Pubdate: Wed, 02 May 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Frank Davies

REPUBLICANS PRESS FOR ANSWERS ON DOWNING OF PLANE IN PERU

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Republicans, all staunch supporters of the war 
on drugs, warned top U.S. officials Tuesday that anti-drug efforts in Latin 
America are in jeopardy unless answers come quickly about why two Americans 
were killed in the Peruvian shoot-down of a missionaries' plane.

The CIA, the lead agency involved in the April 20 shooting, declined to 
participate in a hearing before the criminal justice and drug policy 
subcommittee of the House Government Reform panel.

But the tragic death of Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter 10 days ago 
led four Republicans, including Committee Chairman Dan Burton, to accuse 
U.S. officials of foot-dragging, buck-passing between agencies and hiding 
behind classified data.

"When Americans are killed, why does it take so long to get an explanation? 
It's been 10 days," Burton complained. "It seems like we're pulling teeth 
to get it."

A panel of anti-drug officials from the Defense and State departments and 
Drug Enforcement Administration defended the overall program of U.S. forces 
sharing intelligence and advising the Peruvian and Colombian air forces in 
stopping drug flights, even if it means shooting them down.

"The air interdiction in Peru is the single most dramatic factor in the 
sharp drop in coca production in that country," said John Crow, who directs 
anti-drug programs for the State Department in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Crow and the other officials would not answer specific questions about what 
went wrong in the accidental shooting, noting that an inter-agency team is 
in Peru investigating the incident. U.S. surveillance flights have been 
suspended during the investigation.

Crow said he expected the first phase of that probe to be completed by the 
weekend.

That wasn't enough to assuage impatient House members, who said the 
Peruvian shoot-down -- especially if it's reviewed in classified reports 
that can't be released -- will make it much harder to defend anti-drug 
efforts in "source" countries such as Peru.

"We're conservative Republicans who have carried the ball here for the drug 
war, but you're making it very difficult for us," Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., 
the subcommittee chairman, told the officials.

The House and Senate intelligence committees have been more patient. 
Members have been briefed by CIA Director George Tenet and given 
information about the CIA contract employees on a surveillance flight who 
supplied data to the Peruvians.

The U.S. crew reportedly warned the Peruvians not to fire on a suspected 
drug plane that actually carried U.S. missionaries.

The Peruvian shooting has brought the drug war home to Congress in dramatic 
fashion. The Bowers family is from a Michigan district represented by Rep. 
Peter Hoekstra. Rep. Curt Weldon, a veteran Republican from Pennsylvania, 
represents Bobbi Donaldson, the wife of pilot Kevin Donaldson, who was 
wounded in the attack.

Bowers and her daughter "were killed senselessly and needlessly," Hoekstra 
said. He praised the help of U.S. and Peruvian agencies in the immediate 
aftermath of the tragedy, but said he wants to make sure that a full 
explanation gets out quickly.

"The families and the American people deserve to know what happened," 
Hoekstra said. "There should be no part that we keep hidden."

That may be difficult to do. Souder said that classified CIA operations in 
the region may be "tied up" in the ongoing investigation -- a factor 
several senators have mentioned.

And a key part of the U.S.-Peru program, which Crow said resulted in "about 
50" flights forced or shot down since 1995, was barely discussed at the 
hearing: Peru has the final authority to fire on an aircraft.

That decision is "inherently Peruvian," said Bob Brown, acting deputy 
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Accountability was another theme at the hearing.

Burton complained that too many agencies are "passing the responsibility" 
about the incident, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., has offered a bill to 
ban the use of contract employees in the Andean region.

"Why are we privatizing our operations -- to avoid public scrutiny or 
embarrassment?" she asked.

One House member, Republican John Mica of Central Florida, spoke out 
strongly in favor of reviving the air interdiction program.

"I strongly support the Peruvians in their anti-narcotics efforts," Mica said.

"I also support the safeguards to make certain that we don't have another 
tragedy like this."
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MAP posted-by: Beth