DISTURBING TALE IN PERU

Report Casts Doubt On Program That Killed Missionary Woman, Child

A recently released report on the shoot-down of West Michigan-based
missionaries over Peru raises serious doubts about American involvement in
a drug-fighting program there. U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Holland, was
right to push for suspending funds for the effort. U.S. Sens. Carl Levin,
D-Detroit, and Debbie Stabenow, D- Lansing, should join the de-funding
fight in the Senate and demand a full accounting of the tragedy before
Congress.

The State Department report gives a minute-by-minute account of the
incident that killed Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity,
and left pilot Kevin Donaldson badly wounded. Mrs. Bowers and her husband,
Jim Bowers, worked as missionaries in Peru for the Pennsylvania-based
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism. Much of their financial
support came from Calvary Church in Fruitport, which is in Mr. Hoekstra's
district.

On April 20, the couple and their two children were aboard an
Association-owned single-engine Cessna 185 piloted by Mr. Donaldson. The
plane was on the way back from Brazil when the Peruvian Air Force
intercepted and fired on it, killing Mrs. Bowers and Charity. Mr.
Donaldson, Mr. Bowers and 6-year-old Cory Bowers survived a crash- landing
in the Amazon River.

The State Department report details sloppy procedures and poor
communication. Evident also is a disturbing shoot-first-ask-questions-
later attitude on the part of the Peruvian Air Force. That attitude should
be of serious concern to Congress and President Bush.

The United States, having initiated and supported this anti-drug effort,
has a serious responsibility to see that it is consistent with essential
American values. Respect for an individual's right to due process must be a
part of that. If those values aren't upheld, the United States should
seriously question whether it should continue to participate.

Significantly, the report doesn't at all blame Mr. Donaldson. He and the
Bowers family were innocent victims. All the more important, then, that the
American and Peruvian missteps be scrutinized, explained and corrected.

The joint interdiction program, involving Central Intelligence Agency
operatives and the Peruvian military, was set up to stop known narcotics
traffickers in an area crawling with such activity. The CIA is charged with
flagging suspected planes. Peruvian officials are supposed to force them to
land if possible and shoot them down only as a last resort. In the case of
the Bowers family, procedures and safeguards were ignored, the report states.

The jumbled mix of languages and multiple ground and air participants
hampered the kind of split-second communication that should be standard on
these missions. A Peruvian fighter jet was dispatched after the CIA and a
Peruvian liaison officer raised concerns about the Cessna. Peru's pilots
issued warnings to Mr. Donaldson on a frequency he wasn't monitoring, one
normally useless in the area.

Mr. Donaldson never heard the transmissions. Warning shots fired by the
Peruvian jet near the missionary plane weren't visible to Mr. Donaldson
because they were fired at the wrong angle. Peruvian authorities never
checked the clearly visible registration numbers on the Cessna, which would
have identified it as a missionary plane. Each of these mistakes violated a
program protocol.

The CIA operatives weren't the prime actors in this drama, but they did set
in motion the series of events that led to the shoot-down. Their obvious
misgivings about the too-rapid movement toward the use of force can be
heard in recorded radio communications with Peruvian authorities.

But the interdiction program is so structured that there was nothing the
CIA could do. The United States refused any final say over shoot- downs to
limit liability in case of an accident. That hands-off approach left CIA
decisions vulnerable to poor judgments by the Peruvian participants, and
leaves the CIA partly culpable for the death of Mrs. Bowers and her child.

The question now is whether the program should be permanently halted or
reinstated with tougher standards. The House has wisely opted to move
slowly. Last week, the House voted to withhold $65 million of the $676
million earmarked for the interdiction program.

An amendment offered by Mr. Hoekstra requires that the U.S. secretary of
state submit a report to Congress on why and how the plane was shot down
before the money is restored. Lawmakers representing Grand Rapids-area
counties, including Reps. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids and David Camp,
R-Midland, supported the amendment, as did other Michigan representatives.

Sen. Levin, who sits on a three-senator subcommittee reviewing the
incident, should apply pressure to Peruvian and American officials to
answer questions before Congress. Only a full public airing will dispel the
lingering concerns.

The interdiction program has been a risk from the beginning. The U.S.
government recognized that in 1994 when it briefly suspended participation
because of fears that innocent lives could be lost. The deaths of Mrs.
Bowers and her daughter confirm those fears. Now, the burden of proof is on
U.S. officials to assure Congress and the country that such senseless
killings won't be repeated.