Navy pilot's '91 fate still unknown (Iraqi defectors said he was alive)

[Pale Blue Dot]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/8090284.htm

Despite nearly a year of searching, the Navy has no new information on the fate of a pilot who was shot down on the first night of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and is still missing, the Navy's top admiral said yesterday.

Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher's FA-18 Hornet was shot down in western Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991. Speicher, 33, originally was listed as killed in action, but the Defense Department changed his status to "missing-captured" in January 2001, after Iraqi defectors said Speicher had survived the crash.

The Bush administration used alleged sightings of the Navy pilot, some of which were provided by Ahmed Chalabi's exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, to help bolster the case for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein.

[DarkPhenyx]

1. Are these the same defectors...

...which were vetted by Chalabi, and gave us the intel that there were tons of NBC weapons laying all over the country for us to pick up as we drove down Hwy-1 into Bagdad?

[0007]

2. This is open to much speculation, but it is not LBN

[Florida_Geek]

3. I hate to say it but Ahmed Chalabi intel is all

I need to know to believe he is dead.

I feel sorry for the families of Lt. Cmdr. Speicher but I think they have been given false hope.

[izzie]

6. Chalabi is not my cup of tea and sorry but I think the man is dead.

First of all with the stories he had been found by a tribe sounds to me like to odd to be true. They would have turned him in, help him get away or sold him for money. And if he was dead they would have just burned him. People are just people and I am sure he would not just pass out of this world if he was still alive..People who turn up yrs later are rare.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Oh, please...not this pack of lies again.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

5. This kid is from Tallahassee and I hated to see his parents

and his family used for such propaganda, but we all knew it was bs. He should be impeached for this alone--getting the families' hopes up just to try to justify his war.

[MrPrax]

7. American's Heroic Hostage

America's Ministry of Propaganda -- Part Two
Gar Smith

Gar Smith's condensed version of the 56-page investigation was assembled by USAF Colonel (Ret.) Sam Gardiner. "Truth from These Podia: Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II" identifies more than 50 stories about the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists in a covert campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq.

American's Heroic Hostage
In an episode that recalled the creation of the "Old Shoe, the fictitious hero concocted by Robert deNiro's ace "perception manager" in the film "Wag the Dog," Washington's propaganda artists literally brought someone back from the dead.

Lt. Commander Scott Speicher had been shot down during the first Gulf War in 1991. In an attempt to generate sympathy and support for Bush's pre-emptive war, "intelligence sources" began circulating a bizarre new story to the US media. In what Gardiner called "a pattern typical of created stories," these unnamed sources started a rumor that Commander Speicher had not only survived but that he had somehow spent the past decade trapped in an Iraqi prison.

Iraqi officials vehemently denied that they were holding Speicher or, for that matter, any Americans. When asked about the Iraqi denial at a press conference, Rumsfeld's response was calculatingly oblique. "I don't believe much the regime puts out," Rumsfeld stated.

In Gardiner's estimation, Rumsfeld's answer "was too clever not to have been formulated to leave the impression that was alive."

Gardiner was troubled by Rumsfeld's apparent disinterest in the truth but, as a former military officer, there was another question that bothered Gardiner even more. "Why didn't consider what he was doing to Speicher's family?"

On January 11, 2001, Speicher's status was changed from KIA (Killed in Action) to MIA (Missing in Action). As the invasion forces gathered in the Middle East, Speicher's status was changed once more, to "captured." Navy officials who contacted ABC News reported that they had been pressured to make this change.

In January, "intelligence officials" continued to leak information to the media that suggested Speicher was still alive. In April, the secretive ministry of propaganda leaked a report that his initials had been found on the wall of a cell in Iraq. Gardiner found this leak particularly strange since "Military POW recovery personnel are very careful about releasing information that would cause false hope in families." The release of such information would also, obviously, endanger the captives.

Long after Baghdad fell and the media's attention had been drawn to the fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction, a reporter thought to ask Rumsfeld about America's lost hero. The secretary replied vaguely that there was "nothing turned up thus far that I could elaborate on that would be appropriate." On July 16, a Washington Times investigation belatedly concluded that there was "no evidence" Speicher had survived or had been held captive in Iraq.

Full PDF of Gardiner's report here
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/documents/truth_1.pdf

[BiggJawn]

8. "Good Old Shoe...."

Chalabi has no shame, and neither does the BFEE. Damnable, the way they jerk the Speicher family around like this.

[mbperrin]

9. Those Iraqi defectives ....I mean defectors....

have been spot on all the way, haven't they?

Gotta believe in a special section of hell!

[radwriter0555]

10. LOL the same defectors bush paid for lies about saddam and his WMDS???

ROFLMAO!

Yeah, live pilot. Sure.

[gulfcoastliberal]

11. During the Cold War

We lost pilots & crews all the time around the Kamchatka Peninsula, where our spy planes penetrated into Soviet airspace. Sometimes the military could rescue them, other times we knew the Soviets had them. This sort of thing is nothing new. He probably died in some Iraq hellhole jail, unfortunately (on edit: That is, if he actually did make it down alive in the 1st place.). Sad, but not an unusual fate for downed pilots.

http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/rivetjoint.html
http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/shotdown.html

[bushisanidiot]

12. Let's Start A "Good Old Shoe" Campaign!

Speicher's family is going to be used as AWOL's campaign prop. I say we call them on it.

Here's an idea stolen from the freeps. I say we use it..

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a367812e90e56.htm

"To: Revel
Why don't we protest by using the imagery of "Wag the Dog?" Remember the "good ol' Shoe" campaign of throwing old shoes onto trees, posts, various public objects? If Clinton is going to wag the dog, let's make it clear WE understand what is going on! Throw old shoes everywhere!
From: ziva *
12/16/98 12:33:28 PST "

[DinahMoeHum]

13. At this point, the "defectors" have close to ZERO credibility. . .

I believe Speicher died the day he was shot down.

At this point, his status should be: KIA-BNR (Killed in Action - Body Not Recovered)

It's little more than continuing the old POW-MIA issue after Vietnam.

For further insight, I suggest you read a book by H. Bruce Franklin titled: "MIA-Myth-making in America"


:nuke:

[frylock]

14. we should be hearing about a jail cell in iran or syria..

with Speicher's initials scratched on the wall any time now.

[daleo]

15. I don't see the point in re-animating this story

Unless, as another poster said, they plan to say he was moved to another target country. Otherwise, it just reminds people of how most of the 'defector stories' turned out to be false.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Scott Speicher AGAIN?! Fine, let's just attack Iraq one more time

That's about as rational. Why aren't we examining every taxicab in Turkey for some more of that Uranium?

I know conservatives live in the past, but this is ridiculous.