US, Peru downed 15 planes in '90s antidrug program

US, Peru downed 15 planes in '90s antidrug program

By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the help of CIA spotters, the Peruvian air force shot down 15 small civilian aircraft suspected of carrying drugs, in many cases without warning and within two to three minutes of being sighted, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday.

It is the first public disclosure of the number of planes shot down between 1995 and 2001 as part of the Airbridge Denial Program, a CIA counternarcotics effort that killed an innocent American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her infant daughter in 2001. A State Department investigation into the incident at the time said the Peruvian fighter jets forced another 23 planes to land.

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra told The Associated Press most of the 15 planes shot down with the help of the CIA crashed in the jungle. The wreckage has not or could not be examined to ascertain whether narcotics were onboard the aircraft.

"The Bowers could have gone in the same category if they had crashed in the jungle," Hoekstra said of the Muskegon, Mich., family.

The Bowers' plane made an emergency river landing after it was hit.

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Yet there are some who still worship the ground he walks on.