Shoot first, ask questions (much) later

Peru: CIA lied about missionary plane shoot-down | Lynn Vincent

Associated Press

CIA officials lied to Congress about a tragic drug war shoot-down that killed Baptist missionary Veronica Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old daughter Charity, according to a CIA Inspector General (IG) report. The Bowerses died in April 2001 over a Peruvian jungle when a Peruvian air force jet shot down their plane after receiving a CIA tip that it could be carrying narcotics. The single-engine Cessna, owned by the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), had been flying at a normal altitude in Peruvian airspace after having filed a detailed flight plan to a nearby consulate to obtain a visa for newly adopted Charity. The shoot-down, which injured three others including Bowers' husband, Jim, and their 7-year-old son, prompted the suspension of the CIA-aided drug interdiction program known as Narcotics Airbridge Denial.