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American Morning
Clue on Missing U.S. Pilot Michael Speicher
Aired April 24, 2003 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to Iraq quickly. A number of stories to track today. More now on the fate of pilot Scott Speicher.
Rula Amin tracking the latest in Baghdad, and we turn to her now for what she is hearing on the ground there.
Good afternoon -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Bill, U.S. specialists found the initials of Michael Scott Speicher, "M.S.S.," in one of the cells at one of Baghdad's prisons.
Now, it seems they have enough reason to believe that these may be the initials for Michael Scott Speicher, the U.S. pilot who was shot down, his plane was shot down during the 1991 Gulf War. It was towards the beginning of the war when a surface-to-air missile hit his plane, a SAM missile. And then, he crashed.
At the beginning, he was believed to have been killed. Then, the Pentagon changed his status to missing in action.
Now that the specialist team found these initials in one of the cells, they believe this may be enough clues that he survived the crash, and that he may still be alive. But they are not sure if he's still alive to this day, or if at some point he was brought to Baghdad. They are still trying to determine his fate -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, also on the latest on those videotapes we've been watching now for the past couple of hours here on CNN, apparently obtained by an Iraqi who, he says, he got it from inside one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, and possibly taken from his first wife. What more are we learning, not only about how we got them, but also what we're watching in these tapes?
AMIN: Well, it's tapes that document the personal side of his life, Saddam Hussein's. In the video you can see now, it's him celebrating his 50th birthday. This has always been an occasion celebrated with very lavish festivities all over the country.
In that occasion, he is cutting a huge cake, behind him his military aides, including one of his son-in-laws, Saddam Kamel (ph). He is one brother -- it's two brothers who were married to Saddam Hussein's two daughters. Later on, they were killed after they fled to Jordan and revealed part of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. You can see also behind him Abed Mahmoud, his private secretary.
In a different video, we see Saddam Hussein walking with his wife, Sajida. She is still his wife, although we know they had very deep differences in the past few years. You can see them there in the mountains in the northern part of the country in the winter of 1989.
These are very rare footage, because Iraqis have not been -- usually they were not shown Sajida, the wife of Saddam Hussein, very often on television. Most of the time it was very formal occasions, very official occasions. There, you see him -- you see them both walking, an intimate walk, holding hands.
So, again, this picture was never put on Iraqi television. Iraqis have never seen them so intimate.
In another video, we see him telling Sajida goodbye at one of -- at Baghdad's airport. She was heading off to Cairo on a visit there.
In that video, you see him also giving her a kiss on the cheek. Now, this may be something normal in the West, but not in Iraq. Iraqis have never seen Saddam Hussein giving his wife a kiss on the cheek before. You'll see also other members of the family there saying goodbye to Sajida, his wife. She is also his cousin, and they've been married for over 30 years.
In a different video, we see Queen Noor of Jordan. She is the wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. This was in the last '80s, probably after the end of the Iran-Iraq War. You see her there arriving at Baghdad International Airport, received by Iraqi officials, Iraqi women, including the wife of Saddam Hussein, Sajida.
Again, this video is from the late 1980s. Jordan is a neighboring country to Iraq, and they had long relations between Jordan and Iraq, whether trade or political -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, thanks -- Rula Amin in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired April 24, 2003 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to Iraq quickly. A number of stories to track today. More now on the fate of pilot Scott Speicher.
Rula Amin tracking the latest in Baghdad, and we turn to her now for what she is hearing on the ground there.
Good afternoon -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Bill, U.S. specialists found the initials of Michael Scott Speicher, "M.S.S.," in one of the cells at one of Baghdad's prisons.
Now, it seems they have enough reason to believe that these may be the initials for Michael Scott Speicher, the U.S. pilot who was shot down, his plane was shot down during the 1991 Gulf War. It was towards the beginning of the war when a surface-to-air missile hit his plane, a SAM missile. And then, he crashed.
At the beginning, he was believed to have been killed. Then, the Pentagon changed his status to missing in action.
Now that the specialist team found these initials in one of the cells, they believe this may be enough clues that he survived the crash, and that he may still be alive. But they are not sure if he's still alive to this day, or if at some point he was brought to Baghdad. They are still trying to determine his fate -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, also on the latest on those videotapes we've been watching now for the past couple of hours here on CNN, apparently obtained by an Iraqi who, he says, he got it from inside one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, and possibly taken from his first wife. What more are we learning, not only about how we got them, but also what we're watching in these tapes?
AMIN: Well, it's tapes that document the personal side of his life, Saddam Hussein's. In the video you can see now, it's him celebrating his 50th birthday. This has always been an occasion celebrated with very lavish festivities all over the country.
In that occasion, he is cutting a huge cake, behind him his military aides, including one of his son-in-laws, Saddam Kamel (ph). He is one brother -- it's two brothers who were married to Saddam Hussein's two daughters. Later on, they were killed after they fled to Jordan and revealed part of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. You can see also behind him Abed Mahmoud, his private secretary.
In a different video, we see Saddam Hussein walking with his wife, Sajida. She is still his wife, although we know they had very deep differences in the past few years. You can see them there in the mountains in the northern part of the country in the winter of 1989.
These are very rare footage, because Iraqis have not been -- usually they were not shown Sajida, the wife of Saddam Hussein, very often on television. Most of the time it was very formal occasions, very official occasions. There, you see him -- you see them both walking, an intimate walk, holding hands.
So, again, this picture was never put on Iraqi television. Iraqis have never seen them so intimate.
In another video, we see him telling Sajida goodbye at one of -- at Baghdad's airport. She was heading off to Cairo on a visit there.
In that video, you see him also giving her a kiss on the cheek. Now, this may be something normal in the West, but not in Iraq. Iraqis have never seen Saddam Hussein giving his wife a kiss on the cheek before. You'll see also other members of the family there saying goodbye to Sajida, his wife. She is also his cousin, and they've been married for over 30 years.
In a different video, we see Queen Noor of Jordan. She is the wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. This was in the last '80s, probably after the end of the Iran-Iraq War. You see her there arriving at Baghdad International Airport, received by Iraqi officials, Iraqi women, including the wife of Saddam Hussein, Sajida.
Again, this video is from the late 1980s. Jordan is a neighboring country to Iraq, and they had long relations between Jordan and Iraq, whether trade or political -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, thanks -- Rula Amin in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
