Baptists Targeted? Missionary Plane Shoot Down

I read the article from The New York Times yesterday, about the allegations of cover up by the CIA and obstruction of justice.

Somewhere in the article it was said Obama's administration might look into it, but that someone could be concerned a trial would "chill" things between the White House and the CIA.

Um...I think I speak for all Americans, or the good lot of them at least, when I say, "chill away." If investigating corruption and crime could "chill" communications, then someone needs to get rid of the head directors of the CIA. Anytime anyone is threatened or intimidated, to NOT conduct proper investigation, it should be ignored. The only way to clean things up is to get to the bottom of things.

I speak for myself when I say I'm wondering if this was really an "accident" due to negligence at all, or a deliberate hit by a small group against Baptist missionaries who were working in Peru, which is over 81% Catholic, and which has it's largest "competitor" as the Baptists or evangelical christians.

These people were still firing on the plane after it had even landed. They weren't just trying to "down the plane" and disrupt business.

It was the Baptist missionary organization that provided some of the documentation which proved Peruvian and CIA authorities were lying.

The New York Times said no names had been mentioned, of those involved, but I would like to know names, and it would be interesting to know about their religious affiliation. I'm not saying this would PROVE this was a religious target, but in a country where 81% of the population is Catholic, the work of Baptist missionaries could be viewed as an annoyance and a threat, especially if people are converting and taking tithes or allegiance away.

It's at least worth examination.

Even in the U.S., researchers and social scientists concur the main of prejudice against religious groups, or the most discrimination, which is somewhat tolerated these days, is against those "evangelical christians".

The lawyers who withheld evidence should be held accountable as well. And, if this same thing had happened to a Catholic missionary plane, flying over a known "Protestant" part of Ireland or some other country, and ordered to be shot down by Protestant zealots, I would say the exact same thing--that it is suspicious and should be investigated.

Below is an article I am reposting, published by UKs, The Independant:

Home > News > World > Americas
Peru jet shoots down missionaries

Saturday, 21 April 2001

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A Peruvian air force jet shot down a small plane carrying American missionaries in Peru's Amazon jungle region.


A Peruvian air force jet shot down a small plane carrying American missionaries in Peru's Amazon jungle region, the US embassy said.

The missionary group said a woman and her infant daughter were killed.

"The Peruvian pilot mistook it for an airplane transporting contraband drugs," US Embassy spokesman Benjamin Ziff said today.

The Rev E.C. Haskell, spokesman for the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, said five people were aboard the group's plane when it was attacked yesterday en route from the Peruvian border to the city of Iquitos, about 625 miles north east of Lima.

Missionary Veronica "Ronnie" Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old adopted daughter, Charity, were both killed and veteran missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson was wounded, he said.

Also on board and unhurt were Bowers' husband, Jim Bowers, 35, and their 6-year-old son Cory, said Haskell. The missionary group's US base is in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

Donaldson's wife, Bobbi, told The Associated Press that her husband was shot in the leg and lost control of the single-engine plane, which was in flames, but managed to guide the aircraft into the Amazon river, where it flipped over.

Veronica Bowers was holding her daughter on her lap when a bullet struck her in the back, killing both her and the child, Mrs. Donaldson said in a telephone interview from Pebas, near the crash site, about 100 miles east of Iquitos.

She told CNN in a separate interview that her husband's "leg was fractured by the bullet that went in through his calf. He bled quite profusely floating in the Amazon."

She said the military plane continued to fire even after the small plane landed on the river.

Haskell said the survivors sat on the pontoons for about 45 minutes before being rescued by some Peruvians in a dugout canoe.

"All the natives there knew them; it wasn't like they were strangers," Haskell said. They were taken to a clinic.

The group was returning from Leticia, Brazil, where they had picked up a Peruvian residency visa for the infant, Donaldson said.

She added that another Peruvian air force plane took Jim Bowers, his son, and his dead wife and daughter, back to Iquitos, the capital of Amazonas province.

There was no immediate comment from Peru's military. Ziff said US Embassy personnel were travelling to the crash scene late last night.

Between 1994 and 1997, Peru shot down about 25 suspected drug planes on their way to Colombian cocaine refineries from coca-growing regions in Peru's Amazon.

The actions were the result of former President Alberto Fujimori's tough anti-narcotics policies in an effort to reduce trafficking in coca leaf, the raw material used to make cocaine.

In July, Fujimori said the country would use its fleet of 18 Russian-made Sukhoi-25 fighter jets in the anti-drug fight. The planes were originally bought after a brief border war with Ecuador in 1995.

Haskell said Donaldson is an experienced pilot and has worked for the missionary association since 1985. His parents were missionaries, and he grew up in Peru.

The missionary group has worked in Peru since 1939, according to its web site.

It helps found Baptist churches in the Iquitos area and other parts of the upper Amazon, and sends missionaries into remote areas along the river's tributaries.

In Lima and other cities, the group runs a theological seminary, schools, a camp and a centre for pregnant women.