Status change for Scott Speicher

CNN | 10/11/02 | vic3o3

[Vic3O3]

CNN just announcing that the US Navy has officially changed Scott Speicher's status to Missing, Captured.

[Lucas1]

This is kinda sad...I mean really come on? Changing it now? Is that not a bit OBVIOUS? Whether he is alive or not...the timing of this is pathetic.

[Blood of Tyrants]

For not being a good little gullible 'Pubbie?

[Squantos]

In Kuwait City I saw first hand where "questioning" was conducted by the Iraqis. They took pictures and left them on the walls. They used wood planes to "shave" skin off their victims, they shoved glass bottles up orifices of men and women alike then broke them with a baseball bat. I can go on but you get the message.

Prayers for the Aviator and his family..........

Stay Safe !

[Lee_Atwater]

The Soviet Union held German POW's well into the 1950's - used them as workers. The Western powers did what they could to help, but not much could be done. Totalitarian governments are known for such things.

[Vic3O3]

Please check out the site referenced in post #20. It has better dating info on the whole Speicher case. The reclassification of his loss has been an ongoing thing.

[Vic3O3]

The Soviet Union held German POW's well into the 1950's

Yeah, I knew the brother of one of them in college. (He was a professor...)

[SLB]

I know someone who was assigned to the US embassy in Kuwait in Aug 1990. The stories he tells about his captivity would make your hair stand on end.

[Numbers Guy]

Trust me, you are not alone in that thought.....in March, they change his status to MIA

Incorrect. Speicher's status was changed to MIA in January 2001 by the Clinton Administration after sufficient compelling evidence, including eyewitness accounts of an American "pilot" being held in a Baghdad prison.

The change in status has been in the works for several months. The timing, coming *after* the Congressional vote, was likely deliberate so that it did not appear to be an attempt to influence the Congressional vote.

"No One Left Behind", by former US Naval Reserves intelligence officer Amy Yarsinske, can be found at any decent-sized bookstore. It's worth a browse.

[Squantos]

Capitivity ?? They were cut off / surrounded but I wasn't aware they were captured ? Evacuated as far as I understood the situation.

I cleared and lived in the Embassy after we retook it. Sh*tload of boobytraps made with RDG5's ect ect . The place was trashed after the Americans left .

See if they have time to educate me on the capture ? Not saying it didn't happen, just saying I wasn't aware of such.

Stay Safe !

[SLB]

Dave was assigned to the military assistance office at the embassy. He stayed behind when the others left, the joy of being bottom on the totem pole, and destroyed documents and equipment. They then headed to town and managed to stay hidden for about a month. He speaks Farsi like a native and so was hidden by some Kuwati friends for several weeks after the occupation started. His wife and son were taken hostage initially and it was through a matter of deduction that it was discovered that Dave was in hiding.

The big fear they had was of his son, who was 17, being drafted into the Iraq Army. His wife convinced them he was only 16 and they took them out through Turkey when the hostages were released.

If memory serves me correctly, they also took some of the Marine guards captive (hostage was the term they used).

[Squantos]

OK I remember some of that now.....grey matter getting greyer in my case :o)

Stay Safe !

[January24th]

Scott was in my graduating class. I am thrilled to know that at least he's not been forgotten by our government! A lot of his friends have worked hard for this and my hat goes off to all of them. Way to go!

[glock rocks]

[exnavy]

We can all offer positive support and prayers. Thank God that someone cares and is trying to do something about this.

[Reborn]

We can all offer positive support and prayers. Thank God that someone cares and is trying to do something about this.

Amen, and a BUMP for Scott's FREEDOM NOW!!!!

[Reborn]

Petition signed!! Thank you for posting it here!

[Bkauthor]

Scott Speicher's status change has been investigated, probed and debated long before President George W. Bush took office. The status change was made after analyzing proven intelligence information and the content of the entire investigation that went into "No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher Story." While it would be difficult to answer all inquiries as to his current status in this forum, suffice to say that there is reliable information that provides the basis for his change to MIA/Captured and that is the US Navy's classification for its own personnel. By Geneva Convention, MIA/Captured is Prisoner of War (POW). This was NOT a political decision on the part of the Bush administration or the US Navy. The decision was not announced until after the Congressional vote largely due to the Navy Secretary's sense that the public would perceive the timing as just that--political--which, again, it is not. Having been involved in the case for a very long time--8 years-plus--I can assure all who post here that the machinations of this pilot's case have been cycling toward what occurred today with the Navy's announcement. This is the right move to have made on Scott's behalf and for his family and friends. More importantly to the bigger picture, the Navy is sending a message to the uniformed personnel who daily fight for this country and go in harm's way that we must not break faith with our own. The President is sending a stronger one: To Saddam, we know you have chemical and biological weapons in hand, but you also have one of our own; We want him back and we want him back NOW! While it's easy enough to second guess the President or those who are trying to help Scott Speicher get his life back, this President could've, if he'd wanted, used Scott to justify going to war much sooner or more obviously--he DID NOT do that--and he wouldn't. That's not the kind of President we have, folks. If you leave a man behind, no matter what, he believes we should go back and account for that man. For those who don't know my post-name on this site, I'm the author of the book on Scott Speicher and there is so much more to this that the public will soon come to understand. More than that, though, remember that our own history is more telling than anything else. Jim "Floyd" Thompson was a prisoner in Vietnam for 10 days shy of 9 YEARS, 4 of those years held by locals who eventually turned him over to the North Vietnamese. Floyd died July 21, two weeks after Scott's book came out. But he'd have said the same thing--real life is much more "James Bondish" than fiction. Don't dismiss Saddam Hussein so quickly. He's exactly the monster the President has described--and worse.

[Valin]

Late night bump