John LeBoutillier
Friday, Jan. 12, 2001

In fact, something big may be going on.

The "something" has to do with Iraq, with the incoming Bush administration and with the startling revelations – breaking each minute – that the downed pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Speicher indeed survived his 1991 shootdown and may still be alive!

The clues are all too obvious:

1) Two days ago the president-elect, accompanied by Dick Cheney and Colin Powell – the architects of the 1990-91 Gulf War policy – had a private security briefing in the Pentagon’s "tank" with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to sources present, "Iraqi policy was very much on Bush’s mind. Saddam was clearly a discussion point." Half the 75-minute meeting was spent discussing Iraq.

2) Just a few hours later the Pentagon announces that they have changed the status of Lt. Cmdr. Speicher from Killed-In-Action to Missing-In-Action – a significant change.

3) The Pentagon admits that there is "new evidence" that Speicher survived his crash. This evidence includes Escape and Evade signals that pilots are trained to plant near their location to help rescue teams and overhead satellites spot them.

4) Last night President Clinton said, "We have some information that leads us to believe he might be alive."

What is this all about?

Here are a few thoughts:

1) The Clinton team is trying to hurt/embarrass the Bushes. The Clinton team is trying to bring the Speicher issue up now because it was then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney who presided over the Pentagon during the Speicher shootdown. And it was then that Speicher was declared dead.

2) Clearly Pentagon officials lied about this case. They denied that any manmade symbols were ever found at the crash site. Maybe this administration is trying to blame the Cheney-Bush 1990-91 team.

3) Or perhaps Cheney and Bush are worried about what the first Bush administration did about this case, thus spending half of the Pentagon security "tank" meeting on Iraq when it is not the biggest concern we have.

4) Or perhaps Iraq has ‘back-channeled’ that they have Speicher alive and would trade him in return for lifting the sanctions. This is exactly what happened back on Jan. 26, 1981, when the North Vietnamese signaled to the new Reagan-Bush administration that they would "sell" living U.S. POWs for $4 billion. It was Vice President Bush in a Roosevelt Room meeting who torpedoed the payment – and no POWs have been allowed to come home.

5) There have been reports of Saddam’s death. Maybe he is dead – or disabled – and a new government there is using Speicher somehow for leverage.

6) I trust nothing that comes from Bill Clinton. Nothing! But, when it comes to POWs, I have to tell you I trust nothing that comes from the CIA or the Pentagon. They have lied all over the place about our men abandoned in Vietnam. They have conducted a horrible and perfidious cover-up of that abandonment.

7) I trust nothing out of the mouth of former President – and former CIA Director – George Bush about POWs. And I know for a fact that the Pentagon under Dick Cheney helped cover up the existence of our POWs in Vietnam.

8) So it is not much of a stretch to imagine even more dishonesty when it comes to Lt. Cmdr. Speicher.

One thing is certain: There is something going on with this story. I hope and pray that Speicher is recovered alive and brought home. But I fear that politics and CYA from the first Bush administration and from this awful Clinton crew may prevent it.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Daily Political Diary
Bush Administration
Saddam Hussein/Iraq