U.S. drops criminal inquiry of CIA in Peru plane crash

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U.S. drops criminal inquiry of CIA in Peru plane crash


DOUGLAS JEHL AND DAVID JOHNSTON
NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON—After a secret three-year probe, prosecutors have ended a criminal inquiry into whether CIA officers lied to lawmakers and agency superiors about a clandestine anti-drug operation that ended in the 2001 fatal downing of a plane carrying U.S. missionaries.

U.S. Justice Department officials said the department "declined a criminal prosecution." The conduct under scrutiny was part of a CIA operation to help the Peruvian air force interfere with drug flights over the country. An inquiry in 2001 found that the action, in which U.S. missionary, Veronica Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed, was the result of language problems and poor communications. A Peruvian air force jet carried out the attack after the plane was misidentified as a drug smuggling aircraft by the CIA.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1107731409627&call_pageid=970599119419

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