After eighteen long years, the family of Navy Captain Scott Speicher finally has closure. Now, they want answers.
Speicher, the only American service member listed as missing in action during the first Persian Gulf War, was laid to rest near Jacksonville, Florida on Friday. His funeral was held just two weeks after U.S. Marines, acting on new tips from Iraqi civilians, found Speicher's remains buried in the desert. Bone fragments and other skeletal remains, positively identified as those of the Navy pilot, were found about 2km from the spot where Speicher's F/A-18 crashed in January 1991, on the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
For the military--and Captain Speicher's family--the discovery ends years of speculation about the fighter pilot's fate. Various reports suggested that Speicher was captured by Saddam's security forces and languished in an Iraqi prison for years.
When U.S. forces entered Baghdad in 2003, they found the letters "M.S.S." (in western script) on the wall of an Iraqi prison cell. The initials matched those of the missing pilot, prompting new suggestions that Speicher had been an Iraqi prisoner. Ultimately, American investigators rejected those claims, noting that other initials were also found in the cell, but had no connection to westerners held by Saddam.
But many of Captain Speicher's friends and former colleagues still worried about what happened after he disappeared in the skies over Iraq. And sadly, most of their questions remain unanswered, despite the discovery of his remains, and their return home.
That's one reason that Speicher's family plans to pursue their own investigation into his death, and is urging the Pentagon to do the same. Despite years of sifting through intelligence evidence; excavation of the crash site and interviews with numerous Iraqis, we don't know what happened to Scott Speicher after his jet was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25.
But the best available evidence suggests that Captain Speicher (then a Lieutenant Commander) survived the ejection from his F/A-18. While other Allied pilots said they did not hear his emergency locater beacon (normally activated during bail-out), searchers found other hints that he reached the ground safely, and--apparently- -in relatively good shape.
That assessment is based on the discovery of an escape and evasion "symbol" near the spot where Speicher's jet hit the ground. The evasion sign (usually a letter) was unique to the pilot, and known only to him, squadron intelligence personnel and search and rescue forces. Creation of the sign--which was large enough to be seen from the air--took several minutes. It suggests that Speicher was well enough to carve the symbol into the Iraqi desert before setting off along his planned evasion route.
Alternately, the Navy pilot might have etched the symbol under duress, after capture by the Iraqis. But under that scenario, Speicher could have carved any letter or symbol to satisfy his captors. Discovery of the correct letter suggests that he was alone (and following established evasion procedures) in the moments after his ejection.
There's also the matter of the crash site, first visited by U.S. officials--as part of a Red Cross team--in December 1995. When the team arrived at the location, they discovered the Iraqis had carefully examined the wreckage only weeks earlier. In fact, the cockpit section of the F/A-18 Hornet had been removed, denying access to potentially vital evidence. However, no human remains were ever discovered among the Hornet's wreckage, another indicator that Speicher did not die when his jet impacted the desert floor.
The 1995 investigation also turned up further evidence of Iraqi tampering. At the scene, Iraqi officials turned over a flight suit, supposedly worn by Captain Speicher on his final mission. The garment even had the pilot's squadron patch, from VFA-81, the "Sunliners."
That discovery raised more suspicions about Speicher and his fate. For starters, pilots and other aircrew members "sanitize" both their flight suits and wallets before each combat mission, removing such identifying elements as credit cards, their driver's license--and unit insignia. Additionally, the Nomex flight suit appeared none-the-worse for years in the Iraqi desert and showed no evidence of pilot injuries, or a fiery ejection from the damage F/A-18.
And finally, it would make no sense for Speicher to remove his flight suit on a January night, when he needed all available protection from cold temperatures. The Navy pilot also understood that his uniform afforded certain protections under the Geneva Conventions. Without it, he was subject to immediate execution as a spy.
Equally puzzling is the location of Captain Speicher's remains. Roughly 2km from aircraft wreckage, the site represents a long trek for an injured pilot. It's also a bit far for Bedouins to carry the body for burial, to avoid discovery by Saddam's troops. With their knowledge of the local terrain, Bedouins would likely choose a closer location, but one that would be overlooked by Iraqi security forces.
Such inconsistencies--not to mention those lingering, unanswered questions--are reasons the Speicher family is still searching for answers. After two decades, they finally know that Captain Speicher perished in the Iraqi desert, but the circumstances surrounding his death remain vague.
Oddly enough, the family's determination is not shared by the U.S. government. With discovery of Speicher's remains, the Pentagon seems prepared to close the book on the case. In fact, a family spokesman has affirmed that the Speichers' plan to continue the quest on their own, suggesting that DoD will not devote additional, investigative resources to the case.
That begs a rather obvious question--why? True, it's been years since Captain Speicher was buried in that desert grave and the trail has (arguably) grown cold. But advances in forensic science could shed more light on Speicher's fate, and more interviews with Iraqis could fill in gaps about the last moments of the pilot's life.
Searching for additional witnesses would seemingly be a no-brainer for the military, but we've heard of no Pentagon plans to mount such an effort. That makes us wonder if DoD officials are concerned about where that type of inquiry might lead. Many of Saddam's former henchmen are now senior officials in the new Iraqi government. It would be embarrassing to discover that a current political or military leader was complicit--or directly involved--in the death of Captain Speicher.
Scott Speicher is finally home, but we still don't know how he died on that January night in 1991. His family is determined to answer that question and they deserve the support of the U.S. government. At this juncture, unfortunately, that support appears to be lacking.
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