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Coverup: American Pilots Left Behind In Iraq And Middle East
by Monica Davis
In 1991, an American fighter pilot was launched from a battleship into the skies over the Red Sea. Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher joined a force of 40 F18 Hornets. The goal was to blast Saddam’s battle capacity to smithereens.
Unfortunately, Lt. Commander Speicher was shot down, allegedly the first casualty of the first Gulf War.
His wife, children, family and friends were devastated. after his fighter jet allegedly blew up in a fireball in Iraq.
Now, let’s get to the rest of the story.
For nearly two decades, the family Speicher left behind, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., pushed the Defense Department to find out what had happened to him. On Sunday, the Pentagon disclosed that Marines had recovered Speicher’s bones and skeletal fragments – enough for a positive identification.
Shot down over west-central Iraq on a combat mission in his FA-18 Hornet on Jan. 17, 1991, Speicher was declared killed by the Pentagon hours later. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney went on television and announced the U.S. had suffered its first casualty of the war.
But 10 years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that Speicher had died. In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to “missing/captured,” although it has never said what evidence it had that he ever was in captivity. More reviews followed, without definitive answers. READ MORE HERE
Can you imagine the family’s outrage and grief when the Pentagon changed Speicher’s status from killed in action to missing in action? One of their greatest fears was that he had been captured, and the very thought of his being in hostile hands for more than a decade sent shivers down their spines.
The forensic panel had more DNA tests run on Speicher’s flight suit, which was found mostly intact in 1995. Again the DNA tests showed “no blood,”Harris said, indicating the pilot did survive the crash.
It also shows new DNA testing on dental remains indicate Speicher could not have been killed Jan. 17, 1991, when he was shot down. The report does not pinpoint an exact day of death but uses the words, “homicide by undetermined means.” Harris called the wording “interesting.”
More remains were found than the media has reported, including a skull, which has been almost fully reconstructed, Harris said. The forensic report also says “seven vertebrae” and “four rib fragments” were found.
The time Speicher actually died is important, Harris said, because many have criticized the military for not searching for Speicher effectively or at all. He said he believes, in fact, Speicher was alive….
….Knowing Speicher may have been alive for years is harder on the family, said Harris. At first, it was told Speicher was killed instantly and probably didn’t even know what happened to him. READ MORE HERE
Analysts believe Saddam may have held Speicher for years in a series of underground bunkers. Investigators had heard
that people saw Speicher, possibly in a series of underground houses or jails Saddam Hussein had underground in Tikrit.
Harris said he has learned Hussein thrived on a feeling of “power” from having things no one else had, from people to antiques. He also believes Speicher might have been considered a pawn or a spy. READMOREHERE
Where is Speicher? Was he held by Saddam? Did he die in custody? Are there more Scott Speichers who did not die in combat, but were kept for years by Saddam and others? And, given the fact that we’ve now been in the Middle East for 20 years, how many more of our allegedly dead military personnel are living out their lives in misery as POWs?
As late as 1998, there was evidence that Speicher was alive.
A member of the London-based Iraqi National Congress, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an interview with The Kansas City Star that the group has information that Speicher was being held prisoner by the Iraqi government and was last seen in 1998 at a military hospital near Baghdad. READ MORE HERE
The Washington Times said it received a classified report saying Saddam’s forces were holding the bodies of several US and British soldiers. How many families are still suffering the anguish of not knowing whether their MIAs are dead, or alive?
We have obtained a classified report from the Pentagon dated Dec. 9, 1991, that quotes an Iraqi refrigerator technician. The technician said he saw the bodies of three American servicemen that were being kept at a morgue of the Al Rashidia hospital in Baghdad.
The report, labeled “secret,” states that while the technician was making repairs on the hospital’s refrigeration unit, he was told that the Iraqis were holding the three Americans’ bodies in the morgue and was shown their identification cards.
The bodies were covered in dried blood and had grayish uniforms with U.S. Air Force insignia. The source also said he had seen the bodies of a Saudi soldier and a British soldier at the morgue. Washington Times
In 2005, a Navy Review Board concluded that there was no credible evidence that Speicher was dead and the Navy reviewed the case again in 2008.
The Navy has changed its position on Speicher’s status over the years. Hours after his plane went down, the Pentagon declared him killed in action.
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 in captivity.
The 2005 board concluded again that there was still no credible evidence that Speicher was dead, and reaffirmed his official status as “missing-captured.” The board’s final report stated Speicher may have been captured by Iraqi forces, and that members of the former Iraqi government “know the whereabouts” of the office…………READMOREHERE
