Barnes was not (do I need to repeat that) the initiator of renewed interest in this case...if you will read one of more than a dozen independent studies (and review congressional testimony...and a couple of court cases) you will learn this!
Personally, you bringing him (Barnes) up was the first I had heard of that individual...take a deep cleansing breathe now ...
You can lead someone to water, you just can't make them drink.
None...repeat, none of the pilots (who on that very dark early morning at 28k feet plus were in Scott's vicinity (combat cruise maneuv.) or aircrew (Arioch7 was one of them) including Dizzie...thought Scott had perished....they were sure his jet had been destroyed, but they assumed he was evading.
This is all verifiable by the public record link I sent you several days ago that you apparently did not read! Bad Marine....but so since you comment with such certainty check these sources out:
A report from Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) weapons Division, China Lake, to Casualty Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) and DPMO dated 26 February 1996, entitled 'Investigation of Aviation Life Support System Equipment Recovered near F/A-18 BUNO 163470, Crash Site in the western Region of Iraq.' A memo from COMNAVSAFECEN to CILHI and DPMO dated 15 February 96, entitled 'DPMO/CILHI Aircraft Mishap Investigation F/A-18C BUNO 163470.1 Memo from Joint ICRC-Iraqi recovery-team anthropologist to Commander, CILHI, dated 19 March 1996, entitled 'Search and Recovery Report, 41/CIL/96, An F/A-18 Aircraft Crash Site in the Vicinity of Tulul ad al-Dulaym, Wadi Thumayl, Republic of Iraq, 10-15 December 1995."
....Analysis of the wreckage by US Navy experts concluded that LCDR Speicher initiated the ejection sequence, jettisoned the canopy, and likely ejected from the stricken aircraft prior to the crash. The canopy was located near the crash site; the ejection seat could not be found. Investigators were able to examine other parts of the aircraft including large portions of the wings and the fuselage behind the cockpit, the canopy frame, the engines, and wing pylons. In addition, the team recovered a data storage unit and fragments of life support equipment, as well as a flight suit handed over by the Iraqis. (see below) US Navy analysis of the F/A-18 wreckage resulting from the 1995 crash-site excavation showed the forward part of LCDR Speicher's aircraft suffered a catastrophic event in the early morning hours of 17 January 1991. At the time of the first impact LCDR Speicher's F/A-18 was at 28,000 feet and traveling at .92 Mach (540 kts). The Hornet suffered a power loss, prior to the canopy being jettisoned. Evidence indicates the impact threw the aircraft laterally off its flight path at least 50 to 60 degrees, subjecting the aircraft to a minimum 6-G load . (3) US Navy investigators concluded that the pilot was not incapacitated by the initial incident. Flight surgeons and aircraft life support systems experts believe LCDR Speicher would have had at least 85 to 90 percent chance of surviving (with second-degree burns to exposed skin) the resultant flash heat and fire and aerodynamic forces of the initial impact that brought down his aircraft. According to several Gulf war veterans and US military aircrew, LCDR Speicher was probably well protected from the flash fire by his flight gear. During the December 1995 survey, the Iraqis directed ICRC team members to the flight suit which was purportedly "found" by a Bedouin boy, but the official Casualty Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) examination of the suit concluded it showed minimal weathering and adherent soil. We believe the Iraqis planted the flight suit. Near the site where the Iraqis claimed the uniform was "discovered," a few samples of other pilot-related materials were found. Some or all of these items may not have originated in the area in which they were recovered, according to the investigation's results. (4) US Navy experts assessed that the flight suit was the right type and the same size as the suit worn by LCDR Speicher. They also determined that the location and shape of the velcro used to affix patches was correct for LCDR Speicher and his unit. The condition of the returned flight suit also indicates that the aviator was not in the aircraft at ground impact. Specialists determined that damage to the recovered flight suit indicates exposure to a few seconds of heat. Also, the flight suit showed only a trace of possible blood. We can only speculate as.to why the Iraqis chose to return the flight suit. They may have calculated that they had to produce some evidence related to the pilot in order to appear cooperative and put an end to further inquiries. They could have altered the evidence to mislead investigators..... We do not know if LCDR Speicher survived the ejection sequence or subsequent landing, but the lack of crash-site evidence of LCDR Speicher's death, US Navy statistical data associated with F/A 18 incidents, and the condition of the returned flight suit suggest that he probably survived the crash of his F/A-18..... Six fragments of an anti-G garment of the type used by LCDR Speicher were recovered, as were portions of an ejection seat upper leg garter, a signal flare, fragments of a life raft and a portion of a parachute protective cover (all consistent with the equipment types issued to F/A-18 pilots). None of these items were apparently exposed to heat....The way Baghdad has handled the case-falsely suggesting that remains returned in 1991 were those of LCDR Speicher, tampering with the F/A-18 wreckage before the 1995 crash site excavation, planting the flight suit for crash investigators to find, and declining to account accurately for LCDR Speicher¡raises troubling questions about his fate The regime made it a high priority to capture enemy personnel or recover remains inside Iraqi-controlled territory, and Baghdad would have thoroughly investigated the matter until the pilot was captured or the remains recovered. Baghdad's efforts to recover Coalition airmen downed over Iraqi-controlled territory were highly successful. We judge that Baghdad was aware of January 1991 western press reports that a US aircraft was shot down over Iraq on the first night of the war and that the pilot was believed to be the first US casualty of Desert Storm. The press reports would have caused Iraqi intelligence to investigate and the information very likely helped Baghdad focus its search for the wreckage nd the pilot.....We assess LCDR Speicher was either captured alive or his remains were recovered and brought to Baghdad.
...oh and Elvis was seen near the crash site...just kidding Poohbah!
If the cockpit and instrument bays were stripped, just HOW did they figure out Speicher successfully ejected?
Also, if the 1991 reports and reality are that far out of line, I think we need to do a JAGMAN investigation of just HOW those initial reports were prepared.