Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: James Kuhnhenn, Jonathan S. Landay And Lenny Savino PERUVIANS DIDN'T FOLLOW PROCEDURES, U.S. SAYS WASHINGTON - The Peruvian air force's attack on a small plane carrying American missionaries focused attention Monday on how U.S. intelligence and Peru's military coordinate their fight against narcotics trafficking. U.S. authorities said Monday that the Peruvians failed to follow routine procedures, while they exonerated the CIA surveillance crew that misidentified the missionary plane as carrying suspected drug smugglers. A Baptist missionary and her 7-month-old daughter were killed Friday when a Peruvian fighter jet strafed the small aircraft. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has led previous inquiries into U.S. anti-drug policy overseas, was planning to call for a congressional investigation of the incident, aides said. Meanwhile, the United States suspended the CIA surveillance program immediately, and Peru suspended its interdiction flights. ``We've got to review the entire program,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell told PBS's ``The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that a CIA air surveillance crew flying in the vicinity of the missionary plane notified the Peruvian air force that the plane might be smuggling narcotics. But, he added, ``there are certainly indications that some of our folks -- that our folks on the plane were trying to hold the Peruvians back from taking action in this case.'' The Peruvian air force said Monday that it regretted the deaths of Veronica Bowers and her daughter, but spokesman Cmdr. Rommel Roca said the necessary procedures were followed when the plane was intercepted. Policy started in 1994 The air-interdiction policy originated in 1994, when Congress pressured the Clinton administration to stem the flow of drugs from Latin America. The policy included the authority to shoot down drug smugglers, and it insulated U.S. forces from liability in the case of an accidental shooting. ``The United States would not be held liable if there was a shoot-down preceded by steps that were set out -- a series of communications and warnings,'' said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who supported the measure as ``an important part of our effort against drugs.'' The Bush administration's version of the mishap is based on a videotape and soundtrack recorded by the U.S. surveillance plane, a Cessna Citation executive jet packed with surveillance equipment, officials said. ``It's a bit confusing because it was multiple conversations, radio transmissions from different people. Many of them step on each other. A lot of it was in Spanish,'' said a U.S. official who reviewed the videotape and spoke on condition he not be identified. But, he added, the United States ``would not be speaking so authoritatively at this point'' if experts had not been able to discern what happened from the videotape. He said the CIA contract employees are heard questioning the Peruvians' decision to attack the aircraft, because it did not fit the profile of a drug-smuggling plane. ``Our guys were concerned because the profile just didn't fit for them,'' said the official. ``The plane was flying straight and level. There were no evasion tactics.'' Procedure rushed The videotape also shows that the Peruvians omitted or ``truncated'' various parts of the procedure that are designed to avoid the downing of civilian aircraft, he said. ``There doesn't seem to be a part where they are flying alongside, making hand gestures and wagging their wings,'' said the official. ``We're not even sure that warning shots were fired.'' The U.S. military, Coast Guard and Customs Service operate numerous surveillance flights to detect and interdict narcotics-smuggling aircraft over the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean drug-producing region. But the U.S. surveillance plane that tracked the missionaries was part of a classified program jointly run by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency. It is designed to maintain a low profile to protect the crews from being targeted by narcotic-traffickers, the U.S. official said. Pentagon owns planes The aircraft, which are unmarked, are owned by the Pentagon and operated by employees of a private company contracted by the CIA, the official said. He declined to identify the company. Since March 1995, the Peruvians have ``shot, forced down or strafed'' more than 30 aircraft suspected of carrying drug traffickers and have seized more than a dozen on the ground, according to U.S. intelligence officials. In July 2000, an alleged trafficker was shot down, and in December 2000 two planes were forced to land. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek