A MISSION GONE AWRY

In the world of drugs and thugs, brutality works. That's why Peru's policy
of blasting drug flights out of the sky has been hailed as that nation's
single most effective counterdrug tactic. Since 1995, Peruvian Air Force
jets have strafed or forced down more than 30 narcotics-laden airplanes.
Narco flights, not surprisingly, have fallen off dramatically. So has
Peruvian coca production.

But all that meant little to the Bowers family of Muskegon, Mich. On April
20, they were flying in an area known to U.S. intelligence as the Dog's
Head. That's where the borders of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia come together.
The Bowerses were en route to a missionary project in Iquitos, Peru. After
their Cessna 185 re-entered Peru, a Peruvian Air Force fighter jet suddenly
began spraying them with bullets. Aboard a surveillance aircraft operated
by the CIA--which had first detected the Bowerses' Cessna and passed the
info on to the Peruvians--the American pilots were alarmed by the attack.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" shouted one pilot into his radio. By then it
was too late. Veronica Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity,
were already dead.

Rules of engagement. The entire incident lasted just minutes, but U.S.
officials insist that the Peruvians violated the rules of engagement. The
Peruvian interceptor is supposed to read the tail number and verify its
registry. Warning shots are to be fired if an aircraft fails to follow
instructions to land. After that, it can shoot to disable the plane. In
this case, U.S. officials claim that Peru skipped the first two stages.
Peru denies acting with undue haste.

U.S. officials had foreseen the possibility of such an incident. The
intelligence-sharing program was suspended for six months in 1994 until
Congress passed a law granting U.S. personnel immunity and stricter
procedures were implemented.

After the tragedy with the Bowers family, surveillance flights in Peru and
Colombia were suspended. Veterans of the drug war warn that the lull will
lead to a jump in drug shipments. During the 1994 suspension, U.S.
intelligence detected a precipitous rise in trafficking. "By the end of
that time, the corridor was jam-packed with traffickers," says Jonathan
Winer, a former State Department counterdrug official. "As long as this
program is shut down, the traffickers have a free pass."