Panel calls for continuing probe of lost pilot
By Ben Evans - January 10, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Navy review board has recommended that the Pentagon continue investigating what happened to a fighter pilot who was the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War almost 20 years ago, saying it's not yet time to close the case.
The board made the recommendation Thursday after four days of hearings, according to Buddy Harris, who has represented the family of missing Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher. It now goes to the Navy secretary, who has the final decision.
"They feel that the body of evidence suggests as much that he's alive," said Harris, a former Navy commander and close friend of Speicher's who has since married Speicher's ex-wife.
Speicher, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., has been missing since 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War. His remains were never found, leading some to believe he was captured by Iraqi forces.
Speicher's family has pressed to continue searching and feared the Navy was preparing to declare him killed. Harris said the family - including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher disappeared - believes more evidence could surface soon as Iraq becomes more stable.
"There are people that know," Harris said. "It's just a matter of getting to them."
The Pentagon initially declared Speicher killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died. Then, in October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he was ever in captivity.
Another review board in 2005 recommended that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to focus on resolving the case.
The latest hearing came several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report from Iraq.
Navy Secretary Donald Winter - or his successor - could overrule the recommendation of the board, which was made up of three officers. But he would face strong resistance, including from Capitol Hill, where Speicher's family has won support from lawmakers such as Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
"The fact is, the U.S. government walked away from a downed pilot - mistakenly the secretary of defense declared him dead the day after ... he was shot down," Nelson said earlier this week, referring to Dick Cheney, then the defense secretary, who went on television and announced the U.S. had suffered its first casualty of the 1991 war. "It is our obligation to keep looking."
In a visit to Iraq, Nelson personally saw what he said were the initials "MSS" scratched into the wall of a prison shortly after the 2003 invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein - one of a number of clues the government in a trail of clues.
The search also led investigators to excavate a potential grave site in Baghdad in 2005, track down Iraqis said to have information about Speicher and make numerous other inquiries in what officials say has been an exhaustive search.
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.