The US public was shown further grounds to support an attack on Iraq, when a leaked intelligence report suggested that a US Navy pilot lost in 1991 might still be alive and in captivity. It touched on a topic of exceptional sensitivity in the USA — where many people still believe missing servicemen from the Korean and Vietnam wars are either alive or were held until their deaths. It also forced a reluctant Pentagon to publicly admit that the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) scored a single air-to-air victory on the first night of the Gulf War.
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