U.S. WANTS TO RENEW EFFORT TO SHOOT DOWN DRUG PLANES

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government is ``pretty close'' to resuming a suspended
program to shoot down suspected drug planes in the Amazon, White House drug
czar John Walters says.

Walters told the Mercury News Washington Bureau that U.S. officials may want
to renew the program first in Colombia, then later in Peru, where a tragic
accidental shoot-down over the Amazon River on April 20 killed a U.S.
missionary and her infant daughter.

That fatal mishap forced the suspension of the program and led to at least
two official U.S. investigations and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

``We're pretty close, I think, to deciding within the U.S. government about
how we'd like to proceed,'' Walters said in an interview this week. ``We're
not quite there yet, but we're pretty close.''

Peru is one of the nations President Bush will visit during a Latin American
tour March 21-24, and expectations are high in Lima of imminent renewal of
the U.S.-designed strategy begun in 1994 to shoot down aircraft suspected of
carrying coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine.

``We have been informed by the administration that this matter is in a very
advanced state of consideration,'' Peru's ambassador to Washington, Allan
Wagner, said Friday. ``We hope that this will be accomplished by the time
President Bush is in Lima.''

Coca crops are expanding in both Peru and Colombia, and some U.S.
legislators are pressing the White House to take more aggressive action.

Safeguards built into the U.S.-sponsored shoot-down program eroded with
time, making an accident almost inevitable, Senate Intelligence Committee
investigators found in October. The panel's report called for a ``dramatic
overhaul'' and said the program was marred by language barriers, inadequate
radio systems and failure to alert suspicious pilots that they were about to
be shot out of the sky.

It also demanded that the CIA not be involved in future drug-plane
interdictions.

On the morning of April 20, a CIA-operated surveillance plane helped a
Peruvian warplane track what they suspected was a drug-laden floatplane over
the Amazon River. The warplane shot the aircraft out of the sky, later
discovering it belonged to the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism,
a U.S. missionary group.

Killed in the mishap were Veronica Bowers, 35, and her infant daughter,
Charity. Her husband, James, and their son, Cory, were unhurt. The pilot,
Kevin Donaldson, was shot in both legs, but miraculously brought the plane
down to a river landing.

The survivors and the Baptist group are seeking $35 million in compensation
from the U.S. government for the accident.

``I'm not prepared to announce a settlement, but good progress is being
made,'' said Donald Davis, corporate counsel for the Baptist group.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently said U.S. officials are eager to
establish more rigorous procedures and renew the shoot-down program.

Before renewing, the administration must certify to Congress that safeguards
are in place to protect innocent life.