Bill Nelson: “we walked away from a downed flier. There were a series of mistakes that occurred. Senator Roberts can give you the…”

“we walked away from a downed flier. There were a series of mistakes that occurred. Senator Roberts can give you the detail of that. But the fact is, CDR Scott Speicher, who, by the way, our Armed Services Committee and this Senate has now promoted to Captain, was the first U.S. serviceman shot down in the gulf war. Then there was a series of incredible mistakes. For example, his buddies flying with him gave the proper coordinates, but when the coordinates were transmitted for our surveillance assets to look, the numbers were transposed so they didn't look in the right place. Through one thing and another, suddenly a press conference is held in Washington with the then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, and the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, GEN Colin Powell. Out of that press conference came the statement that Commander Speicher was dead. In fact, we have since learned that through this series of mistakes we never looked in the right place. Testimony was convoluted. Then, lo and behold, years later comes forth an eye witness account that someone actually drove him to a hospital. Through several corroborations, that testimony was determined to be true. So, what we want to do, as Senator Roberts has done so eloquently and so courageously over the years, is keep this matter alive and find out what happened and where is CDR Scott Speicher, and is he living? And, if he is not, then to have proof.”