(Rep) Hoekstra says CIA lied about Peru plane downing that killed missionary Veronica Bowers

[sabra]

Source: The Grand Rapids Press

A new federal probe of the 2001 downing of a plane carrying West Michigan missionaries in Peru concluded the CIA operated outside the law and then lied to Congress and federal officials, according to U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra.

"We cannot have a community that operates outside the law and covers up what it does and lies to Congress," Hoekstra said today.

Hoekstra said he will press for criminal investigation following release of the report by the Office of Inspector General.

Veronica "Roni" Bowers, 35, of Muskegon, was holding her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, when their plane was misidentified by as a potential drug-smuggling aircraft and fired upon by a Peruvian air force jet. A bullet struck Bowers in the back, killing her and the baby.

Bowers' husband, Jim, then 37, son, Cory, 8, and the pilot survived the crash that followed the shooting.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ssf/2008/11/post_24.html

[SharonAnn]

1. What a surprise. Not!

[Peace Patriot]

2. The U.S. "war on drugs" is a corrupt, murderous failure! End it NOW! nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. In order to keep the drug war going the inequities of those lands

where it starts must be maintained.

I would not be surprised if (and have long so thought) that plane was NOT misidentified as a drug plane because it was a drug plane, but it was misidentified as a drug plane BECAUSE it was a missionary plane. It's right up there with the murder of the nuns in El Salvador - not because they were doing something illegal or threatening to the government, but because they were doing some good for the poorest people in the country.

The stratification of society is not just a result of oligarchic rule - it is necessary to maintain oligarchic rule.

[Baby Snooks]

4. Obama will follow the example of Clinton and do nothing...

""We cannot have a community that operates outside the law and covers up what it does and lies to Congress," Hoekstra said today."

What quite a few said about Iran-Contra. And what did Bill Clinton do? Absolutely nothing. And what will Barack Obama do? Absolutely nothing.

The reality is everyone who sits in the White House remembers the Kennedys. And don't think someone doesn't remind them of it.

[noonwitch]

5. I'm not a huge Hoekstra fan, but I'm glad he's looking into this

If the CIA had a role in the woman's death, it should be exposed.

[sabra]

6. I agree with you about Hoekstra - he's one of those who claim that the CIA was anti-Bush

with the WMD intel, etc..

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Groan...

[Judi Lynn]

8. Cover-up claimed in plane shooting in Peru (CIA report)

Source: Internatonal Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Cover-up claimed in plane shooting in Peru

The Associated Press
Thursday, November 20, 2008

WASHINGTON: A classified CIA report on the 2001 downing of a small plane carrying American missionaries by the Peruvian Air Force suggests that U.S. officials may have misled Congress and withheld information from the Justice Department.

Representative Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, urged Thursday that a CIA inspector general report on the incident be declassified. An American woman and her infant daughter died in the incident. The pilot, the woman's husband and their son survived. The family lived in Michigan.

The report also questions whether procedures set up under the CIA's "Airbridge" program to prevent similar incidents were actually followed.

The downing occurred in April 2001 in a remote region of Peru near the Colombian and Brazilian borders as part of the Airbridge counter-narcotics program. A CIA-contracted surveillance plane was supposed to identify drug smuggling aircraft, and Peruvian and Colombian fighters were supposed to intercept them and order them to land. If they did not follow those orders, the fighters had authority to shoot them down.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/20/america/cia.php

[Aslanspal]

9. But the Jesus Camp style people were already in Bush Camp

They probably knew but they were soooooo giddy to have Bush...that they just let it slide and spiritualize the whole affair...that is how their minds work once they like you and are able to forgive even killing them.