Iraq accused of hiding truth about missing US pilot

The United States has accused Iraq of witholding information about a US Navy pilot who was declared killed in action on the first day of the Gulf War in 1991 but who has since been redesignated by the Pentagon as possibly still living and missing in action.

The unexpected diplomatic attack, delivered by America's ambassador to the UN at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, represents a new level for Washington's anti-Iraq rhetoric.

Mystery has long surrounded the fate of Commander Michael Speicher, who was shot down in the desert west of Baghdad on 17 January 2001 while piloting an F-18 Hornet aircraft. Suspicion has been mounting that he may be held captive in Iraq.

An investigation by the CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency was given fresh impetus several months ago by new information reportedly provided by British intelligence agents. The International Committee of the Red Cross and a tripartite commission of Britain, France and the US, are working on the case as well as other cases of missing persons.

John Negroponte, the US ambassador, said: "Despite our extensive efforts in this regard, Iraq has continued to assert that they will provide no new information We consider the treatment of this case a perfect example of their non-cooperation on the prisoner of war and missing persons issue".

Washington placed Cdr Speicher on the missing in action (MIA) list in January last year. However, officials at the Pentagon conceded earlier this month his status may be altered once again to that of missing-captured, commonly known as prisoner of war.

Some US senators have been pressing the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to make the change.

A Navy official who requested anonymity said: "Obviously his status is of particular interest and it is an ongoing investigation for the Navy. But as of now, there is no change in his status of MIA."

A US intelligence report supplied to the Senate Intelligence Committee early last year stated that Cdr Speicher "probably survived the loss of his aircraft and, if he survived, he almost certainly was captured by the Iraqis". The report said the pilot had ejected from his plane and Iraqi officials had provided the US with his uniform that had been cut open.

"We assess that Iraq can account for Cdr Speicher but that Baghdad is concealing information about his fate," the report concluded.

Late last year, according to a report in The Washington Times, British officials told the CIA they had heard from an Iraqi source that Cdr Speicher was being held hostage in Baghdad. They said only two people had been allowed to see him – Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, and the chief of Iraq's intelligence service.

The information rekindled interest in the investigation. The US Senate was given a fresh briefing and intelligence officials also briefed President George Bush on the matter.

The Speicher family, from Jacksonville, Florida, has mounted a determined campaign for more information. "There have been several sightings over the past two years, though his whereabouts are classified," Richard Adams, a nephew and family spokesman, said recently. "It is my opinion that he is being held as a trophy prisoner until Saddam feels he needs him."

Although US investigators originally thought the Hornet had been downed by a land-to-air missile, last year's intelligence report asserted the weapon had been an air-to-air missile. it happened on the first night of combat of the Gulf War, launched by the Western allies after President Saddam invaded Kuwait. The plane was later found more or less intact. Its canopy was found some distance from the crash, suggesting the pilot had ejected.

After the war, Iraq released 21 US military personnel or their remains, but Cdr Speicher was not among them.

Mr Negroponte told the UN Council that Iraq had promised at the Arab League Summit in Beirut earlier this year to help resolve the cases of Gulf War missing persons, who include Kuwaiti prisoners of war, four Iranians, four Syrians and an Indian national. But the ambassador said: "Iraq has yet to match its words on the fate of the missing persons with tangible deeds and co-operation." The UN has said that about 600 Kuwaiti families are still awaiting word on the fates of their loved ones.