on the case. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss intelligence on the record.
Winter — or his successor — could overrule the recommendation of the board, which was made up of three officers. But he would face strong resistance, including from Capitol Hill, where Speicher's family has won support from lawmakers such as Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
"The fact is, the U.S. government walked away from a downed pilot — mistakenly the secretary of Defense declared him dead," Nelson said earlier this week. "It is our obligation to keep looking."
In a visit to Iraq, Nelson personally saw what he said were the initials "MSS" scratched into the wall of a prison shortly after the 2003 invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein — one of a number of clues the government has found.
The search also led investigators to excavate a potential grave site in Baghdad in 2005, track down Iraqis said to have information about Speicher and make numerous other inquiries in what officials say has been an exhaustive search.
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
04 January 2009
Navy Sets Hearing For Status Of Pilot Missing Since 1991
Associated Press - United States
Sunday, January 4, 2009 3:22 AM
By Ben Evans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The family of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, shot down in Iraq, isn't convinced he was killed in action.
WASHINGTON -- The family of a Navy pilot missing since his plane was shot down during the first Gulf War isn't ready to give up hope that he's alive and say they will oppose any decision to declare him killed in action.
The Navy has scheduled a review board hearing for Monday on the status of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who has been missing since January 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War.
The hearing comes several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report on Speicher from Iraq.
Speicher's family, which has seen the latest information, thinks Navy Secretary Donald Winter is moving toward changing Speicher's status from missing/captured to killed, according to family spokeswoman and attorney Cindy Laquidara.
"This really is a precedent for every other captive serviceman or woman and it needs to be done right," Laquidara said. "We've looked at the information that's going to be presented to the board and we feel pretty confident that it's not time under the standards that they've set to change the status. There are things that need to be done before one can be certain."
Speicher, who had lived near Jacksonville, Fla., was the first American lost in the war.
He was publicly declared killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died.
In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he might have been in captivity.
Sunday, January 4, 2009 3:22 AM
By Ben Evans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The family of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, shot down in Iraq, isn't convinced he was killed in action.
WASHINGTON -- The family of a Navy pilot missing since his plane was shot down during the first Gulf War isn't ready to give up hope that he's alive and say they will oppose any decision to declare him killed in action.
The Navy has scheduled a review board hearing for Monday on the status of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who has been missing since January 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War.
The hearing comes several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report on Speicher from Iraq.
Speicher's family, which has seen the latest information, thinks Navy Secretary Donald Winter is moving toward changing Speicher's status from missing/captured to killed, according to family spokeswoman and attorney Cindy Laquidara.
"This really is a precedent for every other captive serviceman or woman and it needs to be done right," Laquidara said. "We've looked at the information that's going to be presented to the board and we feel pretty confident that it's not time under the standards that they've set to change the status. There are things that need to be done before one can be certain."
Speicher, who had lived near Jacksonville, Fla., was the first American lost in the war.
He was publicly declared killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died.
In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he might have been in captivity.
03 January 2009
Navy May Close Case Of Missing Pilot
CBSNews.com - United States
Family Opposes Move To Declare Capt. Speicher, Lost Over Iraq Since '91 Gulf War, Killed In Action
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2009
(AP) The family of a Navy pilot missing since his plane was shot down during the first Gulf war isn't ready to give up hope that he is alive and say they will oppose any decision to declare him killed in action.
The Navy has scheduled a review board hearing for Monday on the status of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who has been missing since January 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War.
The hearing comes several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report on Speicher from Iraq.
Speicher's family, which has seen the latest information, believes Navy Secretary Donald Winter is moving toward changing Speicher's status from missing/captured to killed, according to family spokeswoman and attorney Cindy Laquidara.
The family - including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher went missing - believes the Pentagon should do more to determine definitively what happened, Laquidara said. They see the outcome as setting a standard for future missing-in-action investigations, she said.
"This really is a precedent for every other captive serviceman or woman and it needs to be done right," Laquidara said. "We've looked at the information that's going to be presented to the board and we feel pretty confident that it's not time under the standards that they've set to change the status. There are things that need to be done before one can be certain."
Speicher, who had lived in the area of Jacksonville, Fla., was the first American lost in the war.
Some believe Speicher ejected from the plane and was captured by Iraqi forces, and potential clues later emerged that he might have survived: The initials "MSS" were found scrawled on a prison wall in Baghdad, for example, and there were reports of sightings.
The Pentagon has changed Speicher's status several times. He was publicly declared killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died.
In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he was ever in captivity.
Another review was done in 2005 with information gleaned after Baghdad fell in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which allowed U.S. officials to search inside Iraq. The review board recommended then that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to "increase the level of attention and effort inside Iraq" to resolve the question of Speicher's fate.
The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall.
"Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government," Cmdr. Cappy Surette, a Navy spokesman, said recently. "The recent intelligence community assessment reflects exhaustive analysis of information related to Capt. Speicher's case."
The final decision on changing Speicher's status must come from the secretary of the Navy; the review board's decision is only a recommendation, said Lt. Sean Robertson, another Navy spokesman.
Robertson said that once the board meets, it has up to 30 days to complete its report. The family would then have up to 30 days to comment on the board's recommendation before it is forwarded to the secretary for decision.
The board will be composed of three officers, including one who is experienced in F/A-18 aircraft. The board has a legal adviser assigned and Speicher will also be represented by legal counsel to look after the interests of him and his family, Robertson said.
Laquidara said family members would attend the hearing.
"It's really easy to put out a yellow ribbon but not so easy to allocate resources to find a missing serviceman or woman," she said. "If Scott's not alive now, he was for a very long time, and that could happen to somebody else."
By Associated Press Writer Ben Evans
Family Opposes Move To Declare Capt. Speicher, Lost Over Iraq Since '91 Gulf War, Killed In Action
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2009
(AP) The family of a Navy pilot missing since his plane was shot down during the first Gulf war isn't ready to give up hope that he is alive and say they will oppose any decision to declare him killed in action.
The Navy has scheduled a review board hearing for Monday on the status of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who has been missing since January 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War.
The hearing comes several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report on Speicher from Iraq.
Speicher's family, which has seen the latest information, believes Navy Secretary Donald Winter is moving toward changing Speicher's status from missing/captured to killed, according to family spokeswoman and attorney Cindy Laquidara.
The family - including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher went missing - believes the Pentagon should do more to determine definitively what happened, Laquidara said. They see the outcome as setting a standard for future missing-in-action investigations, she said.
"This really is a precedent for every other captive serviceman or woman and it needs to be done right," Laquidara said. "We've looked at the information that's going to be presented to the board and we feel pretty confident that it's not time under the standards that they've set to change the status. There are things that need to be done before one can be certain."
Speicher, who had lived in the area of Jacksonville, Fla., was the first American lost in the war.
Some believe Speicher ejected from the plane and was captured by Iraqi forces, and potential clues later emerged that he might have survived: The initials "MSS" were found scrawled on a prison wall in Baghdad, for example, and there were reports of sightings.
The Pentagon has changed Speicher's status several times. He was publicly declared killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died.
In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he was ever in captivity.
Another review was done in 2005 with information gleaned after Baghdad fell in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which allowed U.S. officials to search inside Iraq. The review board recommended then that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to "increase the level of attention and effort inside Iraq" to resolve the question of Speicher's fate.
The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall.
"Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government," Cmdr. Cappy Surette, a Navy spokesman, said recently. "The recent intelligence community assessment reflects exhaustive analysis of information related to Capt. Speicher's case."
The final decision on changing Speicher's status must come from the secretary of the Navy; the review board's decision is only a recommendation, said Lt. Sean Robertson, another Navy spokesman.
Robertson said that once the board meets, it has up to 30 days to complete its report. The family would then have up to 30 days to comment on the board's recommendation before it is forwarded to the secretary for decision.
The board will be composed of three officers, including one who is experienced in F/A-18 aircraft. The board has a legal adviser assigned and Speicher will also be represented by legal counsel to look after the interests of him and his family, Robertson said.
Laquidara said family members would attend the hearing.
"It's really easy to put out a yellow ribbon but not so easy to allocate resources to find a missing serviceman or woman," she said. "If Scott's not alive now, he was for a very long time, and that could happen to somebody else."
By Associated Press Writer Ben Evans
11 December 2008
U.S. Joins Effort To Bar Claims On Iraqi Coffers
New York Times - United States
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and JAMES GLANZ
Published: December 10, 2008
George Charchalis says he has never really recovered from the ordeal he endured after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
He hid for more than a month in Kuwait City but was ultimately arrested, “roughed up pretty good” and taken to Iraq. He was held there for nearly three months as a human shield against American bombing.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Mr. Charchalis, now 78, had every reason to believe that he and 240 other Americans held during the Persian Gulf war of 1991 would be compensated under expansive laws that allow Americans to claim assets of foreign governments like Iraq’s. President Bush, after all, had seized Iraqi assets just before the war and paid other people used as human shields nearly $100 million.
But, illustrating the stark trajectory of the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq, the president has joined a new effort to block further claims, at least for the immediate future. The rationale is that the claims — some small like Mr. Charchalis’s, others amounting to billions of dollars — could bankrupt the Iraqi government, endanger its fragile democracy and virtually shut government business, even oil exports.
So Mr. Bush supports extending powerful legal measures put in place by the United Nations Security Council in 2003 to protect Iraq against such claims. With the administration’s blessing, Iraq asked the Council to renew the protections for another year.
“With oil revenues generating more than 95 percent of the government’s resources,” Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq wrote to the Council on Tuesday in a letter obtained by The New York Times, “these claims could affect reconstruction and economic transformation taking place in Iraq, and consequently constitute a grave threat to Iraq’s stability and security, and therefore to international peace and security.”
Some of those with claims say that Mr. Bush’s reversal amounts to a betrayal of Americans who were harmed by the former government and who once enjoyed the moral and legal support of the American government.
“I applaud the toppling of Saddam,” said Clifford Acree, a retired Marine pilot who was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq and tortured in 1991. “I welcome the development of democracy in Iraq.
“I just don’t want to ignore what was done,” he said. “I just don’t want to give the Iraqis a free pass when it comes to accounting for the past.”
Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Iraq would like to settle the claims if they could be reduced substantially through negotiations, perhaps as part of an all-encompassing package like the settlement with Libya in the case of Pan Am Flight 103.
Meanwhile, Mr. Zebari said, Iraq cannot risk the shutdown of government operations and thus intends to press for a vote by the Security Council before it adjourns for the year.
“This extension will give us some relief for another year, give us some breathing space,” he said.
A White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said the administration supported the extension for now, but also “made it clear to the Iraqis that it is important to address the legitimate claims of our citizens.”
The scope of the claims, and the politically charged nature of some, could make a resolution difficult.
Iraq still owes some $26 billion on claims, mainly from Kuwait, that have been handled by the United Nations Compensation Commission, a body set up in 1991 to deal with reparations.
Iraq also has about $50 billion in debts to other countries. Iraq’s finance minister, Bayan Jabr, said Iraq also owed as much as $7 billion to private companies.
Legal challenges could expose Iraq to still more. Kuwait Airways also won a roughly $1 billion judgment in Britain against Iraq’s national airline in a case stemming from the first gulf war. Amid the welter of American lawsuits are some that claim that Mr. Hussein’s government had a hand in international terrorist acts, including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Although international law binds them to Mr. Hussein’s debts, senior Iraqi officials are increasingly reluctant to pay for Hussein-era abuses.
The United Nations protections against international claims and seizures of assets were part of the Security Council resolutions that authorized the American military presence in the country. President Bush then provided a second layer of protection by signing an executive order essentially saying that Iraqi money in the United States could not be seized. He worked with Congress to further reduce the risk to the money.
Iraq and the United States signed new agreements in November to establish the new conditions for American troops to remain in Iraq for the next three years. But the financial protections expire with the Council resolution on Dec. 31, and Mr. Bush’s executive order expires in May 2009.
The expiration of the United Nations mandate also raises other issues. The Council resolutions created a structure for handling Iraq’s oil revenues. The revenues go to an account called the Development Fund for Iraq at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Five percent of the fund is diverted to the compensation commission to pay off the reparations.
Billions in Damages Awarded Against Iraq Iraq made it clear that it wanted to reduce or eliminate the percentage set aside for claims.
“This is obscene that Iraq has to pay 5 percent of Iraqi oil revenues to pay these claims,” said a senior Iraqi official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of delicate relations between Iraq and Kuwait. “At a time when we are so desperate for funding for our own reconstruction and security, it would be smarter for the Kuwaitis to invest in the future of Iraq rather than profiting from the miseries of the past.”
They have also suggested that the United Nations board that oversees the oil money, now run by Western financial experts, be replaced with one consisting of Iraqis and probably led by Abdulbasit Turki Saeed, president of the Board of Supreme Audit. The United States is opposed, administration officials said, leaving the outcome unclear. Mr. Maliki, in his letter to the Security Council, did not request a change but rather an extension.
The risk to Iraq’s assets is far from theoretical.
After Kuwait Airways won judgments against Iraq and its national airline, a Canadian court ruled last summer that the Kuwaitis could seize passenger jets that Iraq was having built under a contract with Bombardier, a Canadian company.
The legal foundations for the claims date from the 1990s, when Congress enacted a law allowing Americans to sue foreign governments accused of sponsoring terrorism, including Iraq. Claims under the law were largely symbolic, because they involved cases against governments that refused to recognize the American jurisdiction. But in 2002, Mr. Bush signed legislation allowing payment for judgments from the frozen assets of terrorist states.
In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, he seized more than $4 billion in frozen Iraqi assets in the United States and paid a portion — $96 million — to 180 Americans held as human shields who had won court judgments.
He distributed the rest to the provisional authorities in newly occupied Iraq, and in May 2003, he waived Iraq’s liability under the laws, effectively blocking payment for additional claims.
That left claims like Mr. Charchalis’s in limbo.
Mr. Charchalis was part of a second group of 240 human shields whose case had not yet been heard when the first group received its payment from Iraq’s foreign assets. A landscape architect, Mr. Charchalis had gone to Kuwait to work on a project to turn the desert into gardens.
He was arrested a month after Iraq’s invasion in August 1990 and taken to Baghdad, then to a chemical plant near Samarra, where he was held until Dec. 2, when he and 14others were released after an appeal from the former boxer Muhammad Ali.
Mr. Charchalis, now living on Social Security, criticized the administration for taking Iraq’s side and disputed the notion that his claim would undermine Iraq’s ability to rebuild.
“It just seemed terribly unfair that an American citizen couldn’t get compensation when we’re over there spending, what, $10 billion a month,” he said.
A lawsuit involving 17 prisoners of war has been even more vexing for Mr. Bush because of the political delicacy of opposing Americans who were shot down during the Persian Gulf war of 1991 and tortured in Iraqi captivity. In 2002, they won a default judgment against Mr. Hussein’s government, and in July 2003, a court awarded them $959 million.
After Mr. Hussein’s fall, however, Mr. Bush’s administration fought efforts to pay the claim. Later in July 2003, the Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the plaintiffs should look elsewhere for payment, effectively dismissing the case.
In 2007, lawmakers passed an amendment that would have revived the cases and allowed the claimants to go after Iraqi assets in American banks and elsewhere. But Mr. Bush vetoed the bill after, officials said at the time, Iraq complained that the law would force it to remove its money from American banks.
John Norton Moore, director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, who represents the prisoners of war, said the administration had made no effort to force Iraq to settle the claims.
“The fairness for American prisoners of war, tortured by the enemy is a matter of national honor,” he said. “It is not only wrong to put the debts of corporations like Hyundai ahead of prisoners who were tortured. It is an insult to the nation.”
Riyadh Mohammed contributed reporting from Baghdad.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and JAMES GLANZ
Published: December 10, 2008
George Charchalis says he has never really recovered from the ordeal he endured after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
He hid for more than a month in Kuwait City but was ultimately arrested, “roughed up pretty good” and taken to Iraq. He was held there for nearly three months as a human shield against American bombing.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Mr. Charchalis, now 78, had every reason to believe that he and 240 other Americans held during the Persian Gulf war of 1991 would be compensated under expansive laws that allow Americans to claim assets of foreign governments like Iraq’s. President Bush, after all, had seized Iraqi assets just before the war and paid other people used as human shields nearly $100 million.
But, illustrating the stark trajectory of the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq, the president has joined a new effort to block further claims, at least for the immediate future. The rationale is that the claims — some small like Mr. Charchalis’s, others amounting to billions of dollars — could bankrupt the Iraqi government, endanger its fragile democracy and virtually shut government business, even oil exports.
So Mr. Bush supports extending powerful legal measures put in place by the United Nations Security Council in 2003 to protect Iraq against such claims. With the administration’s blessing, Iraq asked the Council to renew the protections for another year.
“With oil revenues generating more than 95 percent of the government’s resources,” Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq wrote to the Council on Tuesday in a letter obtained by The New York Times, “these claims could affect reconstruction and economic transformation taking place in Iraq, and consequently constitute a grave threat to Iraq’s stability and security, and therefore to international peace and security.”
Some of those with claims say that Mr. Bush’s reversal amounts to a betrayal of Americans who were harmed by the former government and who once enjoyed the moral and legal support of the American government.
“I applaud the toppling of Saddam,” said Clifford Acree, a retired Marine pilot who was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq and tortured in 1991. “I welcome the development of democracy in Iraq.
“I just don’t want to ignore what was done,” he said. “I just don’t want to give the Iraqis a free pass when it comes to accounting for the past.”
Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Iraq would like to settle the claims if they could be reduced substantially through negotiations, perhaps as part of an all-encompassing package like the settlement with Libya in the case of Pan Am Flight 103.
Meanwhile, Mr. Zebari said, Iraq cannot risk the shutdown of government operations and thus intends to press for a vote by the Security Council before it adjourns for the year.
“This extension will give us some relief for another year, give us some breathing space,” he said.
A White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said the administration supported the extension for now, but also “made it clear to the Iraqis that it is important to address the legitimate claims of our citizens.”
The scope of the claims, and the politically charged nature of some, could make a resolution difficult.
Iraq still owes some $26 billion on claims, mainly from Kuwait, that have been handled by the United Nations Compensation Commission, a body set up in 1991 to deal with reparations.
Iraq also has about $50 billion in debts to other countries. Iraq’s finance minister, Bayan Jabr, said Iraq also owed as much as $7 billion to private companies.
Legal challenges could expose Iraq to still more. Kuwait Airways also won a roughly $1 billion judgment in Britain against Iraq’s national airline in a case stemming from the first gulf war. Amid the welter of American lawsuits are some that claim that Mr. Hussein’s government had a hand in international terrorist acts, including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Although international law binds them to Mr. Hussein’s debts, senior Iraqi officials are increasingly reluctant to pay for Hussein-era abuses.
The United Nations protections against international claims and seizures of assets were part of the Security Council resolutions that authorized the American military presence in the country. President Bush then provided a second layer of protection by signing an executive order essentially saying that Iraqi money in the United States could not be seized. He worked with Congress to further reduce the risk to the money.
Iraq and the United States signed new agreements in November to establish the new conditions for American troops to remain in Iraq for the next three years. But the financial protections expire with the Council resolution on Dec. 31, and Mr. Bush’s executive order expires in May 2009.
The expiration of the United Nations mandate also raises other issues. The Council resolutions created a structure for handling Iraq’s oil revenues. The revenues go to an account called the Development Fund for Iraq at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Five percent of the fund is diverted to the compensation commission to pay off the reparations.
Billions in Damages Awarded Against Iraq Iraq made it clear that it wanted to reduce or eliminate the percentage set aside for claims.
“This is obscene that Iraq has to pay 5 percent of Iraqi oil revenues to pay these claims,” said a senior Iraqi official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of delicate relations between Iraq and Kuwait. “At a time when we are so desperate for funding for our own reconstruction and security, it would be smarter for the Kuwaitis to invest in the future of Iraq rather than profiting from the miseries of the past.”
They have also suggested that the United Nations board that oversees the oil money, now run by Western financial experts, be replaced with one consisting of Iraqis and probably led by Abdulbasit Turki Saeed, president of the Board of Supreme Audit. The United States is opposed, administration officials said, leaving the outcome unclear. Mr. Maliki, in his letter to the Security Council, did not request a change but rather an extension.
The risk to Iraq’s assets is far from theoretical.
After Kuwait Airways won judgments against Iraq and its national airline, a Canadian court ruled last summer that the Kuwaitis could seize passenger jets that Iraq was having built under a contract with Bombardier, a Canadian company.
The legal foundations for the claims date from the 1990s, when Congress enacted a law allowing Americans to sue foreign governments accused of sponsoring terrorism, including Iraq. Claims under the law were largely symbolic, because they involved cases against governments that refused to recognize the American jurisdiction. But in 2002, Mr. Bush signed legislation allowing payment for judgments from the frozen assets of terrorist states.
In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, he seized more than $4 billion in frozen Iraqi assets in the United States and paid a portion — $96 million — to 180 Americans held as human shields who had won court judgments.
He distributed the rest to the provisional authorities in newly occupied Iraq, and in May 2003, he waived Iraq’s liability under the laws, effectively blocking payment for additional claims.
That left claims like Mr. Charchalis’s in limbo.
Mr. Charchalis was part of a second group of 240 human shields whose case had not yet been heard when the first group received its payment from Iraq’s foreign assets. A landscape architect, Mr. Charchalis had gone to Kuwait to work on a project to turn the desert into gardens.
He was arrested a month after Iraq’s invasion in August 1990 and taken to Baghdad, then to a chemical plant near Samarra, where he was held until Dec. 2, when he and 14others were released after an appeal from the former boxer Muhammad Ali.
Mr. Charchalis, now living on Social Security, criticized the administration for taking Iraq’s side and disputed the notion that his claim would undermine Iraq’s ability to rebuild.
“It just seemed terribly unfair that an American citizen couldn’t get compensation when we’re over there spending, what, $10 billion a month,” he said.
A lawsuit involving 17 prisoners of war has been even more vexing for Mr. Bush because of the political delicacy of opposing Americans who were shot down during the Persian Gulf war of 1991 and tortured in Iraqi captivity. In 2002, they won a default judgment against Mr. Hussein’s government, and in July 2003, a court awarded them $959 million.
After Mr. Hussein’s fall, however, Mr. Bush’s administration fought efforts to pay the claim. Later in July 2003, the Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the plaintiffs should look elsewhere for payment, effectively dismissing the case.
In 2007, lawmakers passed an amendment that would have revived the cases and allowed the claimants to go after Iraqi assets in American banks and elsewhere. But Mr. Bush vetoed the bill after, officials said at the time, Iraq complained that the law would force it to remove its money from American banks.
John Norton Moore, director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, who represents the prisoners of war, said the administration had made no effort to force Iraq to settle the claims.
“The fairness for American prisoners of war, tortured by the enemy is a matter of national honor,” he said. “It is not only wrong to put the debts of corporations like Hyundai ahead of prisoners who were tortured. It is an insult to the nation.”
Riyadh Mohammed contributed reporting from Baghdad.
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