The following Senators have cosponsored S- 484; Senators Spencer Abraham, Wayne Allard, John Ashcroft, Jeff Bingaman, Sam Brownback, Jim Bunning, Conrad Burns, Kent Conrad, Paul Coverdell, Christopher Dodd, Peter Fitzgerald, Bill Frist, Slade Gorton, Rod Grams, Judd Gregg, Jesse Helms, Tim Hutchinson, Kay Bailey Hutchison, James Jeffords, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Patrick Leahy, Blanche Lincoln, Trent Trent, Connie Mack, Mitch McConnell, Frank Murkowski, Patty Murray, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Richard Shelby, Bob Smith, Olympia Snowe, Strom Thurmond, and Robert Torricelli. (This list of cosponsors was downloaded from the Library of Congress Legislative site on May 19th, at approximately 8:00 P.M.)

If your Senator is not on this list, call or fax him Monday morning and ask that he cosponsor and vote for S-484.

Notably Absent - Take a close look at the list of Senators cosponsoring S-484. Notably absent is the senior Senator from Arizona. One again, he as demonstrated his lack of concern for our POW/MIAs and their families.

H.Con. Res 311 calling for the United States to "..continue to actively pursue efforts to achieve a full accounting of unaccounted for persons from past wars, including recovery and identification of remains..." needs cosponsors.

Write your congressional representative now! Ask that he or she become a co-sponsor of H.Con Res. 311. Send your letters to your Congressional Representative at U.S. House of Representative, Washington D.C. 20515.

Normal Trade Relations - Congress is currently debating granting permanent "normal trade relations" status to China. Normal Trade Relations or NTR is the new designation for Most Favored Nation status or MFN.

The congressional vote is due the week of May 22nd. Granting permanent trade status moves China one step closer to joining the World Trade Organization.

From "China Trade Status Strategically Important to U.S., Asia" By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service - "Speaking before the Asia Society, Secretary of Defense William Cohen said that all in the region can take comfort that the United States is "constructively engaged" with China. "How we treat China, how we relate to them, will be critically important in terms of the path they will take in the future," he said."

"Cohen quoted former Secretary of State Jim Baker as saying "If you go looking for an enemy, you'll find one." He said the United States must convey to the Chinese that America is not looking for enemies, but friends."

IF China Wants To Be Friends - they might start with by providing the TRUTH about our Korean War POWs. They can start with Richard Desautels. Regular readers of "Bits" know that American POWs reported Desautels as being taken away by the Chinese. If the Chinese want to be friends, they know where to start!

Interesting E-Mail - This e-mail was passed to us, by Dave Murray. It came from a Gulf War Vet. "After the cease fire, my MP team along with a full bird colonel were ordered to Iraq to escort the remains of a US pilot shot down over Iraq. I always wondered who the name of the pilot we escorted back to Kuwait. I know now that these remains were supposedly Michael Speicher. Upon entering into Kuwait again, the colonel stopped the ambulance so we could open the coffin and make sure it contained remains. I was standing outside the ambulance and he told me that the coffin contained remains but that's as far as it went. I feel that we left another one of our own over there. Just like in Nam. Even though we did bring back remains of someone, after reading all the evidence, I believe our Govt. abandoned Michael Speicher."

Remains Identified - From the Associated Press - "WASHINGTON (AP) -- An Illinois Air Force pilot missing in action from the Vietnam War has been accounted for and his remains are being returned to his family for burial, the Pentagon said Wednesday."

"He was identified as Col. Harold V. Smith of Bridgeport, Ill. Smith was leading a four-aircraft attack against enemy surface-to-air missile sites in Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam, on March 7, 1966, when he disappeared, the Pentagon said in a statement...."

"...U.S. and Vietnamese investigators interviewed potential witnesses and searched again in 1993, 1994 and 1995, but neither the crash site nor human remains were found, the Pentagon said. "

"Then in 1996, the Vietnamese government helped U.S. investigators find an informant who led them to the burial, which was excavated in August and September 1998, uncovering human remains and some personal items. Smith was identified through analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii...."

MIA Marines Identified From Mayaguez Incident - From the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense - News Release May 18, 2000 - "Six Marines missing in action from the Vietnam War have been accounted for and their remains are being returned to their families for burial in the United States."

"They are identified as Lance Cpl. Gregory S. Copenhaver, Port Deposit, Md.; Lance Cpl. Andres Garcia, Carlsbad, N.M.; Pfc. Walter Boyd, Norfolk, Va.; and Pfc. Kelton R. Turner, Los Angeles, Calif. The names of two Marines are being withheld at the request of their families."

"...Between 1991-99, U.S. and Cambodian investigators conducted seven joint investigations, led by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting. Additionally, on three occasions Cambodian authorities unilaterally turned over remains believed to be those of American servicemen. In October and November 1995, U.S. and Cambodian specialists conducted an underwater recovery of the helicopter crash site where they located numerous remains, personal effects and aircraft debris associated with the loss. The USS Brunswick, a Navy salvage vessel, enabled the specialists to conduct their excavation off shore. In addition to the support provided by the Cambodian government, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam also interviewed two Vietnamese informants in Ho Chi Minh City who turned over remains that were later positively identified...."

"...Analysis of the remains and other evidence was made by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii, which also conducted all the remains recovery operations. The CILHI made extensive use of mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic identification tools to establish the identity of these men...."

Mayaguez Documentary - We hope you all saw the excellent documentary on the Mayaguez incident aired by the Discovery Channel. Titled "Seized at Sea" this documentary provided detailed information on the actual battle as well as the behind the scenes political decision making that led to the ill-fated rescue.

An interview with one of the Cambodian soldiers provided information on three Marines left behind alive. According to the Cambodia the three emerged from the jungle three days after the battle, seeking food and water. The fate of the three, Joseph Hargrove, Danny Marshall and Gary Hall remain unknown.

Another Question - viewers of "Seized at Sea" were left with is -- Just what does the "I" in "CIA" stand for. Based on the information provided by the CIA for this operation the "I" sure didn't stand for "Intelligence."

Mayaguez Correction - In the last edition of "Bits" we referred to the Mayaguez as USS Mayaguez. The correct designation is S.S. Mayaguez. The difference, USS denotes a United States Naval Ship. The S.S. denotes a commercial freighter. The Mayaguez was a civilian ship. Thanks to Dewey Martin, U.S. Merchant Marines (Ret) for bringing this to our attention.

No Final Rest for the Crew of Spooky 10 - On May 15th, 2000, 24 years after the disappearance of the Spooky 10 aircraft, the 8 Americans and 2 Vietnamese nationals, were "buried" at Arlington National Cemetery.

Based only on the identifiable remains of the aircraft Captain, George Jensen, a marker was erected bearing the name of the 7 unaccounted for crewmen. Now in the eyes of the United States Government those 7 are considered, in DPMO's words "identified and returned to their families for burial." That statement isn't true. But then, the truth means very little to most of the folks at DPMO.

From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Hector Castro May 15th 2000 - "Vietnam vet MIA finally laid to rest After 34 years, it brings closure to fighter pilot's family" - "Some teeth and a few bits of an old Kodak camera were all that remained of Air Force Col. George W. Jensen. But the sparse remnants of the Seattle native, shot down over Laos 34 years ago today, were enough to identify him. This morning, in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Jensen will be buried -- a year after he was officially identified and three years after his remains were finally recovered...."

"... in March 1997, American and Laotian searchers, acting on a tip from a conversation overheard in a Vietnamese bar, found the crash site and were able to recover Jensen's remains. Although the investigators found other items that likely belonged to the flight crew members, such as dog tags, a Timex watch and a coin, they were unable to identify any of the other men."

"Finally, on Nov. 24, 1999, military officials announced that dental records had confirmed that the remains were Jensen's. Jensen will be buried in a morning service, but the government will also set a memorial marker for the entire crew later in the afternoon...."

From Associated Press Newswires - Monday, May 15, 2000 "DESTIN, Fla. (AP) - Jeanne Riley waited 34 years for her Air Force husband to return after his plane went down over Laos only three weeks after he had gone off to the war in Vietnam..."

"...Air Force officials called to say remains were found at a crash site in Laos and those of her husband, promoted to colonel while listed as missing, were believed among them. The remains, however, were just fragments and her husband wasn't positively identified, said Johnnie Webb, the civilian deputy commander of the Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii."

"They really haven't found anything," Riley said. "I think they wanted to close the books and get off the case." The laboratory said it confirmed the death of her husband because it could identify remains of other crew members. Also, investigators doubted anyone could have survived the crash, based on the wreckage and noted a lack of live-sighting reports, Webb said."

"The couple had been high school sweethearts and were married for 19 years before he disappeared, Riley recalled in an interview before leaving for Washington. Her eyes rimmed red as she spoke of him. "I just don't do very good at this, not good at all," she said. "It should get better, but it doesn't. That word, closure, I don't really have it that way."

From Department of Army - United States Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii - March 14, 1997 "Recovered life-support equipment items, aircrew-related items, and personal effects, exclusive of the previously recovered captain's rank insignia and the loadmaster's identification, cannot be correlated to specific individuals, nor are they sufficient to conclude whether or not all of the other crew members were aboard the aircraft at time of impact."

This still unaccounted for crewmen of Spooky 10 are: Marshall Tapp, Lavern Reilly, George Thompson, James Preston, James Williams William Madison and Kenneth McKenney.

If The Truth Doesn't Fit, Force It, Turn It, Twist It, Distort It, But Make It Fit - According to the AP article Johnnie Webb stated; investigators doubted anyone could have survived the crash, based on the wreckage and noted a lack of live-sighting reports.

Here's the ol' CIL-HI - DPMO boot scoot 'n' boogie two step - no live sighting so they are dead. But, there were live sightings for the Baron 52 crew. There were no remains recovered 1997 for three of the backenders and only 1/2 a tooth for the 4th backender. No remains were located or observed for the 4 backenders when US force reached the crash site five days after the shoot down, in 1973. Yet, the backenders of Baron 52, were declared dead and buried without remains.

Peter Matthes laying down his authenticator code outside a Vietnamese prison in 1992, didn't stop CIL-HI and their DPMO cronies from burying Matthes without remains. These are examples of two of the many cases, we could cite.