SHOT DOWN IN PERU

I read the government's report on the shooting down of the missionary plane
in the Andes (8/1, A-4, "U.S., Peru faulted for plane tragedy"). There was
discussion of various procedural rules violated, implying that if we only
follow the rules in the future, this would not happen again. Only those
dastardly drug dealers will get shot out of the sky.

Well the rule to follow was written more than 200 years ago. It is part of
the U.S. Constitution where it says that no one will be deprived of life,
liberty or property without due process of law. You do not shoot a plane
out of the sky, no matter what you think it is carrying, unless it is
shooting at you. Shooting down a plane is premeditated murder. It also
doesn't matter that we hired the Peruvian Air Force to do the dirty work
for us. People who hire hit men go to jail in our country.

It is phenomenal how the "war on drugs" euphemism has gone as far as to
make it seem OK to even think about shooting planes out of the sky on what
can be, at most, suspicion. This is the insane result of the insane war on
drugs. Let's end it now.

Michael Kerner

Lenexa