Don't take it as gospel, but MSNBC reports that, "Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Fla., who has pressed the government to resolve the question of Speicher’s fate, told reporters Wednesday after visiting the Hakmiyah prison that new information gave him reason to be optimistic that the mystery could be solved. He said he could not elaborate because the information was highly classified." Why isn't it a solid story? Well, for one thing, it's Senator BILL Nelson...

More importantly, the mystery of the fate of Lt. Cmdr Michael Scott Speicher, a Naval aviator written off as Killed in Action by his country on the first day of the 1991 Gulf War, may be a step closer to being solved.

Speicher, who, after a decade, was reclassified as Missing - Captured, has left a few clues, or so it would seem. In a cell at that hell-hole of a prison, the initials "MSS" were found, and some in the press think that's plenty of proof that Speicher was held in that cell. Senator Nelson's near-revelation, though, centers around the discovery of a 90-page document dated January of this year, purportedly listing Saddam's POWs. The Pentagon and intelligence agencies are keeping mum about what other information it may contain.

Saddam Hussein's regime always maintained that Speicher was killed when his F/A-18 was shot down from Iraqi skies on January 17, 1991.

FMI: www.dod.gov