Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 CHEERS & JEERS: DEADLY ENDANGERMENT IN THE DRUG WAR Thumbs down: A State Department report on what caused the deaths of two Americans -- a woman and her infant child -- in a missionary plane shot down in Peru last April has confirmed what seemed apparent at the time: There was a tragic breakdown in communication between a Peruvian fighter plane and a U.S. drug surveillance plane, and a failure to follow prescribed procedures and exercise caution before firing at innocents. A videotape with audio recording released as part of the report made clear that the U.S. plane's crew did sense early on that the civilian plane and its movements did not fit the profile of a drug-trafficking craft. But the Americans and Peruvians involved did not speak each other's language well enough to avoid misunderstandings. The Peruvian pilot, for whatever reason, failed to hold off as urged repeatedly by the U.S. crew via a Peruvian liaison officer on the U.S. plane. The drug interdiction program should be discontinued, at least until everyone engaged can converse comfortably in both English and Spanish and understands that shooting down planes ought to be a last resort. Beyond that, Congress ought to focus on the larger question of whether it's worth the risks inherent in shooting down planes based on profiles rather than actual evidence of serious criminal activity. These deaths didn't have to happen. - --- MAP posted-by: Kirk