Remains of Pilot Missing 18 Years in Iraq Found

[Rhiannon12866]

Source: ABC

Navy says remains positively identified for Capt. Scott Speicher, pilot missing since 1991

The Navy says remains of the first American lost in the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been found in Iraq.

Officials say the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has positively identified the remains of Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher, whose disappearance has bedeviled investigators since his jet was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the war.

The Pentagon initially declared him killed, but uncertainty led officials over the years to change his official status a number of times to "missing in action" and "missing-captured."



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=8232398

---

I remember this story. He was the first casualty of the Gulf War. He was rumored to have been alive and held captive by Saddam Hussein... And his best friend, who never gave up trying to find him, married his wife... Strange and sad story. ;(

[Rhiannon12866]

1. CNN Breaking: Remains of 1991 Gulf War veteran identified

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The remains of the first American officer shot down in the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been identified, according to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael “Scott” Speicher was shot down in his F/A-18 on January 17, 1991, the first day of the war.

Iraqis remembered seeing Bedouins bury his body in the desert, and pointed U.S. Marines to the site, Pentagon sources said.


http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/02/remains-of-1991-gulf-war-veteran-identified/

CNN says his remains were identified by dental records. :-(

[on point]

12. A Pawn of the Necons, story not finished yet

Correction to the story to avoid the neocon re-write of history.
He was presumed killed in action, until Bush admin changed his status to MIA, and promoted him to get national attention. Saddam then said he would aid in his search, but Bush admin refused as they wanted to use him as propaganda tool as part of the program to vilify Saddam. This was part of intentional plot on the part of the neocons to attack Iraq in a premeditated way and was when I was sure we were going to war with Iraq.

The first Iraq war was just on the grounds that it upheld International Law (reversing the war crime of invasion of Kuwait), but not for the reason the Bush 41 gave 'to preserve the US way of life' (ie preserve the oil. While the second Iraq war under Bush 43 was a war crime itself and all the neocons, oil companies and others that aided or abetted in it (congress, NYTimes and other MSM) should all be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Clearly a lost soldier doing his duty for the right reasons and a loss to all, especially his family, but his memory is sullied by his cynical misuse as a pawn by the criminals in the Bush admin 43. This misuse of this soldier is part of the long list of Bush crimes, and should be investigated just as was Pat Tilman and the 'brave' female soldier (forgot name) who turned out to be just simply captured.

[jpak]

13. Welcome to DU - good post!

:thumbsup:

[ColesCountyDem]

2. May he rest in peace. n/t

[saigon68]

3. The first casualty in the Criminal Bush Family Crusade for oil

At least they never gave up trying to find him, to provide closure for his family. I remember seeing the VIDEO of him talking before he went off on that mission.

So Sad--- So needless.

[stray cat]

7. So Iraq invading and taking over Kuwait was fine with you?

[UpInArms]

8. wow! you're really clueless, aren't you?

Have you been here long? or even, ever before?

where'd you get those 1000+ posts? is that a hacker job?

When was your last visit to LBN?

[katandmoon]

10. MSE. "Desert Storm" was just a rehearsal for another war based on oil and a pack of lies.

With American (and other countries') soldiers totally being the fall guys.

[UpInArms]

11. agreed

btw, Poppy invaded 5 days after Neil was discovered in the cookie jar at Silverado.

[Psephos]

23. Your simple and powerful argument on the facts is hard to refute and easy to admire. n/t

[rosesaylavee]

14. Some background....

Saddam asked the US ambassador at the time what he thought about Iraq going into Kuwait and he was given the go ahead. Don't have a link but very sure you can find names/data on google. In other words, we set him up.

[paparush]

28. US green lights Iraq, says we will not get involved in any teritorial disputes between

Iraq and Kuwait.

Iraq moves based on this statement of neutrality by the US.

US is SHOCKED! SHOCKED I say to see that Iraq so blatantly invaded its neighbor and this aggression will not stand, etc..etc..

[katandmoon]

9. Bingo. It was all about Saudi Arabia's oil.

[undeterred]

4. I remember that Dick Cheney declared him dead

so that they wouldn't have to look for him. Somehow its touching that he was buried by strangers.

[prostomulgus]

5. I wonder how many more "mysteries" will be solved

now that Dick Cheney & Karl Rove aren't around to keep them covered up.

[stray cat]

6. Welcome home Capt Speicher - it has been a long time coming

[enlightenment]

17. I'm glad they have recovered his remains.

Would that we could find the 1,740 who never returned from Vietnam; the 944 from Korea; the 74,384 from WWII; and the almost 3,600 from WWI.

[pasto76]

15. "over the years" means just before we invaded

the large base in tikrit was named after him.

rest in peace sir.

[Blue Diadem]

16. His kids were just toddlers back then. :(

I can't begin to imagine the pain and heartache his family went through, not knowing if he was captured or dead. Hopefully there will be some closure for them now.

RIP Capt. Scott Speicher

[Rhiannon12866]

18. On CNN now, an in depth report, with interviews... n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

19. Let us not forget that this is one more thing

the neocons were dead wrong on.

The Clinton Admin's Navy Dept insisted he was dead. There was no evidence he survived the crash. the family, with Bill Nelson and some neocons (frankly don't remember which ones now) kept hammering at it, it was a minor RW flap against Clinton in the 96 elections and against Gore in 00

as soon as the ** got in, he forced the Navy to reverse itself

now, we see they were wrong on this, just like everything else.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. And it's also odd, that after 18 years, and six years of this second war,

That his remains are just found now... His family and friends have never let this go, have worked diligently all these years, to find him. That's how I know about this story. It was a few years ago, but the news story I watched also convinced me that he just might be alive. :dunce:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

21. news story in the msm?

that would be the influence from his family's powerful connections and their belief that Clinton was hiding this for some reason

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Why would Clinton want to hide the status of an MIA pilot?

He was "the empath in chief" and this was Poppy's war. And it is real news when any MIA story is resolved. The MSM could hardly ignore the resolution since they have given this story a lot of coverage over the years, mainly due to relentless activism by his friends and family. Even I knew about it... :wow: :shrug:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

24. it was the RW... it does not have to make sense

but there you have it

[Rhiannon12866]

25. Sorry for being so slow...

I forgot, Bill Clinton was responsible for everything... :eyes: :banghead:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

26. well, everything bad

of course, the good times were because of Reagan, you know.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. Damn. And I was too stupid to have voted for him.

So that's why I missed the "good times..." :-(

I wasn't at all political back then, but I voted for the candidate who impressed me... ;)
:patriot:

[hack89]

27. The National Alliance of Families played a big role in the reversal

it got caught up in domestic MIA/POW politics.

[Blue_Tires]

30. well, the finally brought him home...

it means a lot to the family...

i remember a short news story a few years back about a WWII pilot's remains being found in Germany and being brought back

[bushmeister0]

31. Scott Ritter went to Iraq to find Speicher in 2003 and found nothing.

That didn't stop Bill Nelson from insisting all along that he was still alive.

Here's Ritter's article in Harper's.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/06/0080076

Here's a bunch more info I collected about the search for Speicher back in 2005.

http://imnotworthy.blogspot.com/2005/05/no-one-left-behind.html