Is Gulf War MIA, Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, Alive In Iraq?

Source Reports Say YES!

Was Navy Seal Neil Roberts Captured and Executed By Al Qaeda?

Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck says YES!

U.S. Ambassador To Vietnam Calls

Agent Orange "the One Significant Ghost" of the Vietnam War.

He's got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!

All this and more, in this edition of Bits N Pieces.

Enough Is Enough - It's time to bring Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher Home! We all need to act immediately. The National Alliance of Families is declaring the week of March 17^th - 23^rd "Bring Scott Speicher Home Week." We ask that next week everyone who reads this makes a call to the White House at 202-456-1414 and demand that Gulf War POW/MIA Scott Speicher be brought home! This newsletter reaches an enormous number of individuals either by direct email, forwarded email or fax. We should be able to generate a tremendous amount of calls and if we can't, well shame on us.

We need, NO, Scott Speicher needs every one of you to make that call. We must keep the pressure on. This can't wait until the next group, post or chapter meeting, the leadership of every organization must get on the phone to their membership and make sure each member makes a call. If alive, and the evidence sure points that way, Speicher has waited 11 years, to come home. He can't wait for the next group meeting to pass on this information.

Make your call and demand that the Bush Administration, by whatever means, bring Scott Speicher home, now!

We've issued the challenge to make that call. If the White House is flooded with calls, they will know Scott Speicher is #1 priority. If only a few of us make the calls, that will tell them the Scott Speicher and all other POWs and MIAs are really not a priority. We need to send a message. That message will be measured in the number of calls made or not made. Don't let this opportunity pass..... please make your calls.

Here's why we need to act now!

Speicher Reported Alive As Recently As January 2002 -- That's what one source reported to foreign intelligence officials. According to a Washington Times article by Bill Gertz, who broke this story on March 12, 2002 - "U.S. intelligence agencies have obtained new information indicating Iraq is holding captive a U.S. Navy pilot shot down during the Persian Gulf war, The Washington Times has learned."

"British intelligence provided the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) with the new information several months ago, and intelligence officials said it could assist in the ongoing investigation into the fate of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher...."

"....According to U.S. intelligence officials, the British intelligence information was based on an additional intelligence source; someone who had been in Iraq and said he had learned that an American pilot is being held captive in Baghdad."

"The British report stated further that only two Iraqis were permitted to see the captive American pilot: the chief of Iraq's intelligence service, and Uday Hussein, son of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity."

"...One U.S. official said the new agent offered to identify the exact location in Baghdad where the American is being held and also offered to obtain a photograph of the prisoner..."

"...President Bush has been briefed on the new intelligence on Cmdr. Speicher and the likelihood of an American POW in Baghdad is being factored into U.S. policy toward future operations against Iraq, the officials said."

"...DIA spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jim Brooks said the Speicher case is "an active investigation." The agency "investigates and continues to investigate all reports regarding the Speicher case." He declined to comment further on specific reports on the case...."

"....Based on the defector report and pressure from Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, the Navy changed Cmdr. Speicher's status from killed in action to missing in action on Jan. 11, 2001..."

"...Cmdr. Speicher was the pilot of a Navy F-18 jet that was shot down by enemy fire on Jan. 17, 1991, the first day of combat operations in the Gulf war. Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney said during a news conference that same day that the pilot had been killed, and the Navy declared Cmdr. Speicher killed in action five months later..."

"...The CIA also was told about the capture of an American pilot in the early 1990s but dismissed the information as coming from an unreliable agent, the officials said. The agency later acknowledged its dismissal was an error, U.S. officials said."

Of course the Pentagon made immediate moves to debunk this story.

According to an article posted on CNN.com, dated March 11, 2002 the article titled "U.S. officials downplay report on Navy pilot in Iraq" states: "U.S. officials Monday downplayed a published report that a U.S. Navy pilot thought to have been killed in action during the Persian Gulf War might be alive and held in Iraq...."

"....But one U.S. official said Monday, "If Scott Speicher were still alive, Saddam Hussein would have brought him out for propaganda." Another official said, "This story has been out once or twice already." The official said he had no knowledge of any recent information to support the idea, including and beyond the time span the newspaper cited..."

But the story wouldn't die.

The March 13th edition of the Chicago Tribune carried an article by their Foreign Correspondent, Christine Spolar, stating: "WASHINGTON - ...New evidence about the Navy pilot, Michael Scott Speicher, surfaced in late January. President Bush and top advisers in the State and Defense Departments were informed by intelligence agents that a one-time high-ranking military adviser to Hussein, who defected earlier this year, has information that the American pilot was alive as of January."

"Speicher, who would be 44 today, was classified killed in action from 1991 until January 2001. The CIA, the Navy and President Clinton reviewed what were considered serious gaps in intelligence analysis concerning the

Speicher case. On Jan. 10, 2001, based on evidence that the pilot survived the crash and was seen in Iraq, Speicher was reclassified as missing in action."

"The Iraqi defector first spoke earlier this year to Dutch intelligence about an imprisoned American pilot in Iraq. According to sources, the defector told interrogators that the American pilot in prison was in good health but walks with a limp and has facial scars. The defector has been deemed credible through his descriptions of both Speicher, whom he did not name, and his knowledge of prisons where the pilot is thought to have been held, sources said...."

"....Attempts to verify the defector's claims intensified in February, sources said. Public comments by the administration regarding Iraq sharpened within the same week, including Powell's statement that the United States was weighing ways to topple Hussein."

"The defector said the pilot had been held at Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters, the same building that the United States bombed in 1993 in retaliation for an assassination attempt on President George Bush, the father of the current president and the leader of the 1991 allied coalition against Iraq."

"The defector told intelligence agents that the pilot was moved to a military facility on Sept. 12, the day after Islamic terrorists hijacked American airliners and drilled them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Iraqis feared reprisals from the United States and wanted to safeguard their captive, the defector told his interrogators. The defector said only a handful of Iraqis are aware of the pilot's existence, and that Hussein and his son, Qusay, closely monitor his well-being, sources said."

"The case of Michael Scott Speicher appears to have a special resonance for the current administration. Bush's father led the allied force coalition in the gulf. Powell then was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Vice President Dick Cheney was secretary of defense."

"Cheney's role is particularly sensitive because, during the first press briefing after the first strike in 1991, Cheney declared Speicher dead. That announcement was both premature and problematic for the military, which at the time was seeking information about the downing of Speicher's plane. This is important to them," said one source knowledgeable about the White House interest in the case. "The people in charge then are the people in charge now....."

"...The Speicher case continues to generate interest in the Senate, which has been conducting an investigation on intelligence lapses in the case. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, wrote to the Pentagon in February that Speicher should be listed as a prisoner of war.

Roberts said in his letter that changing the status would better reflect unanswered questions about the "exceptional and compelling" case of the missing fighter pilot. "If Capt. Speicher lives, we must make every effort to attain for him the freedom he has so long been denied. His case reaffirms to our nation, albeit somewhat belatedly, that we will never abandon our soldiers even if some embarrassment falls to our government," Roberts wrote to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

In a seven-page declassified version of facts released last year, the CIA asserted that Speicher probably survived being shot down, and "if he survived, he was almost certainly captured by the Iraqis." As a result of Speicher's reclassification to missing in action in January 2001, the United States sent a formal demarche to Iraq demanding information about him. [Read the full text of the Unclassified Intelligence Assessment at www.nationalalliance.org/gulf/intel.htm]

Quickly the Pentagon back peddled stating they were looking very seriously at all reports.

According to a March 13, 2002 Washington Times article, by Bill Gertz, "The Pentagon called on Iraq yesterday to reveal what it knows about the fate of a missing U.S. Navy pilot shot down near Baghdad in 1991. Spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said the Pentagon does not know whether Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher is a prisoner in Iraq but is working hard to find out what happened to him..."

"....Asked if the Pentagon believes Cmdr. Speicher is alive, Mrs. Clarke said: "We believe he's MIA. That means you don't know. "The only thing I can add to the conversation is, Iraq could be more helpful, if it wanted to, in determining the fate," she said."

"Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, in a letter has asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to change Cmdr. Speicher's missing status to prisoner of war (POW). Mrs. Clarke did not answer directly when asked whether the Pentagon will change Cmdr. Speicher's status to POW. "

"Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa, deputy director of operations for the Joint Staff, said yesterday the military's investigation into Cmdr. Speicher's fate is a priority. "This is a front-burner issue for us," Gen. Rosa said, in commenting on a report in yesterday's editions of The Washington Times. "We take this very seriously."

"A briefing was held last night for Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, who has been following the case closely for several years...."

"Retired Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. forces during the Gulf war, said the fate of Cmdr. Speicher was never raised in negotiations with the Iraqis at the end of the war. "I was assured 100 percent that everyone was fully accounted for and that there was no MIA situation," Gen. Schwarzkopf told the Virginian-Pilot. "That was a major consideration in my mind, just based on the MIA situation in Vietnam."

Patting Yourself On The Back For A Job Poorly Done - Shortly after Captain Speicher's status was changed from KIA/BNR to MIA, in January 2002, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) requested a joint investigation, by the Inspectors General (IG), of the CIA and Defense Department. According to a press release issued by Senator Roberts on March 8, 2001, "the IG report gave a positive assessment of the U.S. intelligence community's performance in the Speicher case - saying its performance was 'noteworthy.'"

Roberts continued: "We found the self-congratulatory tone of the IG report to be at sharp variance from what the Intelligence Committee's own inquiry has indicated -- and with the substantive assessment that the Director of Central Intelligence submitted to the Committee last fall."

In the world of POW/MIA, agencies like CIA and DOD can investigate themselves, clear themselves and congratulate themselves for a job poorly done. Only in the POW/MIA issue are agency performances rated "noteworthy" for ignoring intelligence information.

Then again, they have been ignoring POW/MIA intelligence for years. We must remind everyone, the very reasons cited for the change in Capt. Speicher's status, are the very same reasons used to declare Vietnam, Cold War and Korean War POW/MIA's dead.

While we are thrilled at the recent developments in the Speicher case, we can not help but comment on the double standard at work within DOD.

When You Finish Your Call To White House -- Call your Senators and demand passage of Senate Bill 1339 "To amend the Bring Them Home Alive Act of 2000 to provide an asylum program with regard to American Persian Gulf War POW/MIAs, and for other purposes."

Among the bills provisions is to grant "ELIGIBILITY- Refugee status shall be granted under subsection (a) to-

`(1) any alien who-

`(A) is a national of Iraq or a nation of the Greater Middle East Region (as determined by the Attorney General in consultation with the Secretary of State); and

`(B) personally delivers into the custody of the United States Government a living American Persian Gulf War POW/MIA; and

`(2) any parent, spouse, or child of an alien described in paragraph (1).

"Any living American Persian Gulf War POW/MIA...." Folks that's Speicher. IF you really want to be a part of the effort to bring Scott Speicher home. Call your Senators at 202-224-3121 now. You can find your Senators email address at http://www.senate.gov

We must pass this legislation NOW!

If your interested in this as a bumper sticker, let us know by email at lynn@nationalalliance.org IF enough people are interested, we will have them made up for sale.

Did You Notice -- DPMO seems to be out of the picture when it comes to the Speicher case.

Was Navy Seal Neil Roberts Captured and Executed By Al Qaeda - That was the original report by commanders on site. According to first reports, Navy Seal Neil Roberts fell out of his helicopter but survived the fall. He was seen being taken away by Al Qaeda forces and subsequently executed. All this was filmed by an unmanned Predator aircraft. The following is excerpted from a New York Daily News article, by Richard Sisk, dated March 06, 2002 "Navy SEAL who fell from a helicopter during a mountain firefight was captured by Al Qaeda forces as his commanders watched helplessly on a drone's TV screen and later executed, U.S. battle commanders said yesterday."

"We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three Al Qaeda men," said Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck, who watched the battle in real time by a transmission from a Predator spy drone overhead. Air Force commandos later recovered the body of Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, 32, after a fierce 14-hour firefight Monday in which seven Americans were killed and two helicopters were lost..."

Pentagon spokespersons in Washington, immediately began to downplay this story saying they would need to investigate the incident before they could comment. According to a March 6^th Associated Press article by Pauline Jelinek "Some details of the U.S. forces' deadliest day so far in the war in Afghanistan remain unclear, Pentagon officials said Wednesday, including whether a Navy SEAL was captured and murdered by al-Qaida.

"We may never know," said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld and the war's commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, were responding to reporters' questions about what they knew about the death of Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts of Woodland, Calif...."

"Asked about reports from a field commander that Roberts had been dragged away by al-Qaida and shot dead, Franks said he wasn't sure. "I think there are a variety of possibilities of the way" Roberts may have died, he said...."

"...Commanders watched as an unmanned Predator surveillance aircraft relayed live video of Roberts being taken away by al-Qaida members, said Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck, commander of the operation to encircle and kill enemy fighters. "We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three al-Qaida men," said Hagenbeck.

"Roberts apparently survived the fall and was shot on the ground, said Marine Maj. Ralph Mills, speaking for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla."

"Whether he was taken away to be killed, was already dead when taken away or wounded when taken and died later remains unclear, Franks said Wednesday. "There will be a lot of views on this particular incident," Franks

said. "I have talked to three, maybe four people, who were either present or have reviewed the result of this, and it would probably not surprise you that each of the three or four has a different view of what happened."

"He cautioned that first and second reports can often prove wrong. "I'm not sure yet," he said. "And I think, as we work our way through this, we will come to some greater clarity."

"Rumsfeld said details are not the point. "We know a fine American is dead," he said. "It is not whether the bullet hit him from ground fire while he was still in the helicopter or after he fell to the ground ... or after someone came up and shot him again. We may never know that."

The existence of the Predator pictures was revealed by Hagenbeck in Afghanistan and not by Pentagon officials as they described the incident in briefings Monday and Tuesday...."

POW or Not - It is amazing to us that the eyewitness statement of Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck, commander of the operation is not deemed a creditable eyewitness report of the capture of an American POW and his subsequent execution. Perhaps the Pentagon doesn't want to acknowledge a POW under any circumstances or are they isolated personnel or detainees.....

Looks like evidence and eyewitness reports, including the report of the commanding officer, doesn't mean a thing. The more things change.... the more they stay the same....

In An Unrelated Or Could It Be Related Story - from the Washington Post on March 10^th. According to the article, by Post reporter Peter Baker, "The die-hard Islamic warriors of eastern Afghanistan have turned their natural and man-made caves into a home and fortress, said Abdul Rahman Beheshti. In a solar-powered hideaway, they watch videos of the war against the Soviets, boast about shooting down a helicopter in the current war with the Americans and vow to fight to the bloody end. "No, they will not surrender," he said. "They want to either win the war or be martyred."

"Beheshti, a 22-year-old repairman, said he was kidnaped and held prisoner for a week in the elaborate cave complex that serves as one of the last refuges for the Afghan and foreign fighters whom the Bush administration has sworn to eliminate. He said today that he had witnessed their life on the run -- how they seemed to know beforehand that U.S. troops were coming, how frightened the Afghan commander was as bombing got underway early on March 2, how they stocked their mountaintop warrens with food and weapons, and how they still slip into nearby villages despite a security belt established by U.S. and allied Afghan forces...."

"...Beheshti's credibility was difficult to judge with certainty; his very name could have been an alias. But three hours of detailed questioning left little doubt that he had spent time in the caves with the anti-American forces during the battle of Shahikot, whether he was taken there willingly or not. He described the caverns in convincing detail, and aspects of his story matched intelligence reports from local Afghan officials friendly with the U.S. military. Most importantly, Beheshti knew that local leaders had sent a peace overture to the besieged radicals in the past few days, a fact confirmed only today by Afghan officials...."

"...Beheshti also said he saw a Westerner held captive: a tall, blond man with a military-style haircut who had been stripped naked and beaten with sticks. While he said he did not know who the man was or whether he was a soldier, Beheshti said the prisoner spoke English to his guards. (A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Lt. Col. Jim Yonts, said American military authorities had no knowledge of any soldier being held. A Central

Intelligence Agency spokesman was not immediately available.)..."

Did Beheshti describe the captivity of the tall blond Navy Seal Neil Roberts or was another westerner captured?

For his actions in Operation Anaconda, Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts was awarded the Bronze Star. Is he also due the POW Medal?

Are There Other POWs - the following is from an United Press International article by Anwar Iqbal, dated March 13, 2002 - "A former Pakistani spy master with links to the Taliban claims that al Qaida has captured American prisoners in eastern Afghanistan, forcing U.S. troops to end the siege of their stronghold and withdraw. U.S. officials have denied the claim."

"Talking to United Press International from his home in Islamabad, Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of Pakistan's main spy agency Inter Services Intelligence, said the United States sent "some Americans to Shahikot, dressed as Afghans."

"Shahikot is the mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan where U.S. forces and their Afghan allies taking part in "Operation Anaconda" have been bombing and fighting several hundred al Qaida and Taliban fighters holed up in a series of cave complexes since March 1...."

"...Commenting on the claim of U.S. prisoners, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said: "We have no servicemen missing."

"We have no information at all about any American being taken prisoner ... it is totally inaccurate," added a U.S. Central Command spokesman, Charles Portman."

"A government official also rejected Gul's claim as "totally false," saying no CIA agents had been seized either."

Captured Americans - Could this be another report related to Navy Seal Roberts, or.......

While Al Qaida detainees, prisoners, or isolated personnel, whatever you want to call them, bask in the Caribbean sun, with 3 meals a day and all necessary medical treatment, eyewitness reports indicate Al Qaida forces executed an American POW. This execution passed with little comment by Defense Dept. officials, other than their attempt to downplay the incident. As for the Human Rights groups who loudly protested Al Qaida conditions at Guantanamo, well, their silence is deafening.

Agent Orange... "The One Significant Ghost" Of The Vietnam War -- We guess the ambassador means all other issues are insignificant. The issue of American POW/MIAs is insignificant, human rights abuses are insignificant.

While attending a Vietnamese - U.S. scientific conference on Agent Orange the Associated Press reported in an article by Tin Tran that: "U.S. Ambassador Raymond Burghardt said the United States and communist Vietnam have successfully dealt with the issue of missing American soldiers..."

According to the article the Ambassador is quoted as saying: "The one significant ghost remains that we seek to confront is the issue of Agent Orange and dioxin" he said.

Let's look at that "success"

Lying about men known to be in captivity, where there is no evidence of death ( like Iraq and Speicher)

Failure to return remains of men who died in their custody

Creating recovery sites and salting sites so U.S. investigators could "find" remains

Withholding documents relating to American POWs and MIAs

Clearly, the Ambassador has a different definition of "success" than we do. We find the Ambassador's comments outrageous. The Ambassador has relegated the POW/MIA issue to the past tense. Is this the new government policy? Do they really think the POW/MIA issue has been "successfully dealt with..." With that opinion and attitude, Burghardt doesn't belong in Vietnam and if the government thinks this issue is over they better think again.

As for Burghardt, well we are sending a note to Secretary of State Colin Powell asking for an explanation of the Ambassador's comments.

New Song And Video - Country singer George Jones has put together a moving tribute to American Servicemen and women lost in Southeast Asia. The song titled "50,000 Names is available on the new Jones CD. If you want to hear the song and watch the video, visit http://www.georgejones.com

The National Alliance Of Families Thirteenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 20th - 22nd, 2002. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years government briefings, for Vietnam family members. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings.

This years meeting will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel (same as last year) Room rates are $106.00 + tax, per night for a single or double room. Parking is $5.00 per night. Transportation to the government briefings will be available. To make your reservations call 703-416-1600. Remember to say you are with the National Alliance of Families to get the special rate.

The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations may be mailed to:

National Alliance Of Families

P.O. Box 40327

Bellevue, Wa. 98015.

Remember all contributions are tax deductible.