Members of the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville heard a plea Tuesday from Deputy General Counsel Cindy Laquidara to bring home American soldiers missing in action.
As the attorney for the family of Lt. Commander Scott Speicher, Laquidara made an appeal for local citizens to get involved by writing their representatives. She also updated Rotary members on her recent briefing with Pentagon officials in Washington, D.C.
Initially, Speicher was believed killed when his plane was shot down over Iraq during a bombing run on the first night of the Gulf War. When his plane was found three years later, there was information that led Laquidara to believe Speicher was alive, held as a prisoner of war.
“Scott probably ejected,” she said. “Iraq almost certainly captured him and can account for his fate.”
According to Laquidara, Arizona Sen. John McCain helped modify the Defense Appropriation Act to require a detailed action list from the military on what it is doing to resolve the situation, with updates every 90 days. A plan was proposed to write a note, requesting information from the Iraqi government.
“That’s the way you may address a water line dispute,” said Laquidara. “You have to put people in a stranglehold with a knee on their neck, pull their head back and then say, ‘I have a question for you.’”