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American Morning
Interview With Cindy Laquidara
Aired December 16, 2003 - 07:33 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein denies knowing anything about the fate of Scott Speicher, the missing Navy ftp whose plane was shot down over Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Joining us now from Jacksonville, Florida, the family attorney, Cindy Laquidara, attorney for the Speicher family.
Cindy, thanks very much for being with us.
Apparently in interrogations thus far, Saddam Hussein has denied any knowledge of the fate of Captain Speicher.
Do you still hold out hope, does the family still hold out hope that something may come out of interrogating Saddam about Captain Speicher?
CINDY LAQUIDARA, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF MISSING PILOT: Well, certainly something will come out of interrogating him. That information, that initial denial was done early Sunday morning our time, with very little prep, and was not unexpected. One would hardly expect him to immediately admit to a war crime. But I have full confidence in our ability to interrogate him over a number of weeks based on other intelligence we have, and basically put him in a box and get that information.
COOPER: You have been working closely with the Pentagon and others directly involved in the search for Captain Speicher, trying to find out what happened to him long ago.
What are they telling you?
LAQUIDARA: They, I can't give you the classified information. I can tell you my last secret level briefing was a few weeks ago. They've done a great job gathering additional intelligence. There are people in custody besides Saddam who have the answer, and we know that, and there are a number of people still at large, very minor people who it would certainly behoove them at this point to come forward and give us that information.
COOPER: Now, we're looking at some Defense Department images of the crash site that was, they went back to several years ago. They researched it. They talked to locals.
LAQUIDARA: Right.
COOPER: In April there was a tantalizing, what some thought would be a tantalizing clue, initials MSS were found scrawled on a wall in a prison cell in Baghdad. We're showing that right now.
LAQUIDARA: Right.
COOPER: But I understand that follow-up tests, I believe analyzing the DNA of hair samples found in the drain of that cell, did not come up with any DNA of Captain Speicher.
LAQUIDARA: Well, and neither did we expect them to. I mean you're always hopeful, but pointing to our intelligence sources, and there were many who placed him there, which is why we went and searched there at the time, the last time he was in that prison was 1998. And so one wouldn't expect to find hair in a drain five years later.
COOPER: What is the family's working hypothesis?
LAQUIDARA: You know, we are involved in some of the intelligence of this and we do have resources here that have been very helpful to us. I can only tell you that we believe that he was in custody for a long period of time. We believe he suffered incredible injuries, being tortured, and that the country owes him an answer and that we have people in custody right now who will give us that. And if not, we will get additional people who will come and help convict Saddam of this war crime.
COOPER: Finally this morning, how is Captain Speicher's family doing?
LAQUIDARA: They're doing great. They're incredibly strong people, incredibly hopeful people.
COOPER: Well, Cindy Laquidara, attorney for the Speicher family, we appreciate you joining us this morning.
Thanks very much, Cindy.
LAQUIDARA: Thank you for your interest.
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 December 16, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein denies knowing anything about the fate of Scott Speicher, the missing Navy ftp whose plane was shot down over Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Joining us now from Jacksonville, Florida, the family attorney, Cindy Laquidara, attorney for the Speicher family.
Cindy, thanks very much for being with us.
Apparently in interrogations thus far, Saddam Hussein has denied any knowledge of the fate of Captain Speicher.
Do you still hold out hope, does the family still hold out hope that something may come out of interrogating Saddam about Captain Speicher?
CINDY LAQUIDARA, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF MISSING PILOT: Well, certainly something will come out of interrogating him. That information, that initial denial was done early Sunday morning our time, with very little prep, and was not unexpected. One would hardly expect him to immediately admit to a war crime. But I have full confidence in our ability to interrogate him over a number of weeks based on other intelligence we have, and basically put him in a box and get that information.
COOPER: You have been working closely with the Pentagon and others directly involved in the search for Captain Speicher, trying to find out what happened to him long ago.
What are they telling you?
LAQUIDARA: They, I can't give you the classified information. I can tell you my last secret level briefing was a few weeks ago. They've done a great job gathering additional intelligence. There are people in custody besides Saddam who have the answer, and we know that, and there are a number of people still at large, very minor people who it would certainly behoove them at this point to come forward and give us that information.
COOPER: Now, we're looking at some Defense Department images of the crash site that was, they went back to several years ago. They researched it. They talked to locals.
LAQUIDARA: Right.
COOPER: In April there was a tantalizing, what some thought would be a tantalizing clue, initials MSS were found scrawled on a wall in a prison cell in Baghdad. We're showing that right now.
LAQUIDARA: Right.
COOPER: But I understand that follow-up tests, I believe analyzing the DNA of hair samples found in the drain of that cell, did not come up with any DNA of Captain Speicher.
LAQUIDARA: Well, and neither did we expect them to. I mean you're always hopeful, but pointing to our intelligence sources, and there were many who placed him there, which is why we went and searched there at the time, the last time he was in that prison was 1998. And so one wouldn't expect to find hair in a drain five years later.
COOPER: What is the family's working hypothesis?
LAQUIDARA: You know, we are involved in some of the intelligence of this and we do have resources here that have been very helpful to us. I can only tell you that we believe that he was in custody for a long period of time. We believe he suffered incredible injuries, being tortured, and that the country owes him an answer and that we have people in custody right now who will give us that. And if not, we will get additional people who will come and help convict Saddam of this war crime.
COOPER: Finally this morning, how is Captain Speicher's family doing?
LAQUIDARA: They're doing great. They're incredibly strong people, incredibly hopeful people.
COOPER: Well, Cindy Laquidara, attorney for the Speicher family, we appreciate you joining us this morning.
Thanks very much, Cindy.
LAQUIDARA: Thank you for your interest.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
