During the Middle East crisis in 1991, Lt. Cdr. Speicher was one of 2,500 personal assigned to the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea. The USS Saratoga (60) was commissioned on 14 April 1956 and decommsionned on 20 August 1994. Stricken from the Navy List 30 Sept 1994; berthed at the Naval Education and Training Center, Newport, R.I., 7 Aug. 1998.

Speicher was part of a fighter squadron that flew the F18 "Hornet". The F18 is an all-weather fighter and attack aircraft. The twin-engined shipboard fighter, is developed from the smaller F-17. Because of its dual role as attack aircraft, it is officially known as the F/A-18. In its fighter mode, the F/A-18 is used primarily as a fighter escort and for fleet air defense; in its attack mode, it is used for force projection, interdiction and close and deep air support.

On 18 January 1991, Speicher's aircraft was hit by an Iraqi SAM (surface-to-air-missile) and crashed during the first Coalition offensive of the war dubbed "Operation Desert Storm." Initial reports by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney stated that Speicher had been killed. One military source said reports indicated the aircraft had "exploded to bits" in the sky, apparently having suffered a direct SAM hit.

Iraqi officials soon announced the capture of American pilots. It was originally believed the chances of Speicher's ejection were slim, but the books were not closed on Speicher. He was the first American to be listed Missing in Action. Most recent media reports indicate that he was probably "confirmed killed." Although Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney has said Speicher was killed, he is still officially listed missing in action.

If Speicher and his aircraft "exploded to bits" all over the Iraqi sky in 1991, why, in December 1995, did a Pentagon team go to Iraq On a secret mission to look at the wreckage of Speicher's fighter and to search for his remains?

The search mission, which was led by the International Committee of the Red Cross and undertaken with the approval of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, found the wreckage virtually intact and upside down. Pentagon spokesman Bev Baker said the U.S. team, which conducted a week long excavation and search of the site, found "no human remains" in the wreckage or around the crash site. When asked if it was true that the Pentagon had satellite imagery of Speicher's ejection seat and E and E code, Baker said "The Pentagon does not discuss intelligence reports."

Evidence is now surfacing indicating that Speicher parachuted from his plane, landed safely, was alive on the ground and later captured. These revelations have the Pentagon scrambling for cover. Naval intelligence is now saying they were never sure why Speicher's plane disintegrated in mid-air. A Capitol Hill source familiar with the case told the U.S. Veteran Dispatch--"They also checked the debriefs of other pilots who had been shot down and released from Iraq. They may have even reinterviewed some of the former prisoners. One pilot said he was told by his Iraqi captors that 'the guy in the FA-18 shot down on the first day is on the run and we're going toe catch him," the source said.

"In 1995 Navy investigators, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, visited the crash site, also north of Baghdad (the exact location remains classified by the United States), and uncovered evidence they believed confirmed he was dead. Based upon that evidence, the Navy made a second determination of Speicher's death in 1996.

But the investigators also gained evidence suggesting Speicher had ejected from the aircraft. A flight suit was found with faded areas where the pilot's patches would be and the canopy, blown from the aircraft, was found, suggesting an ejection. But no ejection seat was found.

"We have reason to think he survived the ejection," a Defense Department official told ABCNEWS this week.

Investigators also found evidence suggesting the Iraqis had combed the site. They said they found the site had been excavated.

"Over the years since the determination [of death, in 1996] was made, the Navy and the U.S. government have consistently sought new information and continued to analyze all available information to resolve Speicher's fate," the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.

"This additional information and analysis, when added to the information considered in 1996, underscored the need for a new review."

And last Friday, President Clinton said he didn't want to raise false hopes but he said, "We're going to do our best to find out if he is alive and if he is to get him out because as a uniformed service person he should've been released by now if he is alive."

After 10 years, much of the plane has been lost to the desert, to the Iraqis, to the Americans who came with their shovels five years ago. But enough remains to pose a number of haunting questions. If he survived, could he move? Which way did he walk? Was he found? Where is he? Most haunting of all is the fact that for nearly five years no American came looking.

Admiral Arthur was the only high-ranking American official who agreed to be interviewed about the Speicher case.

Since last March, 60 Minutes II made repeated requests for interviews to former Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, who declared him dead, to ex-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John Shalikashvili, who decided not to launch an operation to look for him, and to Navy Secretaries John Dalton and Richard Danzig, who for seven years maintained his status as Killed In Action.

They all refused to talk to us about Lieutenant Commander Scott Speicher."

NEW article released by Air Force Times---Click Here to Read Article!

Bits N Pieces February 24th, 2001 (See below article)

More On Gulf War POW/MIA - From the Los Angeles Times, February 9th 2001, by Paul Richter, - "Washington _ Recent publicity about the first U.S. casualty of the 1991 Persian Gulf War has loosed an outpouring of new leads in the mysterious case, including information that could support the notion that the flier survived his crash and was taken prisoner by the Iraqis, according to a U.S. lawmaker. Sen. Pat Roberts (R_Kan.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the leads have come to light since last month, when Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher was officially reclassified from "killed in action" to "missing in action."

"The leads still need to be verified, Roberts said. But he added: "We're getting a better picture that he certainly did survive the crash. . . . The jigsaw puzzle of what happened to Michael Speicher is becoming more complete." Roberts declined to identify the sources of information except to say that people with knowledge of the case contacted U.S. authorities after the burst of worldwide media attention last month. Some of the sources, however, may be similar to the Iraqis who over the years have given U.S. authorities tips that a Navy flier fitting Speicher's description was captured, hospitalized and held prisoner in Baghdad. The U.S. government has been skeptical of some of those accounts. Intelligence officials declined to elaborate on the new information...."

"Some U.S. veterans, and lawmakers such as Roberts and Sen. Bob Smith (R_N.H.), have argued that the military hasn't pushed hard enough to solve the mystery of Speicher's fate. U.S. officials, explaining the reclassification of Speicher, have said they still have no "hard evidence" that he is alive. And they say that many pieces of evidence are ambiguous or unverified. They say they had simply come to doubt that the earlier evidence, including the wingman's report, was sufficient to conclude that Speicher was killed in the crash. The Iraqis have consistently contended that Speicher did not survive the crash."

"After the State Department last month called on the Iraqis to give a more complete accounting of the case, Iraq denounced the pressure. Roberts said he has talked about the case with Vice President Dick Cheney, who was Defense Secretary during the war, and Donald H. Rumsfeld, the current Defense Secretary, and found their interest "keen."

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 9 March 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright 1991 Homecoming II project. Updated by the P.O.W. Network.

CBS News--January 2001 Update

ABC News--Evidence of Ejection--Update 2001