cannabisnews.com: Accidental Downing Was Worst Fear Accidental Downing Was Worst Fear Posted by FoM on April 24, 2001 at 08:52:55 PT By Sebastian Rotella and Norman Kempster Source: Los Angeles Times U.S. and Peruvian anti-drug officials knew all along that missionaries and drug smugglers fly the same routes over the Peruvian jungle, and they had worried about just such an incident as Friday's inadvertent downing of a plane carrying an American missionary family, former officials of the U.S. Embassy in Lima said Monday. "Our worst fear was: 'What if we shoot down some missionaries?' " said one former embassy official involved in anti-drug efforts. "You don't know how much we talked about that at the embassy. We went through all kinds of pains to put the right sequence of protocols in place so that couldn't happen." In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States and Peru will conduct an exhaustive investigation of the attack that cost the lives of a Baptist missionary and her infant daughter, "to make sure it doesn't happen again." But the Bush administration defended U.S. aid to the Peruvian air force in shooting down suspected airborne drug runners as crucial to the international war on narcotics, and Boucher made it clear that the administration hopes to resume intercepting suspected narcotics flights as soon as possible. The program was suspended pending the outcome of the probe. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, interviewed Monday on PBS' "NewsHour," said, "It was a good program that had this tragedy connected to it. . . . It should not have happened, but it did." Audio and video tapes were made before and during the attack, U.S. officials said. The video footage, shot from the CIA-operated surveillance plane flying a mile away, shows the missionaries' plane under attack, a U.S. intelligence official said. "The video is better than you'd think," the official said. "You can't see bullets flying or anything. But you can see the plane fly and land in the water." Once in the water, however, clouds sometimes hide the plane from view. Clarity is also a problem on the audio tapes. The air interdiction program is a cooperative venture between the United States and the Peruvian air force. U.S. surveillance planes spot suspected drug flights and give Peruvian pilots the information they need to shoot down the suspected narcotics runners. Since the summer of 1994, Boucher said, Peruvian warplanes have shot down more than 30 small aircraft flying near the Peruvian-Colombian border, a prime corridor for narcotics flights. Before the attack Friday on the missionary plane, he said, "there have been no injuries to anyone that wasn't found to be smuggling drugs. So, it's a terrible tragedy and a horrible occurrence, but this is the first time something like this has happened." The program is fundamentally dependent on the United States, which provides radar and listening technology located in land bases in Peru and aboard spy planes operated by CIA contract employees, who are mostly retired U.S. military airmen with combat experience, the former embassy official said. U.S. officials in Washington said similar programs operate with the air forces of other drug-affected countries. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the operations in other countries are continuing despite the suspension in Peru. U.S. air interdiction of narcotics flights began at least 20 years ago, a senior State Department official said. However, the program was suspended after the Soviet air force on Sept. 1, 1983, shot down a Korean Air Lines commercial flight that the Soviets said had invaded their airspace. Although the KAL incident had no link to the Andean counter-narcotics programs operated by the United States, the officials said, the Reagan administration decided to suspend the U.S. Andean operations to avoid the embarrassment of shooting down an innocent civilian aircraft the way the Soviets had done. The air interdiction program was resumed in the summer of 1994 and has continued since. "The program itself is an important program, a successful program over the years to interdict drugs from coming into the United States," Boucher said. "Certainly, the overall effort to interdict drugs is very, very important to us and to Peru and to others in the region." The rules of engagement require Peruvian pilots to issue warnings by radio, waggling wings and other internationally recognized signals, and then firing warning shots intended to force the suspect pilot to land. U.S. officials said that although the facts are somewhat in dispute, the Peruvian jet apparently did not follow those rules. Boucher said the crew of the CIA surveillance plane tried "to hold the Peruvians back from taking action in this case" but were unable to do so. He refused to speculate on the reason that the Peruvians went ahead despite the U.S. warning, asserting that the investigation--which has not yet begun--will answer that question. In Lima, Peruvian air force spokesman Cmdr. Rommel Roca said: "The only thing I can tell you is that the air force followed the procedures. It regrets this lamentable accident in which two people died." The most recent of the shoot-downs of drug planes occurred in July. The most recent incident in which a drug plane was forced to land without being fired upon was in January, according to a U.S. official in Lima, the capital. But former Ambassador Dennis Jett, who served from 1996 to 1999 and who is widely respected in Peru, said there was a close call in 1997, when the Peruvian air force downed a smuggling plane without going through all of the required warning procedures. The plane turned out to be a smuggling craft, but the policy underwent intense review, nevertheless, according to Jett. "That was a wake-up call to all of us," Jett said. Kempster reported from Washington and Rotella from Buenos Aires. Times staff writers Bob Drogin and Edwin Chen in Washington contributed to this story. Attack: The U.S. defends program in Peru, but it was aware that smugglers, evangelists fly same routes. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Author: Sebastian Rotella, Norman Kempster, Times Staff WritersPublished: April 24, 2001Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times Contact: letters latimes.com Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Related Articles:Peru Counters U.S. Allegations http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9474.shtmlCIA Failed to Identify Plane Downed in Peru http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9473.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by Dan B on April 25, 2001 at 11:20:40 PT: Railroad Tragedy In fact, marijuana was not found to be the cause of the Conrail accident that killed 16 people. The fault lay with improperly serviced equipment. The man who smoked a joint some time prior to the accident was actually not at fault because the accident would have occurred if anyone had been at the helm, stoned or not. Nonetheless, prohibitionists like to use this case as an "example of what marijuana does." Reefer madness, nothing more. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by schmeff c. on April 25, 2001 at 10:26:29 PT Horse Sense Does the talking mule advocate that anyone possessing alcohol be imprisoned because a small minority will use alcohol irresponsibly? [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Rambler on April 25, 2001 at 02:23:40 PT Dear Frances I really hope you will not shy away from letting yourviews be known here,and I encourage you to follow upon what you have said.I think the majority of people whovisit here have open minds,and if you can take a few minutesto explain your views in a coherent manner,you may convertsome of us unnattractively self-righteous "guys".Judging from your comments,it would appear that you think peoplewho are trying to raise questions about drug policy,are a bandof disinformed,ignorant,wayward misfits,who are blinded in aself righteous quest to be able to get everyone stoned.Please explain yourself,and defend your somewhat wreckless assertions.We love you! No matter what you say. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by New Mexican on April 24, 2001 at 23:43:41 PT Stick with us Frances! And eventually, if you carefully read the articles postedhere you will change your mind. We're glad you comment sothat you can be enlightened on details you may have and seem to have overlooked. Keep reading and posting...thereis always hope and someday compassion will overtake your preordained opinions...it's called an epiphany. It usuallytakes an earthquake, flood, near-death experience, to wake people up but I'm sure it will happen to you....it's already happened to most of us at some time or another!Try walking in anothers shoes and see what happens! [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by observer on April 24, 2001 at 23:36:17 PT re: self righteous Frances writes,... the bleating of drug users/promoters (I.e. those who disagree with jailing adults who responsibly use cannabis, and have the determination to say so. . .) about loss of life is tiresome and hypocritical. If you find the commentary here "tiresome", the obvious answer is to seek commentary at a site more to your liking? And "hypocritical", Frances? Nah, not hypocritical (unless we have some closet figher-pilots here that have shot down putative drug warriors). I'm sure hard-core prohibitionists -- those who revel in the jailing of fellow citizens because they use politically incorrect and forbidden drugs -- aren't enjoying the news of the Peru missionary shoot-down by the CIA mercenaries and the Peruvian military, these days. But try hard not to lash out at us. We didn't make this up. We're not responsible for this news. What about the 16 lives lost when the engineer of the Conrail smoked a joint and crashed that big old train? . . .Random drug testing of transportation workers was enacted as a hysterical reaction to a single 1987 train collision, in which 16 Amtrak passengers were killed by a Conrail train that failed to stop. The engineer and brakeman of the Conrail train at fault were found to have recently smoked marijuana, though it was never firmly proven that marijuana caused the accident. The Conrail engineer had an extensive record of speeding and drunken driving offenses and was known by management to have drinking problems. Critical safety equipment that would have averted the accident was missing or disabled. A subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that Conrail improve both its management and equipment, but did not recommend random testing. . .Marijuana Health Mythology, Dale Gieringer, Ph.D.http://paranoia.lycaeum.org/marijuana/facts/mj-health-mythology.htmlseeUK: Cannabis May Make You A Safer Driver (2000)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1161/a02.htmlUniversity Of Toronto Study Shows Marijuana Not A Factor In Driving Accidents (1999)http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases\1999\03\990325110700.htmAustralia: Cannabis Crash Risk Less: Study (1998)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n945/a08.htmlAustralia: Study Goes to Pot (1998)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n947/a06.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Imprint on April 24, 2001 at 22:59:21 PT: New Drug Czar Candidate Frances:Sounds like you would like the job of Drug Czar. It would probably make you feel good to kill people each year for their self-indulgence. Arrest and Impression many thousands more. What a great pleasures you would get from making people do what you think is right. Talk about self-righteous.Also, when an article comes up that points out that someone has abused drugs causing harm to others you can bet the regulars of this site will comment about use/abuse/violence. But, this article has to do with a plane with civilians aboard being shot down, in the name of the drug war. This article also points out that 30 other planes have been shot down. Most if not all of these people died. Don’t you care about their lives? Don’t you think it is tragic that the US is spending millions to murder these people? Oh, and by the way, the amount of drugs the US stops by murdering these drug smugglers doesn’t even affect the availability of drugs in the US. Doesn’t this even raise some doubt in your mind? Canabisnews readers:Sorry for the rant. I know it is better to educate than humiliate but Frances PISSED ME OFF. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 24, 2001 at 21:04:30 PT My Reason Hello Francis, Let me see if I can answer your question. The person that smoked and the accident occurred is responsible and he will pay for his error through the court system and punishment will be given. This incident is part of fighting a war that is based within our own country because we have the demand for drugs here and we are destroying another country and its people in the process. That's one of the reasons why I care. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Frances on April 24, 2001 at 20:26:42 PT: Self righteous Loss of life IS sad and tragic.However, the bleating of drug users/promoters about loss of life is tiresome and hypocritical. What about the 16 lives lost when the engineer of the Conrail smoked a joint and crashed that big old train?Self righteousness is MOST unattractive guys. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Dan Hillman on April 24, 2001 at 17:29:19 PT more, more, more, (how do you like it?) > In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States and Peru will conduct an exhaustive investigation of the attack that cost the lives of a Baptist missionary and her infant daughter, "to make sure it doesn't happen again."Gee, what are the odds that this investigation will recommend more money, more power, more slavish devotion to drug warriors from an already subdued populace? All in the name of saving us from ourselves! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Imprint on April 24, 2001 at 16:31:02 PT: Precious lives lost The more intense the war on drugs becomes the more likely it will be that other non-smuggling people will be killed. And what about he other 30 planes shot down? These people were smuggling drugs. They weren’t trying to kill anyone them selves but none the less many were killed in cold blood. These are precious human lives. People trying to make a living. Why can’t the government(s) just follow them and make a bust when they land. We have the same problem with high-speed car chases and the SWAT want-a-be police. In their zeal to be Rambo’s innocent people will die. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Shausha on April 24, 2001 at 14:32:51 PT It will happen again, they never take blame I have to point out that shooting down 1 in 30 planes is a horrible and disgusting ratio. 2 people killed who served their country, god and fellow man. An innocent family. There is no way this could not happen again. Any thing like this is an indicator that no matter what area of this war you look at the end of this has never justified the meaning. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: