CIA Accountability Hits New Lows

[defendandprotect]

CIA Accountability Hits New Lows
By John Prados, February 19, 2010

In a virtually unnoticed exchange on February 3, Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) called the CIA to task for its incredibly ham-fisted handling of an April 20, 2001 incident in Peru. In collaboration with a CIA aircrew working as part of a joint program to interdict drug trafficking, the Peruvian air force shot down a plane carrying an American missionary family, killing two. In an angry tone, the Republican congressman denounced the CIA's response, released the actual film of the incident, and triggered an official statement from the agency — conveniently left off the CIA website to attract as little attention as possible.

This episode is important as part of the continuing effort to bring accountability to CIA operations. More importantly, it sheds light on the low standards of identification and evidence the CIA uses in selecting its targets. It's a fair bet that similar accountability issues will arise in the CIA's Predator operations in the ongoing war on terror.

Shooting Down Civilians
Toward the end of 1994, President Bill Clinton approved a project — buttressed by interagency recommendations and duly diligent Department of Justice memoranda — to halt or hinder airborne shipments of drugs from Peru by means of a common effort between the CIA and Peruvian authorities. Agency flights would identify traffickers and call in the Peruvian air force, which would either force the planes to land or shoot them down.

This Air Bridge Denial Program continued until April 20, 2001, when a CIA flight summoned the Peruvian air force to tail a plane that actually contained an American family, the Bowers, who were returning from vacation to their Baptist mission in the Andes. The CIA contract operators who had identified the plane as a possible target began to doubt their original suspicions, but their calls to Peruvian authorities went unheeded. After making little effort to communicate with the missionaries — a radio message beamed on a frequency the plane was not monitoring — the Peruvians shot at the plane, killing wife Veronica and infant daughter Charity, and wounding pilot Kevin Donaldson. Missionary husband Jim Bowers and his seven-year old son Cory barely survived the crash landing of the aircraft. George J. Tenet, CIA director at the time, gives this moment the "sad distinction" of being "my worst day as DCI before 9/11."



http://www.fpif.org/articles/cia_accountability_hits_new_lows

[DirkGently]

1. All the more reason

to question the "secret" CIA drone war in Pakistan. It's the basic premise underlying transparent government. Secrecy + 0 accountability = bad acts. We have no idea who's being blown up by those drones, and the CIA has no intention of telling us ... except when they get it "right."