ShareThisTuesday, November 21, 2006
The Bring Them Home Alive Act allows people in Laos, Vietnam, China, Iraq and the former Soviet Union who help recover U.S. soldiers who served in the Vietnam and Korean wars to come to the U.S. as refugees.
A 2002 amendment extends the law to Iraqis and others in the Middle East who help return a living POW or MIA soldier to U.S. control from the Persian Gulf War in 1991. One soldier, Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, is the only one still classified as "missing-captured."
Two soldiers are missing in Iraq. Both are presumed to be alive. Army Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin went missing April 9, 2004, near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.
An interpreter who married an Iraqi woman went missing last month, said Larry Greer, spokesman of the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office. The Pentagon identified him as Spc. Ahmed Kousay Altaie, 41, an Army Reservist soldier kidnapped Oct. 23 outside the Green Zone.
SGT Matt Maupin
Maybe interesting to note: Terminology has been changed for Captured American Servicemen/women from POW/MIA to Missing Captured..Duty station whereabouts unknown. Most Americans are not aware of these servicemen because of the terminology change. We talk about protection of the troops and then change the terminology to take the lifgt off these Americans ? Is that right ?
New Hampshire passed a resolution to DEMAND DOD and Pentagon change the terminology BACK to POW/MIA.
This is a WAR(we hear) the Geneva Convention discusses POW's..MIA's NOT Missing Captured.
Bob Jones
Meredith,NH
Matt Maupin/Scott Speicher Errors and Omissions cant be stopped
Calling Scott Speicher the ONLY personnel listed Missing Captured makes me laugh. Search internet news for Matt Maupin. For the last year they've been calling Matt the ONLY personnel "Missing" in Iraq and leave off the Captured part of his casualty status; and Leave Cpt Speicher out of the "club of two members" all together.
For over three years the DoD and Pentagon POW office and Public Affairs has maintained that these two heroes are NOT POWs. And they've used several different versions of why they are not.
Worse: The American Press follows blindly, making larger errors based on the DoD errors and omissions.
But if you research you WILL FIND that the highest ranking Military Law experts connected with the POW office in the Pentagon have documented......"In US Law there is no Prisoner of War.....if you are listed "Missing Captured" (US domestic term) then "legally and automatically" you are ALSO a "Prisoner of War"
CAUTION; Do not attempt to get them or their public affairs to ever put this "truth" out to the general public.
Given that these captured Americans represent the "least of those among us" whom we send into harms way (in our stead).
And that US Code 2310.4 states that
"the repatriation of captured American personnel is one of the highest priorities of our government and the DoD ability to FULFILL ITS MORAL OBLIGATION"
And GIVEN that the DoD admittedly has two "terms" with which to legally refer to these heroes that it continues to chose the "least known", "least recognized" term to refer to them in public.
Where is the wisdom or following the Federal Law that requires them to act proactively and fulfill their moral obligation??????
LIBERTY