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."