VICTIMS OF STUPIDITY

Savannah Morning News LAST WEEK'S downing of a civilian plane and the
subsequent deaths of an American missionary and her infant daughter
are reasons to question the efficacy of one aspect of the American
anti-drug effort in South America.

Whether the deaths of Veronica "Roni" Bowers, and her 7-month-old
daughter, Charity, were the result of a trigger-happy Peruvian
military team, miscommunication or some other error, the Bush
administration's decision to stop the flights and review the program
is a wise one. In this situation, shooting first and asking questions
later is pure idiocy.

American and Peruvian officials have jointly conducted these
interdiction flights for eight years, except for a brief halt and
review in 1994. The results speak for themselves. In Peru, the
cultivation of coca plants, from which cocaine is refined, has been
reduced by about 70 percent since 1996.

At the same time, the cost of smuggling has increased. Pilots once
charged $30,000 for a smuggling flight. After the air interceptions
began, the cost rose to $180,000, payable in advance.

A videotape of last week's interception shows CIA pilots on an
accompanying plane. At first, the Americans don't seem anxious about
the Peruvian military plane's approach of the civilian aircraft,
possibly since they assumed the Peruvian crew was simply trying to
read the plane's registration number for confirmation purposes. The
Americans became concerned, though, when the jet made closer passes at
the civilian plane -- an easy target -- and began shooting.

What's unclear is if the Peruvian crew followed a previously
determined sequence of events to establish that the civilian plane was
innocent or could be involved in a drug smuggling operation. Observers
said the civilian plane was flying on a straight and level course, not
attempting evasive actions often used by drug smugglers.

The videotape shows that the American crew had problems communicating
with the Peruvian official on their plane because they spoke little
Spanish. That's inexcusible. How can anyone expect to share
information, before the bullets start flying, when there's no common
language?

It appears, too, that some involved in the anti-drug effort have a
motto that assumes guilt: "You fly, you die."

The policy of shooting down suspected drug smuggling planes will
undergo an investigation by the CIA, National Transportation Safety
Board, Drug Enforcement Administration and other U.S. agencies.

It's doubtful, given the past success of the program, that the review
will recommend flights be permanently discontinued. With so much
money, time and energy invested in the anti-drug program, it's
politically impossible to stop it.

And the Bowers deaths were the first innocent victims in the program's
history, officials say. So it's not as if there's been a continuous
problem.

Nevertheless, tighter, stricter safeguards must be put in place to
ensure that other innocents aren't killed by pilots with itchy trigger
fingers. If not, this interdiction effort should become a casualty
itself.