Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.uniontrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Author: James Risen, New York Times News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)

TAPES SHOW U.S. CREW TRIED TO STOP PERU JET

Missionary Plane Pilot: 'They Are Killing Us!'

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. crew of a surveillance aircraft overheard the pilot 
of a small plane carrying a missionary family communicate with the tower at 
a Peruvian airport, and the Americans tried to warn a Peruvian air force 
fighter before the jet attacked, tape recordings of the incident reveal, 
according to U.S. officials who have reviewed them.

But the Peruvian jet almost immediately opened fire, and the pilot of the 
small Cessna can be heard on the tape saying, "They are killing us!" 
according to an official who has heard the tapes.

The American pilot and co-pilot of the surveillance plane then shouted to a 
Peruvian air force officer on board, who was acting as their liaison with 
the Peruvian fighter, to order a cease-fire.

At that point, one member of the American crew can be heard shouting, "Tell 
him to terminate, tell him to terminate!" the official said.

The Peruvian officer on board the American plane then told the Peruvian 
fighter plane: "No more. No more."

In Washington, senior American officials are still reviewing the video and 
audio tapes from Friday's incident over Peru, in which an American woman 
and her baby daughter were killed.

The pilot of the missionary plane was wounded, but he was able to land, and 
two other passengers -- the dead woman's husband and son -- also survived.

The Peruvian fighter and the U.S. surveillance plane were part of a joint 
drug-interdiction operation to stop drug-running flights in the region.

U.S. drug interdiction flights have been suspended over Peru and Colombia, 
according to the State Department.

Since the downing of the aircraft, U.S. officials have said that the 
Peruvian jet opened fire on the missionary plane without carefully 
following established procedures.

Now, officials say the tapes of the incident, which have not yet been 
publicly released by the U.S. government, show that CIA contract personnel 
repeatedly raised questions with the Peruvians about their procedures 
before the Peruvian pilot opened fire. They then intervened to try to stop 
the firing almost as soon as it began.

Still, officials caution that some of the facts surrounding the incident 
must be clarified, including any attempt to reconcile the tapes with other 
reports that the survivors were strafed after they landed.

An investigation of the incident is expected, although it is still not 
clear who will lead that inquiry.

But in seeking to piece together the sequence of events that led to the 
downing of the plane, U.S. officials revealed that the tapes show the 
Peruvians rushed their actions so quickly that the American crew on the 
surveillance plane had only a few minutes to intervene.

The tapes show that the American crew repeatedly asked questions of the 
Peruvians and expressed strong reservations about their actions. At one 
point, they asked the Peruvian officer on board their plane whether he was 
certain that the small plane was a drug-trafficking aircraft. The Peruvian 
responded that he was not certain.

A bilingual Peruvian lieutenant colonel was on board the U.S. plane, acting 
as a liaison with the Peruvian air force.
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