cannabisnews.com: U.S. To Resume Shooting Down Suspected Drug Planes
U.S. To Resume Shooting Down Suspected Drug Planes
Posted by FoM on March 16, 2002 at 07:42:43 PT
Knight Ridder News Service
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
The U.S. government is "pretty close" to resuming a program to shoot down suspected drug planes in the Amazon, White House drug czar John Walters says. Walters told Knight Ridder that U.S. officials may want to renew the program first in Colombia, then later in Peru, where a tragic accidental shoot-down over the Amazon River last April killed a U.S. missionary and her infant daughter.
That fatal mishap forced the suspension of the program and led to at least two official U.S. investigations and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. "We're pretty close to deciding within the U.S. government about how we'd like to proceed," Walters said this week. "We're not quite there yet, but we're pretty close." Peru is one of the nations President Bush will visit during a Latin American tour March 21-24. Expectations are high in Lima of imminent renewal of the U.S.-designed strategy to shoot down aircraft suspected of carrying coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine. "We have been informed by the administration that this matter is in a very advanced state of consideration," Peru's ambassador to Washington, Allan Wagner, said Friday. "We hope that this will be accomplished by the time President Bush is in Lima." Coca crops are expanding in both Peru and Colombia, and conservative U.S. legislators are pressing the White House to take more aggressive action. Safeguards in the program eroded with time, making an accident almost inevitable, Senate Intelligence Committee investigators found in October. The panel's report called for a "dramatic overhaul" and said the program was marred by language barriers, inadequate radio systems and failure to alert suspicious pilots that they were about to be shot out of the sky. It also demanded that the CIA not be involved. Last April 20 a Peruvian warplane, working with the CIA, shot down a plane that belonged to the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, a U.S. missionary group. Killed were Veronica Bowers, 35, and her infant daughter, Charity. Her husband, James, and their son, Cory, were unhurt. The pilot, Kevin Donaldson, was shot in both legs, but miraculously landed the plane in the Amazon. Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)Published: Saturday, March 16, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Salt Lake TribuneContact: letters sltrib.comWebsite: http://www.sltrib.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmMillions Sought From U.S. in Plane Downing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12076.shtmlU.S. To Start Peruvian Drug Flights http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11881.shtmlU.S. Shares Fault In Peru Incident http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10482.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on April 26, 2002 at 11:11:09 PT
Arrest Prohibition
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n802/a04.html
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Fri, 26 Apr 2002
Source: China Daily (China)
Contact: editor chinadaily.com.cn
Website: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/911
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n802/a04.html?397PERU SEES DRUG FLIGHTS RELAUNCH, WASHINGTON MUM
Peru expects the United States soon to announce it will resume a program to catch drug flights in the Latin American country that was halted after the shooting of an American missionary plane, officials said on Thursday, but Washington said no decision had been made.
Narcosoft.com
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on March 17, 2002 at 07:03:32 PT
Worth It?
That's crazy, but just another day in Columbia...This war cost more than it's worth a long time ago.
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Comment #5 posted by Patrick on March 17, 2002 at 02:12:50 PT
And now this
Colombian archbishop assassinatedhttp://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/03/16/colombia.archbishop/index.htmlActually, I personally hate to post you folks with stories from cnn but, since they are so obviously pro-prohibitionist and do in fact manage to get a message around the world with their coverage I thought I would share this mainstream media Colombian news story here on this particlular drug related thread.Raise any questions from any real journalists?
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Comment #4 posted by overtoke on March 16, 2002 at 15:44:42 PT:
Columbia and Afghanistan
What will eventually happen is that "Freedom Fighters" in Columbia will have to attack the United States as a last resort to their problems.Many of you refuse to accept that the WTC attacks were the fault of Americans. We were attacked by "Freedom Fighters" Instead of recognizing the reason we were attacked and try to remedy those reasons (all legitimate) we instead go out and commit genocide. (Trying to erase the Taliban...) Look at who is leading the St. Patricks Day Parade in NYC tomorrow... A Convicted "Terrorist" that served 12 years in prison for blowing up a police station? No. Instead this guy is a Convicted "Freedom Fighter" that served 12 years in prison for blowing up a police station.The War on Drugs Creates Terrorism.
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on March 16, 2002 at 15:02:40 PT
Lame-Brains
Isn't it nice that they are about to shoot down more "suspected" drug planes? These savages obviously didn't learn a thing from the Bower's incicent.This is a flawed policy at best & will not do a damned thing to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it,the more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow. The more they fight it, they more they grow. The more they fight it, the more they grow...Will these lame-brains ever get it? Amazing...
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Comment #2 posted by Chive on March 16, 2002 at 12:14:45 PT:
Kill People to stop Drugs from killing people??
Another incident that shows that the legal implications are more harmful than the drugs themselves.
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Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on March 16, 2002 at 09:41:13 PT:
No they are not "pretty close"
The U.S. government is "pretty close" to resuming a program to shoot down suspected drug planes
in the Amazon, White House drug czar John Walters says.
NO WAY JOSE!!! The Bowers family, who suffered the devastating loss of mother and child, have announced they will sue the United States Government. I used to wonder if they were paid off or threatened, but they are just now speaking out. I predict public opinion will be solidly in support of them and against the internationally prohibited crime of shooting down aircraft. From:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n313/a03.html?2699US: Millions Sought From US In Plane DowningAmerican missionaries whose small plane was mistaken by CIA contract employees for a
drug-runner's and was shot down over Peru last year are seeking $35 million in
compensation from the U.S. government. They say they are frustrated by the lack of a
response, and, if there is no settlement soon, they will sue.
The husband of Veronica Bowers, who was killed with their infant daughter, Charity, in
the incident; injured mission pilot Kevin Donaldson; and the Association of Baptists for
World Evangelism Inc., which owned the plane, are upset that the government has not
responded to the claim they submitted in June, said their attorney, Karen Hastie WilliamsFrom: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n458/a08.html?2699US CO: PUB LTE: Illegal Drugs
...Is morality simply a matter of legality? After all, there was a time when marijuana was
legal and alcohol was illegal. And who's going to explain to Veronica and Charity Bowers,
among many, many others ( none of whom were drug users yet whom were killed by drug
warriors ), that this is not a war on people? And from:http://www.narconews.com/gorman4.html
More Holes in the Peru Plane Cover-Up By Peter Gorman Publisher's Note: On February 19, authentic journalist Peter Gorman, who has spent much of the
past 18 years in the Iquitos region of Peru, near the Colombian border, wrote a story for The Narco
News Bulletin that raised a lot of eyebrows at the time. Gorman reported that U.S.-paid mercenaries,
from the private sector, were assembled in the Iquitos region with "shoot-to-kill" orders as part of
the U.S.-imposed "Plan Colombia" military intervention program.
Some people found that story hard to believe - nothing had been reported in the U.S. media about it
until then. But today, now that Veronica and Charity Bowers, from a dedicated family of Baptist
missionaires, lost their lives last month when U.S. CIA-sponsored private contractors were involved
in the events leading to a shoot-down of their plan - purportedly for drugs, although there were no
drugs - Gorman's story now makes perfect sense to everyone. In fact, for the first time, the U.S.
media is reporting on the matter of private-sector mercenaries in the Iquitos region.
This latest report from Gorman will also be accepted by history as the best and most knowledgeable
analysis of what the United States government is doing with an atrocity-in-progress called Plan
Colombia.
The consequences of this information reach high - Gorman suggests the missionaries' small aircraft
may have been shot down intentionally to frighten and remove other potential eyewitnesses from
the border region in preparation for the Plan Colombia atrocities yet to come. But let the chips fall
where they may, and let the heavens fall. Better the heavens than innocent citizens who fell from
Amazon skies days ago. This is your war. This is your war on drugs.
Drug War is TREASON
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