WHEREAS recent news reports indicate participation by the United States government in Missions designed to force down or shoot down airplanes in Peru, resulting in the killing of a missionary and her infant daughter by a Peruvian military jet operating in cooperation with the CIA;
WHEREAS reports of strafing of the passengers of that aircraft after it was down in the Amazon River evidence a specific intent to kill its passengers;
WHEREAS the deaths of these innocent people, and the media reports that continue, highlight a fact that is perhaps even more sad: our government takes the position, so far virtually unquestioned in major media, that the shooting down of this plane would have been justifiable if the occupants had been involved in the drug trade;
WHEREAS more recent news reports indicate that more than 30 other planes have been shot down or forced down, and at least 20 persons have been killed;
THEREFORE BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers condemns participation by the government of the United States in activity designed to kill persons, of any ethnicity or citizenry, or bring about substantial risk of their death, for suspicion of any offense, capital or non-capital, without benefit of trial or any other due process right.
Donald Rehkopf
Fort Worth, Texas
