The curious and sad case of Capt. Speicher or "How to make a corpse shill for your war"

[Poll_Blind]

I was just browsing the news and I came across this article, titled "Remains of first US Gulf War casualty solve 18 year mystery".

Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher. Anyone remember him? I do. Funny with all the news you and I have read over the years what little facts or names stick in your heads. This message isn't so much about him- his story ended 18 years ago when his airplane was shot down during the first Gulf War over Iraq. He died when his plane crashed or due to some failure of his ejection system. FWIW, the Iraqi locals found his corpse and gave him a decent burial.

I thought that was decent of them, considering the treatment he got back here in the States- specifically how he was used as another log-on-the-fire to help sway public opinion for Bush's invasion of Iraq. Anyway, all that was back in 1991 and even though a search at the time hadn't turned up his body, he was listed as missing in action. Then after at least one more thorough investigation of the crash site in 1995 he was finally listed as killed in action. Those last few sentences are paraphrasing of this article.

But in 2001 (real interesting year for this sort of thing) the CIA decided to investigate the Speicher's disposition. Maybe it'd just been on their "to do" list and it just happened to come up at a time the Bush administration was sporting a boner for war with Iraq that a pair of Bermuda shorts the size of Manhattan couldn't hide. Stranger coincidences happen, right?

Anyway, so lo and behold the CIA does their little investigation and- quelle surprise! they decide that he might have survived the crash by ejecting. Now I want to share just a little bit of that article I linked to, above. I'm going to mark a spot, in bold, and we're going to come back to it and look at it a little more closely after the excerpt:

In 2001, after a CIA investigation showed he may have survived by ejecting from his plane before it crashed, the Pentagon changed his status back to "missing in action," reportedly the only time the department has ever made such a change.

BING, right fucking HERE

Then, at the urging of Congress, the Pentagon changed his status a third time – to "missing-captured" – raising expectations that he might be found alive. News reports at the time had indicated that he might have survived the crash and been taken from the desert.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 brought new hope that the American military would find him, and public fascination with his case grew as various reports fueled speculation about his whereabouts and condition.

Ok, that bolded spot. There's a shitload of stuff the article doesn't mention between the first and second paragraph in that excerpt. Which is namely that Speicher's whereabouts became a little cottage industry for FOX, CNN and sometimes MSNBC news. It wasn't the main story but for months I remember seeing those fuckers bring it up again and again. I remember hearing breathless commentators on FOX talking about how there were "sightings" from informants in Iraq- that Speicher might be in a labor camp or a prison.

It reaches enough of a fever-pitch that Congress gets involved and faster than you can say "I can make a dead man shill for your war", the Pentagon is pressured into changing his status to "missing-captured". And then, when the rest of the Iraq war Spin Machine was kicking into a much higher gear- what a fantastic coincidence! -news that Capt. Speicher is believed to be in a prison camp starts rolling over the airwaves. But it gets better/worse:

A week or so before the second attack on Iraq, Speicher was spotted in Baghdad!

22 March 2003: Courtesy of the Washington Times

Defense and intelligence agencies have formed a special unit that will go into Iraq to search for Captain Michael Scott Speicher, a missing U.S. Navy pilot believed to have been held captive in Iraq since 1991.

Creating the special unit comes as U.S. intelligence agencies reported last week that an American pilot believed to be Captain Speicher was spotted alive in Baghdad earlier this month.

A classified intelligence report circulated to officials March 14, 2003, stated that Captain Speicher was seen as he was being moved in Baghdad, although officials said the sighting could not be confirmed.

What amazing fucking timing, eh guys and gals? So, for those of you studying at home, here's your homework tonight:

1. Make up your own self-serving lies
2. Work them into an intelligence report (Bonus points:make them classified!)
3. Leak 'em

Hrm...now where have I seen this formula used before? :eyes:

I'm sure you can Google more of the bullshit up if you care to but it's not going to make your blood pressure go any lower.

After the war started I noticed no more Speicher talk. :-( So curious. Just like them weapons of mass destruction or the Kuwaiti incubator babies. It's just the hawker outside the strip club. Once inside, all bets are off- the rules change once it's game-on.

I wonder if anyone else remembers all those reports about Speicher? Anyone remember other "secondary" lies used to sway opinion outside of the main WMD lie?

Rest in peace, Mr. Speicher.

[Hissyspit]

1. Here is Larisa Alexandrovna's thoughts/research on this matter:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6204181&mesg_id=6204181

[Poll_Blind]

4. Thank you! I had no idea about the "ghost teams" or any of that other crap.

Reading now, thanks again!

[madaboutharry]

2. This sounds like something

Dick Cheney would do.

Never mind the mental abuse heaped on Capt. Speicher's loved ones from this kind of shit.

[montanacowboy]

3. So, Will His Family Do Something About It???

Cheney was deep into this scam with his OSP boys following up the Special Ops Forces in the trumped up search.

Will his family demand an investigation? I sure as hell would if this was a family member of mine.

Jus like Pat Tillman, if they can use it to their advantage the scum will do it.

[glitch]

5. These people really are unspeakably evil, aren't they? No words really do them justice. nt

[L0oniX]

6. Despicable and disgusting n/t