No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher Story [Abridged] [Audio CD]

Amy Waters Yarsinske (Author), Gary Telles (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

Amy Waters Yarsinske, a former intelligence officer and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, breaks the incredible true story of Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher, the first American pilot shot down during the Gulf War, found alive in Iraqi custody eleven years after the US government left him for dead.

On January 16, 1991, Speicher participated in the initial air strike of the Persian Gulf War. Moments after an attack by an Iraqi MIG-25, Speicher's plane vanished over the Baghdad desert. The next day, Secretary of State Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell told the American public that Speicher was the first casualty of the Gulf War. He was listed as KIA/BNR.

Tracking this explosive story for the past eight years, Yarsinske interviewed top government and military officials, diplomats, pilots, informers, and Iraqi defectors to write a stunning true account of the denials and cover-ups that obscured an essential fact: Speicher actually survived.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It was a wise editorial decision to have the author read the preface-in her pleasant, no-nonsense country voice-to this amazingly timely audio version of her new book about a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who's likely being held prisoner in Iraq 11 years after Desert Storm. Along with Aselford's competent but definitely low-key reading of the rest of the book, it gives the entire production a feeling of an overheard conversation between knowledgeable friends, adding a depth of believability and confidence that fancier, more melodramatic treatment might have weakened. If Lt. Commander Speicher, shot down during the Gulf War and first listed as killed in action, is indeed alive-as Yarsinske's painstaking, Pulitzer Prize-nominated research seems to indicate-it could cause many Americans to look at President Bush's plans for Iraq with new eyes. Her presentation of material from top government and military officials, diplomats, pilots, informers and Iraqi defectors make the book even more authentic. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Amy Waters Yarsinske is the author of two dozen books and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism for her six-part series in The Virginian-Pilot on Scott Speicher titled, "Dead or Alive?" written with Lon Wagner. A former intelligence officer in the navel reserves, she lives with her husband?a reserve naval aviator and Desert Storm veteran?in Norfolk, Virginia.

Gary Telles has been narrating audiobooks for the past ten years. A veteran stage actor, he has performed classical, contemporary and original theatre across the country, in addition to appearing on television, radio and CD-ROM.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio; Abridged edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885408870
• ISBN-13: 978-1885408877
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,707,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A shocking story, July 25, 2002

By 

Inger Watts (Trondheim, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher Story (Hardcover)

This book tells the story of missing airman Scott Speicher. The author believes that the pilot is alive in Iraqi captivity, and in her own way she takes us behind closed doors.

What happened to Speicher? Based on facts obtained in her own studies, she gives us her opinion about what happened and is still going on. She indicates that certain US officials are as much to blame as Saddam Hussein for Speicher's plight, and that is frightening.

At the same time it is interesting to learn how Speicher's family and friends reacted to his disapearance. It is touching to read fragments from Scott's last letter to his wife; the letter he had left behind in case something should happen to him. At the same time his friends' desciptions of him as a 'good man' really make you wish that he's alive and soon will be able to come home to a better life.

I find the last chapter especially shocking. It made me lie awake and think long after I should have been asleep.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warriors Oddessy, August 11, 2002

By 

richard jackson (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher Story (Audio CD)

If you only read one book this year, make it this one. This book speaks to a critical situation that we can still affect. LCDR Mike "Spike" Speicher, now promoted to Captain in the US Navy with his status as Missing In Action, was flying an F-18 Hornet Strike Fighter on the first night of Desert Storm. Despite system failures with his aircraft he took the battle to the enemy. He was forced to eject from his aircraft during an aerial engagement and started the longest mission of that conflict. There is little doubt he is still alive and fighting on as prisoner of war.

This is a well written, researched, and organized book. It reads easily with a deep level of technical detail, excellent military depiction, and deep human concepts. It covers the entire spectrum of his experience and the supporting events around his current situation. This is an impressive book worthy of the read.

This book will haunt you. No matter what your position on the military or the Gulf War - you will be moved by this book. If you seek to right wrongs, this book will propel you to do more once you finish it. The errors and failures of those in command and control need to be known and fixed. This book will leave you angry, sad, and hopefully resolved to find the truth and bring about the proper resolution of this faithful American warrior's plight.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Scott Speicher Story, March 28, 2003

By 

William Smith (Hampton Roads, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher Story (Hardcover)

This is a masterfully crafted story of the bittersweet story of a Navy pilot lost in the first Gulf War only to become a hot-button story in the second Gulf War action. Today, the American military reports Special Forces assets inside Iraq to help locate this pilot, brought back to the living largely through the work of this author and her meticulous research of his case. The book is brilliantly written narrative nonfiction.