Spy Games? Deadly CIA Flap Caught on Tape

[concerned1]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/nightlinedailyline/2010/02/spy-games-deadly-cia-flap-caught-on-tape.html

Brian Ross and his Blotter team tonight bring us the investigation into a small plane that was wrongly shot out of the sky above Peru in April 2001. The Cessna was mistaken for a drug-smuggling aircraft.

Aboard, a family of American Christian Missionaries pictured above, the Bowers, was instantly torn apart – mother Roni and infant daughter Charity killed by gunfire – father Jim and 6-year-old son Cory surviving the crash. Pilot Kevin Donaldson also lived, injuring both legs.

The Peruvian Air Force fired the fatal shots from a gunship, but they were working at the time alongside the CIA on a drug prevention program.

Embedded below is a clip from a longer video, filmed by a CIA spotter plane, that shows the spy agency first misidentify the Cessna and then waffle on whether or not they think it’s part of the drug trade. There is a missed radio transmission between the Peruvians and the Bowers plane, and the gunfire begins.

What has followed is nine years of the CIA misleading government officials and the victims’ family about why rules of engagement failed to protect the family. Tonight, hear the full CIA response...

[Fumesucker]

1. Obama's budget increases funding for the drug war..

Clearly the drug war is one of the most "bipartisan" things in DC, supported by both Republicans and Democrats alike.

It will never end.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7629693

[spanone]

3. i fear you are correct. it's huge money, and that doesn't go away easily.

drug war clock

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

[leveymg]

2. Another fatal privatization folly - CIA "spotters" were Dyncorp (CSC Corp.) contractors

http://www.narconews.com/rarey1.html May 25, 2001 "..The name of Dyncorp surfaced once more in connection with the shoot down of the missionary plane in Peru. Early news reports identified the American "spotters" who fed the Peruvian pilots the targets as under contract to the CIA. It turns out they were actually contracted by Dyncorp which may or may not have had a contract with the CIA. Dyncorp "employees" are involved in the "defoliating" campaign in Peru and Columbia reminiscent of the Agent Orange debacle in Vietnam. Dyncorp is only one of a number of government "fronts" or "proprietaries" involved as surrogates around the world. Almost allof its $1.4 billion in 1999 revenue came from the U.S. Government. http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=676>

[Zywiec]

4. I just watched the video and it sounds like the CIA pilots

did not want to proceed with this.

They said the plane is flying at 4500 feet and not taking any evasive maneuvers and believe it's not a bandito.

It sounds like the Peruvians wanting to do this more than the Americans.

:shrug: