Pubdate: Tue, 26 Sep 2000
Source: Bergen Record (NJ)
Copyright: 2000 Bergen Record Corp.
Contact:  http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback
Website: http://www.bergen.com/
Author: Allan Erickson, Eugene, Ore.
Ref'd: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1428/a07.htm

FIRST ADVISERS HAVE BEEN KILLED

Peter Logerfo's "Wait until first adviser is killed" (Your Views,
Sept. 24) makes some good points. But the headline, abridged from a
longer statement in the letter, conveys a misconception.

In July 1999, five American soldiers died while on interdiction duty 
over the skies of Colombia. The pilot, Capt. Jennifer Odom, and her 
crew, Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Moore, Pfc. Bruce Cluff, Capt. Jose 
Santiago, and Pfc. Ray Krueger, all died when their plane, a high-tech 
DeHavilland RC-7, crashed or was shot down in southern Colombia.  

Interestingly enough, Capt. Odom's commander in Colombia was Col. James 
Hiett. Hiett and his wife were involved with smuggling cocaine and 
laundering drug money and were arrested five months after the crash.  

For some reason these deaths are rarely mentioned in the media when 
Colombia is discussed and certainly never mentioned by Al Gore or 
George W. Bush. Of course, they won't even discuss Colombia or the war 
on (some) drugs. Maybe the press should ask them before the elections 
in November.  
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MAP posted-by: John Chase