White House Evacuated [Update- reason still not clear, evacuation over, people return inside]

There are a number of people in congress (and on this forum) who think small aircraft which stray into restricted airspace here in the States should be shot down like they are already doing in South America and elsewhere.

A little food for thought:

In 1994 Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) added, over AOPA's opposition, a provision in the Defense Authorization Act of 1995 that grants immunity from prosecution to U.S. officials and contractors who assist foreign governments in tracking and shooting down aircraft suspected of drug operations. Representative (now Senator) Bob Torricelli (D-N.J.) introduced similar shoot down legislation in the House.

Here are the results:

Missionary plane shot down in Peru: collateral damage in US "drug war"

By Bill Vann
24 April 2001

Following the revelation that a reconnaissance aircraft carrying CIA contract employees participated in the April 20 shoot-down of a plane carrying an American missionary family over the Peruvian Amazon region, Washington has attempted to pin the blame on the Peruvian military. US officials have charged that the Peruvian pilot failed to follow accepted procedures for the interception of suspected drug runners. They have also leaked reports that the American spies objected to the attack that claimed the lives of one missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her seven-month-old daughter, Charity.

Whatever the exchange between the CIA contractors and the Peruvian Air Force officer aboard the spy plane, a Peruvian jet fighter was called in and shot into the plane, killing the woman and her baby. It then continued strafing the survivors—the wounded pilot, Ms. Bowers' husband James and their six-year-old son—as they clung to the plane's burning wreckage after it crashed into the Amazon River.

Speaking at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec, President Bush called the killings a “tragedy,” but said that he would withhold judgment until an investigation is completed. Meanwhile, Washington announced, the US-sponsored air interdiction program has been suspended.

“Obviously, something went wrong and lives were lost in a program that is meant to fight the war on drugs,'' said a White House spokesman, who characterized the killings an “isolated incident.”

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