PERU SHOOT-DOWN

Individual Mistakes Shouldn't Ruin International Relations

Mourning the loss of life is made more burdensome by the knowledge that a
tragedy could have been avoided.

Reports are incomplete, but by U.S. accounts, American missionary Veronica
Bowers and her infant daughter died because a Peruvian military pilot
violated long-established air engagement rules and shot down their small
aircraft.

U.S. and Peruvian anti-drug officials were well aware that missionaries and
drug smugglers regularly fly the same routes in Peru near the Colombian
border. Both sides had fretted about mistaking a missionary flight for a
drug-smuggling aircraft.

Under the interdiction program, U.S. surveillance planes identify drug
flights, and relay that information to the Peruvians who sometimes shoot
down a suspect aircraft if they are otherwise unable to force it to land.
Peruvian military planes have shot down more than 30 small aircraft since
mid-1994 without last week's disastrous consequence.

Peruvian pilots are required to send radio warnings, wag their wings and
even fire warning shots to force a plane to land. U.S. officials believe
the Peruvian jet broke some of the engagement rules. A pilot in a U.S.
surveillance plane said he had urged the Peruvian pilot to take additional
steps to identify the plane before firing at it.

The worst nightmare of any law enforcement officer is the accidental taking
of an innocent life, but the worst outcome of such a tragedy would be the
program's curtailment. Drug trafficking remains a brisk and lucrative business.

Though controversial and risky, the drug interdiction program slows the
flow of cocaine out of the Andes region.

The Bush administration has moved swiftly to suspend the program pending a
full review of how this accident occurred. Making sure procedures are
followed is a way to lessen the risks of a high-risk but valuable program.

In recent months, individual miscalculations have roiled international
tensions and policy. A reckless engagement of a Chinese pilot with a U.S.
spy plane in international waters heightened U.S.-China tensions. A
shortcut of procedures during an exercise caused the USS Greeneville to
accidentally sink a Japanese trawler, killing nine people.

Out of tragedy comes knowledge, and out of knowledge hopefully comes the
discretion to be willing to err on the side of safety on the next close call.