Missing In Action

From Free net encyclopedia

Missing In Action (abbreviated MIA), is a term (dating from 1946) referring to a member of the armed services who is reported missing following a combat mission and whose status as to injury, capture, or death is unknown. The missing combatant must not have been otherwise accounted for as either killed in action (KIA) or a prisoner of war (POW).

1 The MIA investigations in the USA
2 MIA in Iraq
3 Colloquial usage
4 External links

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The MIA investigations in the USA

During the late 1970s and 1980s the friends and relatives of unaccounted for American GIs became politically active, requesting the U.S. government reveal what steps were taken to follow up on intelligence regarding last known alive MIAs and POWs. When initial inquiries revealed important information had not been pursued, many families and their supporters asked for the public release of POW/MIA records and called for an investigation.

In 1991, a resolution by Vietnam veteran U.S. Senator Robert C. Smith to create a Senate Select POW/MIA Committee was held up in committee by Vietnam veteran Senator John Kerry. Kerry insisted that the creation of the Senate Select POW/MIA Committee would not go forward unless he was named chairman. Kerry was eventually named chairman, and was joined on the committee by Senator and former POW John McCain, who had been a strong opponent of the creation of a Senate Select POW/MIA Committee. Controversy erupted during the committee when the six live sighting investigators hired by the committee concluded that the live sighting intelligence through 1989 showed Vietnam and Laos were still holding American prisoners. As chairman, Kerry would have been in charge of a debate on the live sighting intelligence. Yet rather than debate the intelligence, Kerry ordered the report of the live sighting investigators to be shredded along with all of their personal notes. According to an April 1992 article entitled "POW/MIA Committee Chairman Under Fire" by Jeff Brailey of the New York Guardian, Kerry's chief staff counsel at the committee asked who the injured party was. When he was told the families were the injured party, he responded "How are they gonna find out? Who is going to tell them? It's classified."

The final report of the Senate Select POW/MIA Committee revealed explosive material yet to be investigated and the fact that committee investigators had been denied access to critical records. Tragically, much important intelligence has, to this day, not been pursued. Additionally, despite laws and presidential orders requiring the release of POW/MIA information, the U.S. government continues to withhold records from POW/MIA families and the public. A bill including criminal penalties for deliberately withholding POW/MIA records in violation of the law unanimously passed the House of Representatives. However, as reported by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sydney Schanberg, such penalties were stripped from the bill in conference due to the efforts of former POW John McCain.

To this day the Defense Department has declined to implement a number of crucial recommendations made by the Senate Select POW/MIA Committee.

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MIA in Iraq

During the Persian Gulf War of 1991, an American pilot named Scott Speicher was reported as KIA after his aircraft was shot down. In 1997, a Defense Department document leaked to the New York Times showed that the Pentagon had not been forthcoming with information previously requested by U.S. Senator Rod Grams. Senator Grams publicly accused the Pentagon of misleading him, and joined with Senator Bob Smith in calling for an investigation by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. That investigation is ongoing; however, no evidence has turned up of Speicher's survival as of 2006.

A small number of coalition soldiers went missing in action in Iraq following the 2003 invasion. In one prominent case, an American soldier of Lebanese background, Wassef Ali Hassoun, went missing and claimed to have been captured. It was soon discovered he made the story up, and Hassoun is currently a fugitive.

US Army Sgt. Keith Maupin was captured by insurgents in April 2004. He was allegedly executed in June 2004. A video allegedly showing Maupin's execution was broadcast on Al Jazeera but the U.S has not confirmed Maupin is dead. He is still listed as MIA.

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