“I guess that’s part of the stress relief I get from it.”For me the psychological benefit is enormous. You tend to forget everything that’s going on in your mind and just concentrate on the time, distance or sweat.”Mr Bush’s depressingly industrious fitness regime is well-known to the White House press corps and his Secret Service security staff.At his ranch near Crawford, Texas, where he is on holiday this week, Mr Bush was hunting volunteers for his “100 Degree Club”, those who can keep up with him on the daily three-mile run during the 100F (38C) heat.There are T-shirts, certificates and no small amount of kudos for those who manage it Texas heat is notorious. One saying has it that if God owned Hell and Texas, he’d rent out Texas and live in Hell.Mr Bush told the magazine: “When I run, I run hard … On Sundays, if I’m at Camp David, I’ll go for a hard morning run and then I’ll walk two to four miles with Laura afterwards.”The interview took place just after a three-mile run at Fort McNair, Washington. Mr Bush, 56, whose fitness level places him in the top 1 per cent for his age group, completed the race in 20 minutes and 29 seconds, having made a fast start.The article’s author, Bob Wischnia, wrote: “He’s a very competitive guy and he’s known for starting too fast and trying to burn off the competition.”I talked to one of his bodyguards from Texas and he said, ‘He does this every time He goes out like a maniac.’”. The United States has accused Iraq of witholding information about a US Navy pilot who was declared killed in action on the first day of the Gulf War in 1991 but who has since been redesignated by the Pentagon as possibly still living and missing in action.

Suspicion has been mounting that he may be held captive in Iraq.An investigation by the CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency was given fresh impetus several months ago by new information reportedly provided by British intelligence agents. The International Committee of the Red Cross and a tripartite commission of Britain, France and the US, are working on the case as well as other cases of missing persons.John Negroponte, the US ambassador, said: “Despite our extensive efforts in this regard, Iraq has continued to assert that they will provide no new information We consider the treatment of this case a perfect example of their non-cooperation on the prisoner of war and missing persons issue”.Washington placed Cdr Speicher on the missing in action (MIA) list in January last year. However, officials at the Pentagon conceded earlier this month his status may be altered once again to that of missing-captured, commonly known as prisoner of war.Some US senators have been pressing the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to make the change.A Navy official who requested anonymity said: “Obviously his status is of particular interest and it is an ongoing investigation for the Navy. But as of now, there is no change in his status of MIA.”A US intelligence report supplied to the Senate Intelligence Committee early last year stated that Cdr Speicher “probably survived the loss of his aircraft and, if he survived, he almost certainly was captured by the Iraqis”. The report said the pilot had ejected from his plane and Iraqi officials had provided the US with his uniform that had been cut open.”We assess that Iraq can account for Cdr Speicher but that Baghdad is concealing information about his fate,” the report concluded.Late last year, according to a report in The Washington Times, British officials told the CIA they had heard from an Iraqi source that Cdr Speicher was being held hostage in Baghdad. They said only two people had been allowed to see him – Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, and the chief of Iraq’s intelligence service.The information rekindled interest in the investigation. The US Senate was given a fresh briefing and intelligence officials also briefed President George Bush on the matter.The Speicher family, from Jacksonville, Florida, has mounted a determined campaign for more information.

“There have been several sightings over the past two years, though his whereabouts are classified,” Richard Adams, a nephew and family spokesman, said recently. “It is my opinion that he is being held as a trophy prisoner until Saddam feels he needs him.”Although US investigators originally thought the Hornet had been downed by a land-to-air missile, last year’s intelligence report asserted the weapon had been an air-to-air missile. it happened on the first night of combat of the Gulf War, launched by the Western allies after President Saddam invaded Kuwait The plane was later found more or less intact. Its canopy was found some distance from the crash, suggesting the pilot had ejected.After the war, Iraq released 21 US military personnel or their remains, but Cdr Speicher was not among them.Mr Negroponte told the UN Council that Iraq had promised at the Arab League Summit in Beirut earlier this year to help resolve the cases of Gulf War missing persons, who include Kuwaiti prisoners of war, four Iranians, four Syrians and an Indian national. But the ambassador said: “Iraq has yet to match its words on the fate of the missing persons with tangible deeds and co-operation.” The UN has said that about 600 Kuwaiti families are still awaiting word on the fates of their loved ones.. A small plane carrying foreign tourists, including one Briton, crashed into a mountainside in the Himalayas yesterday killing all 18 people on board.