Video shows plane with US missionaries shot down in CIA operation in Peru
CIA agents are facing disciplinary action after a video emerged showing how a small plane carrying American Christian missionaries was shot down in a CIA operation in Peru
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 7:12PM GMT 04 Feb 2010
Veronica Bowers, 35, and her seven-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed when their Cessna was mistaken for a drug plane in 2001. Her husband, Jim Bowers and the couple's son, Cory, escaped serious injury.
Pilot Kevin Donaldson, who had serious leg wounds, crash-landed the plane on the Amazon River. A cockpit video tape obtained by ABC News shows how a CIA spotter plane sneaked up behind the Cessna and wrongly identified it as a drug plane. CIA operatives then called in the Peruvian Air Force. A Peruvian pilot issued a warning to the Cessna but it was in Spanish and on the wrong frequency.
The Peruvian pilot is heard on the tape saying he is sure the plane is a "bandito" but the CIA pilots then suggest they are not sure, wth one saying: "I think we're making a mistake." Another says: "I agree with you."
After the Peruvian pilot opens fire, Mr Donaldson can be heard yelling in Spanish: "They're killing me. They're killing us."
One of the CIA operatives can then be heard shouting: "Tell him to terminate. No. Don't Shoot. No more, no mas."
By that time, the plane was falling and crash landed in a river. Mrs Bowers and her daughter died after being hit with bullets.
Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who has campaigned on behalf of the Bowers family, told ABC News: "If there's ever an example of justice delayed, justice denied, this is it.
"The intelligence community's performance in terms of accountability has been unacceptable. These were Americans that were killed with the help of their Government, the community covered it up, they delayed investigating."
The CIA said that after a nine year investigation, it had concluded that 16 of its employees should be disciplined.
CIA agents are facing disciplinary action after a video emerged showing how a small plane carrying American Christian missionaries was shot down in a CIA operation in Peru
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 7:12PM GMT 04 Feb 2010
Veronica Bowers, 35, and her seven-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed when their Cessna was mistaken for a drug plane in 2001. Her husband, Jim Bowers and the couple's son, Cory, escaped serious injury.
Pilot Kevin Donaldson, who had serious leg wounds, crash-landed the plane on the Amazon River. A cockpit video tape obtained by ABC News shows how a CIA spotter plane sneaked up behind the Cessna and wrongly identified it as a drug plane. CIA operatives then called in the Peruvian Air Force. A Peruvian pilot issued a warning to the Cessna but it was in Spanish and on the wrong frequency.
The Peruvian pilot is heard on the tape saying he is sure the plane is a "bandito" but the CIA pilots then suggest they are not sure, wth one saying: "I think we're making a mistake." Another says: "I agree with you."
After the Peruvian pilot opens fire, Mr Donaldson can be heard yelling in Spanish: "They're killing me. They're killing us."
One of the CIA operatives can then be heard shouting: "Tell him to terminate. No. Don't Shoot. No more, no mas."
By that time, the plane was falling and crash landed in a river. Mrs Bowers and her daughter died after being hit with bullets.
Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who has campaigned on behalf of the Bowers family, told ABC News: "If there's ever an example of justice delayed, justice denied, this is it.
"The intelligence community's performance in terms of accountability has been unacceptable. These were Americans that were killed with the help of their Government, the community covered it up, they delayed investigating."
The CIA said that after a nine year investigation, it had concluded that 16 of its employees should be disciplined.
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