PERUVIAN AIR FORCE MISHAP COSTS 2 MORE INNOCENT LIVES

Thank you for printing the April 25 Associated Press story, "U.S.
surveillance flights might resume over Peru," which describes the
shooting down of a missionary plane and the addition of two more
innocent lives lost to the drug war.

Sen. Christopher Dodd blames it on our enthusiasm to stop
drugs.

It recently was revealed that although Peru's air force might have
downed some drug traffickers, it was taking huge bribes from others to
let them pass. Roger Rumrill, a Peruvian expert and author on the drug
trade, called the missionary plane incident "the most absurd accident
in the world" because more than 70 percent of the drug trade between
Peru and Colombia now moves by sea along the Pacific Coast, not by
air.

This shoot-down policy has a dark history in Peru. Former President
Alberto Fujimori, a longtime U.S. ally in the war against drugs, fled
to exile in Japan in November to avoid corruption charges. And his top
military leaders are all now in jail.

All this makes a person wonder what the war on drugs means. I'm sure
Jim Bowers wonders the same thing, as he buries his wife and
7-month-old baby.

Debra Cochrain