Posted on 01/10/2009 2:54:28 PM PST by La Enchiladita
WASHINGTON
A Navy review board wants the service to continue searching for Capt. Scott Speicher, the Virginia Beach-based pilot who has been missing since his F/A-18 Hornet went down in Iraq on the first night of the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
"There is every bit as much evidence that he is alive as that he is dead," said Buddy Harris, a Speicher friend and former Navy flier who attended the board's four-day meeting this week.
Lt. Sean Robertson, a Navy spokesman, declined Friday to comment on the board's work, confirming only that its recommendations are being shared with Speicher's family.
A final decision about Speicher's status rests with Navy Secretary Donald Winter or his successor; Winter is expected to leave office this month. The secretary ordered the review board last fall, reportedly after receiving a classified report on continuing efforts to locate Speicher.
Speicher was declared dead shortly after his plane went down and was recorded as the first American lost in the war. The Navy changed his status in 2001 to "missing/captured" based on evidence found after the war that he had ejected from his crippled plane before it crashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
That's quite an interesting sentence right there.
That refers to finding them, whether dead (remains) or alive.
May be of interest ping.
Greta Van Susteren follows this pretty closely and if you e-mail her about him she will up-date you on the where her investigation stands. It may take her a day or two to get back to you but she will.
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
Okay, thank you, I will pass that along to two friends I know who follow the case.
Wow, I keep gaining new respect for Greta.
Sure, I understand what it means, I just find it curious that it is official policy to expend the same effort looking for remains as for someone who might be living.
Our government will try just as hard to find him as they did to find the missing from WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam.
I won’t hold my breath.
Ping to Nikki!
That would be great if Nikki came by, thanks!!
You’re welcome. “Our” Nikki is all growed up and in college now.
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Capt. Scott Speicher...you are not forgotten.
Oh come on. We've had troops all over Iraq for six years. If he was alive don't you think we'd know it by now?
If he ejected somewhere within Iraqi airspace I think we can understand the extremely low probability he would still be alive. If he where alive surely since the past few years in Iraq with things constantly improving for more Iraqi one would think someone would have stepped forward and pointed to where he was being keeped.
I agree. The probability of him being alive is very low. The military initially called off the search prematurely, and that certainly lessened his chances. I say that top aide to Saddam, the red head guy, is the one who knows what happened if they took him captive. I think he — the red head — is the one we keep hearing has been found, but it’s a false report.
Re NikkiUSA, I haven’t seen her in so long....
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