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Peruvian air force blamed for missionary shoot-down
CNN is reporting that an investigation into the April shooting of a Peruvian missionary plane mostly blames the Peruvian air force. Senior Bush administration officials say the report found repeated violations of the U.S.-Peru drug interception program, and that the air force skipped almost all of the safeguards intended to avoid such an accident. The CIA-contracted flight crew tracking the missionary plane was also partly blamed for the incident. "There is some comment as to whether additional steps, over and above the procedures set in place, that the crew could have taken when they saw clearly that the Peruvian air force was acting precipitously," says an unnamed official. Missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson is given a "very light touch" by the investigation's report, which involved the Peruvian government and all U.S. agencies involved in the interception program, including the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA. American Baptists for World Evangelization, the missionaries' agency, issued a press release responding to the CNN report, disagreeing with statements that Donaldson "was flying in a zone it shouldn't have been," and that he "did not file a customary return flight plan." The agency also lamented, "Despite initial assurances that ABWE could review and comment on the factual portion of the report before its release, no one from ABWE—including its missionaries involved in the tragedy—has seen a copy. "Is your church van safe?
Colorado has seen three major accidents involving church groups in as many weeks. On June 30, a bus carrying 46 Young Life teens and staff from Minnesota overturned as it passed through the Rocky Mountains, injuring most on board. On ...
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