SCANDAL IN CADRUL CIA ! MASS-MEDIA TACE MALC !

• November
• 28

12:42 pm Adevarul socant, Atentie !, Bataia de joc!, CIA, CRUNTA SFIDARE A AUTORITATILOR, Important, Info, NESIMTIRE FARA LIMITE, Realitatea adevarata, Reflectati !, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Utile

CIA Scandal Erupts

Colin Clark
DoD Buzz
November 27, 2008

It must be the worst nightmare of every CIA director — the agency ignores its own rules and regulations and kills innocent Americans, and then the people in charge of the operation lie to Congress and cover up what happened.

The nightmare has apparently come to life and it became public today when Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) announced that a report by the CIA’s own inspector general found that agency officers apparently ignored standing rules and regulations governing when they could shoot at aircraft in the drug war in Latin America. The lapses led to the death of at least 10 innocent civilians, Hoekstra said, including two Americans, Veronica “Roni” Bowers and her daughter, Charity, in April 2001. They were missionaries in Peru heading home when the CIA ordered a Peruvian Air Force jet to shoot down their plane. The shoot down was part of a joint U.S.-Peruvian anti-drug program that began in the mid-1990s. CIA officers worked with Peruvian pilots to spot planes believed to be carrying illegal drugs.

“It is a blot, a dark stain, a sad day for CIA,” Hoekstra told reporters this morning. “The CIA knew about repeated serious issues with this program, but took no corrective actions, which could have prevented this needless tragedy. Making matters worse, the inspector general found continuous efforts to cover the matter up and potentially block criminal investigation.”

While Hoekstra has taken a keen interest in the case from the beginning, since both victims were from Michigan, he clearly sees the case as having much wider significance than a single tragic event.

“This issue goes to the heart of the American people’s ability to trust the CIA,” said Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “Americans deserve to know that agencies given the power to operate on their behalf aren’t abusing that power or their trust.”

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