INNOCENT VICTIMS

Drugs don't spare the innocent. Americans know this.

They've seen families torn apart by drug abuse, and they're so
familiar with drug violence that it fails to shock them anymore. (Last
weekend's death of a Philadelphia youth minister -- caught by what
police said was an errant bullet from a drug deal -- rated only a
2-inch brief inside Sunday's Herald-Tribune.)

But when the victims are a missionary and her baby -- shot out of the
sky by Peruvians in contact with a CIA drug surveillance plane -- even
a nation inured to innocent drug casualties takes notice.

"Roni" Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity, were seeking visas,
not drugs, according to reports. The CIA crew that spotted her plane
told the Peruvians that it might be involved in smuggling. Without
verification, and despite warnings from the CIA that they were jumping
the gun, the Peruvians soon began shooting, according to U.S.
officials. Mother and daughter died quickly, but Bowers' husband and
son, as well as the surviving pilot, must endure the horrific loss for
a lifetime.

Peru's air force has a lot to answer for. The facts are incomplete,
but at this point it appears all too likely that the deaths resulted
from Peruvian recklessness and/or ineptitude.

That said, however, CIA surveillance helped set this disaster in
motion, and the tragic outcome raises serious questions about the
risks of U.S. involvement. Surveillance that provides only
inconclusive suspicions, rather than concrete evidence, can prove more
dangerous than useful.

It is not the first time that CIA actions directly or indirectly
resulted in the death of innocent people; the agency's involvement in
the bloody Guatemalan civil war comes to mind.

But in fairness, Americans' own complicity in Bowers' death must be
acknowledged. After all, if not for this country's unquenchable thirst
for illegal intoxicants, there would be no need for a war on drugs; no
need to guard the skies of a remote South American nation. No need for
yet another innocent victim to pay the price.