Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2001
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/27
Author: Carolyn Skorneck, Associated Press Writer

SHELBY: ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM IN DOUBT

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman cast doubt 
Tuesday on the future of what he called a "very valuable" 
anti-drug-trafficking program in Peru that led to the downing of a plane 
carrying American missionaries in which a woman and her daughter were killed.

"When you lose a young woman and her child because of a lack of 
communication, I believe, among other things, it's just too much," Sen. 
Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said after a secret briefing by CIA Director George 
Tenet.

He praised President Bush (news - web sites) for suspending the program, in 
which CIA workers conduct surveillance over drug-growing areas of Peru and 
point out potential drug-trafficking planes to Peruvian air force 
authorities, who then decide what to do about it.

Shelby, like Bush administration officials before him, indicated the 
problem stemmed from the Peruvians improperly "accelerating" procedures, 
not taking all the steps needed to determine whether the pontoon plane 
carrying the family of four and a pilot was involved in drug trafficking.

He indicated that Americans didn't skip any steps.

"I don't believe that the Americans accelerated the shoot-down of 
anything," Shelby said. "The American role ... was to provide information 
and they have not had a role in whether or not an interception takes place. 
That is up to Peru."

The CIA crew contacted its base in Peru when it became clear the Peruvians 
were set to shoot down the plane, a U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday 
night, speaking on condition of anonymity. The crew described what was 
going on and related their uneasiness with what was happening, he said.

The downing occurred at most two minutes later, the official said, adding 
that the crew could do little since it was not in a position to tell the 
Peruvians what to do.

Peru's prime minister, meanwhile, said Tuesday it was too early to lay 
blame for the downing.

"I think that for the moment it would be premature to say that Peru's air 
force was responsible or that the pilot of the plane was responsible," said 
Javier Perez de Cuellar, who was in New York.

Tenet said his investigation should be done within 48 hours, Shelby said, 
adding that the pilots have not yet been debriefed and he wants to hear the 
Peruvians' side.

Despite Shelby's misgivings, the U.S. surveillance flights could resume in 
a few weeks as the United States tries to prevent drug traffickers from 
taking advantage of a lull in enforcement, said a State Department 
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Within the next few days, U.S. officials are expected to leave for Lima to 
talk with Peruvians about Friday's downing.

A surveillance plane owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by three CIA 
contract employees accompanied by a Peruvian technician, spotted the 
missionaries' plane and called it to the attention of the Peruvian military.

U.S. officials have said the Peruvians failed to take all the required 
steps - such as checking out the plane's identification number and 
signaling it to land - before ordering the plane shot down. Killed was 
missionary Veronica "Roni" Bowers, 35, and her adopted 7-month-old 
daughter, Charity. Her husband Jim and their 6-year-old son, Cory, 
survived, as did pilot Kevin Donaldson, who was wounded and in fair 
condition Tuesday after undergoing surgery on both legs.

The Peruvians have said they took all necessary steps, but the plane's 
occupants failed to respond to radio messages.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., praised the U.S.-Peruvian efforts since the 
mid-1990s to reduce cocaine production by virtually closing the so-called 
"air bridge" between Peruvian coca growing areas and Colombian cocaine 
production sites. Peru's coca cultivation has dropped dramatically.

"It's a very strict policy, and, to be frank, a very successful policy of 
restricting drug trafficking - a shoot-first, ask-questions-later policy," 
said Chafee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the 
Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, narcotics and terrorism. "One ingredient 
of its success was its severity. It drove the trafficking out of Peru."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager