CIA CREW OPPOSED PERU PLANE ATTACK - OFFICIAL

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA-contracted American crew aboard a U.S. drug
interdiction aircraft tried to stop Peruvian authorities from shooting at a
plane that turned out to be carrying American missionaries, a U.S.
intelligence official said on Sunday.

``The U.S. crew repeatedly expressed their concern that the nature of the
aircraft had not been determined,'' the official told Reuters. ``Despite
serious concerns raised by the U.S. crew, the shoot-down was authorized by
Peruvian authorities,'' the official said.

Three Americans contracted by the Central Intelligence Agency, and a
Peruvian air force officer, were aboard the Cessna Citation 2, about one
mile (1.6 km) from where the missionaries' plane was flying, the official said.

A Peruvian fighter jet shot down the plane, believing it was a drug flight.
A woman and her infant daughter were killed, while her husband and another
child survived. The pilot of the missionary plane was injured.

The two-engine U.S. Department of Defense aircraft was providing tracking
and detection information as part of joint U.S.-Peruvian efforts to stem
drug trafficking.

CIA officials at headquarters near Washington and U.S. embassy officials in
Peru reviewed videotapes from the U.S. plane on which conversations inside
the plane were audible.

``Their caution was unmistakable,'' the intelligence official said of the
American crew.

At 9:43 a.m. on Friday, the U.S. aircraft notified its base of a radar
contact with a plane that had crossed 3 to 4 miles (4.8 to 6.4 km) into
Brazilian territory. A second contact occurred 12 minutes later when the
aircraft reentered Peruvian airspace, the intelligence official said.

The American crew asked Peruvian authorities to check the aircraft's flight
plan and the Peruvians on the ground said they could not find one, the
official said on condition of anonymity.

Peruvian authorities decided to send an A-37 jet to investigate. The
Peruvian officer on board the U.S. aircraft tried to communicate with the
suspect plane in Spanish on three different frequencies, but heard no
response, the intelligence official said.

The Peruvian officer then told the A-37 to go to the next phase which
includes firing warning shots. ``It is unclear to us whether the Peruvians
fired warning shots,'' the U.S. official said.

The Peruvian officer then requested permission to move to ''phase three''
in which a suspect aircraft may be fired at with the goal of disabling it.
If at that stage a suspect plane still does not obey instructions it can be
shot down, the official said.

When the Peruvian officer on board the U.S. plane told the A-37 pilot to
move to phase three, the U.S. crew voiced objections, the U.S. official said.

``The U.S. crew attempted repeatedly to slow down the intercept process''
and asked the Peruvians to get the tail number of the plane but events
moved rapidly and Peruvian authorities authorized the shoot-down at 10:43
a.m. local time, the U.S. intelligence official said.

The tail number was obtained but was apparently not called back to the
Peruvian Air Force officer in charge in Pucallpa by the Peruvian officer on
board the U.S. plane, the U.S. official said.

The intelligence official said the U.S. crew had no authority over the
actions of the Peruvian officer on board the U.S. plane.

Neither the Peruvian government nor air force was immediately available for
comment.

Since March 1995, the Peruvians have shot, forced down, or strafed more
than 30 drug aircraft and seized more than a dozen on the ground, U.S.
officials said.

They said there were no known previous incidents where innocent people
where harmed as part of the drug interdiction program.

President Bush said Washington was suspending drug interdiction flights
until the attack in Peru was investigated.

``We've suspended such flights until we get to the bottom of the situation,
fully understand all the facts, to understand what went wrong in this
terrible tragedy,'' Bush told a news conference at the end of the Summit of
the Americas in Quebec City.