-Caveat Lector- U.S. Has Past of Poor Military Maps LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The federal agency responsible for making charts and maps used by military pilots has a history of providing incomplete and inaccurate data, resulting in fatal mishaps such as the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The National Imagery and Mapping Agency and its predecessor organization have produced charts or maps that played a role in at least a dozen accidents since 1985, some involving fatalities and loss of military aircraft, according to documents and interviews reviewed by the Times. On May 7, fighter pilots using outdated maps attacked the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three journalists and injuring 20 people. The map had the embassy in the wrong place, although the Belgrade phone book and tourist maps had the correct address. ``No database available to NIMA identified the targeted location as the location of the Chinese embassy,'' NIMA spokeswoman Laura Snow said Friday in a written response to the Times' questions. The accident remains under investigation. NIMA maps were a factor in three accidents in the last 15 months that killed a total of 28 people, including the clipping of an Italian gondola cable by a Marine fighter jet in February 1998 that left 20 people dead. NIMA officials contend they have an exemplary safety record despite a massive workload. Last year, the agency printed 23.5 million copies of maps and charts and produced 650,000 compact discs. Though the Italian gondola accident received the most attention, others involving faulty maps have occurred. About two weeks after the Marina gondola tragedy, five Navy fliers were killed when their UH-1N Huey helicopter collided with power lines. The electrical wires didn't appear on the map they used even though the same power lines killed two other people three years earlier, a military investigator said. The agency has encountered funding shortages, a loss of senior analysts and cartographers and friction between intelligence and defense communities for its services. NIMA was created in 1996 by merging the 24-year-old Defense Mapping Agency with photographic analysts and intelligence personnel from seven other Pentagon and CIA branches. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
