December 19, 2003

The search for Scott Speicher

At the beginning of the war, I briefly recounted the complicated and unresolved story of Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher, a Navy pilot. His F/A-18 Hornet was shot down on the first night of the Gulf War, Jan. 17., 1991. He was, and is, the only American officially unaccounted for in that conflict. Because of continuing reports that indicated Speicher might be alive and held captive, Speicher’s status was changed twice by the Pentagon, from killed in action to missing in action in 2001 and from MIA to prisoner of war in 2002. The Pentagon said at the war’s outset that attempting to find Speicher, or his remains, would be a priority. It looks like the government has stuck to its word. In his initial interrogation sessions, Saddam Hussein denied any knowledge of Speicher’s fate. This, and many other questions, no doubt will be revisited in the weeks and months ahead. The only U.S. soldier unaccounted for in the current Iraq conflict is Spc. Todd M. Bates of Bellaire, Ohio. He was on a patrol on the Tigris River south of Baghdad, on December 10 when his squad leader fell overboard. Bates dived into the water and did not surface.

Posted by tbrown at 12:00 PM

Jerk

Ralph Nader is still thinking about “running” for president again. Looks like he’ll announce next month. His “exploratory committee” also has an online poll on whether you want him to run or not (link via Joshua Marshall). Update: I just noticed this at DailyKOS, which says Nader may not run if Dean is the Democratic candidate. He's still a jerk ("Wah! I want my Dean!")

Posted by tbrown at 11:57 AM

Why do mainstream Dems hate Dean so?

Eleanor Clift at Newsweek has a few suggestions, chief among which is that they fear him as a “militant secularist” who’ll undermine the Democrats’ power base (such as it is). This is, unfortunately for Dean and the Dems, a real issue, and one that we’ll be addressing after the holidays.

Posted by tbrown at 11:55 AM