20 years later, Panamians reflect on US invasion

[Judi Lynn]

20 years later, Panamians reflect on US invasion
by Staff Writers
Panama City (AFP) Dec 20, 2009

Twenty years after the United States invaded Panama and captured dictator Manuel Noriega, many Panamanians say the intervention was a US move to remove a "hindrance" to its political agenda.
The United States maintains that the invasion, which began on the morning of December 20, 1989 under US president George H.W. Bush, sought to depose general Noriega to bring him to justice for his role in international drug trafficking.

Operation Just Cause left 500 dead, according to official figures. But Panamanian groups estimate the toll at over 4,000 civilians killed, and some analysts say the true US motives were different than those proclaimed.

"I never believed the invasion took place because the general was linked to drug trafficking," political analyst Mario Rognoni, a commerce minister under Noriega, told AFP. "It was an open secret that he was working for US security."

Miguel Angel Bernal, a vitriolic opponent of Noriega, said the former dictator had become "an embarrassment to the US political agenda" in Latin America and the Caribbean. A US Cold War ally and one-time CIA informant, Noriega eventually put Washington in a tight spot as his drug trafficking ties emerged.

The United States has had a battered image in Central and South America, where it supported several coups and military governments during the Cold War in a bid to contain the grip of Communism over its southern neighbors.

Noriega, who took refuge in the papal nunciature in Panama City for two weeks before surrendering, went from being an ally to becoming a "threat" to the United States, said analyst Carlos Guevara-Mann, who served under the government of Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004), Panama's first female president.

"It has happened before with other figures and groups. Remember the Taliban (in Afghanistan) and Saddam Hussein (in Iraq): first allies and then enemies of America," added Guevara-Mann.

Washington was concerned at the time by leftist guerilla groups operating in Central America; and by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the socialist political party that had established a revolutionary government in Nicaragua.

"The United States wanted to use Panama as a platform for the struggle against the Sandinistas, but when Noriega refused, they decided to overthrow him," said Julio Berrios, an attorney for Noriega who previously served as an adviser to the Panamanian government installed after the invasion.

More:
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/20_years_later_Panamians_reflect_on_US_invasion_999.html

If you have not seen the US Academy Award Winning "The Panama Deception" documentary, narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery, here is Part 1, from You Tube. The others are available there once you have finished this one:

The Panama Deception 1/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1gDC-jXdE
7 minutes 30 seconds

[Judi Lynn]

1. After 20 years, US invasion of Panama leaves bad aftertaste

After 20 years, US invasion of Panama leaves bad aftertaste
Posted : Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:27:56 GMT
By : dpa

Washington - Operation Just Cause began a few days before Christmas. Shortly after midnight on December 20, 1989, the first convoy of trucks of about 24,000 invading US troops wound their way through Panama City. A little later, bombers flew over the capital of Panama. Their target was the headquarters of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, alleged drug boss and military strongman of Panama. The involvement of the earlier informant for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in drugs and money laundering had now made him an enemy of Washington.

The US plan was a success. But even 20 years after the invasion, a bitter aftertaste remains of actions considered questionable under international law. The fate of Noriega, who remains in a Florida prison where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking, is also still a controversial subject.

The invasion of Panama "created a big split between Washington and the rest of Latin America," said Michael Shifter of the Inter- American Dialogue, a Washington think tank. "Washington still regards the invasion as justified and the right thing to have done, whereas in many Latin American countries - while no one defends Noriega - there is widespread agreement that the US acted illegally," Shifter told the German Press Agency dpa.

It was then president George HW Bush who sent US troops into Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of Noriega, claiming that he was threatening the security of the canal as well as Americans living there. "We want to bring him to justice, we want him out and we want to restore democracy to Panama," Bush said at the time, justifying the surprise invasion. He had the backing of two prominent politicians - Defence Secretary Dick Cheney, who became vice president under Bush's son, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, who later became secretary of state.

As a young man, Noriega worked as a CIA informant, collecting information on leftist groups and movements in Latin America. As he made his way to the top echelons of the military and then de facto head of government, Noriega opened several rifts with the United States.

More:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/300211,after-20-years-us-invasion-of-panama-leaves-bad-aftertaste.html

[EFerrari]

2. The Panama Deception is must see teevee.

:kick:

[Downwinder]

3. I still think the Rolling Stone article had a lot to do with it. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

5. Not having any luck recalling the Rolling Stone article. What did they say

to trigger such a violent reaction? Did they draw a connection among Noriega and Reagan/Bush/CIA/drugs?

I tried to google Rolling Stone + Panama and simply kept seeing links on the "Rolling Stones." Didn't want to keep looking, as it could take forever at this rate.

[Downwinder]

6. That was the one where Noriega claimed to have Bush by the balls. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Twenty Years After US Invasion, Panama Still in Search of a Body Count

Twenty Years After US Invasion, Panama Still in Search of a Body Count
Sunday 20 December 2009
by: Agencia Télam | La Voz del Interior (Argentina)

Rallies, religious ceremonies and visits to cemeteries took place in Panama this past weekend to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Operation Just Cause, the US invasion of the country that removed Gen. Manuel Noriega from power and led to the deaths of a still yet undetermined number of Panamanian civilians.
The anniversary prompted at least two organizations to reissue calls for an investigation into the actual number of victims of the military intervention.

The National Front for Social and Economic Rights stated that its intention was to "keep the memory of the assault alive" and protest the fact that "no one has assumed responsibility for the aggression, which constituted a violation of human and international rights."
The left-wing Popular Alternative Party stated that, two decades after "the supposed liberation, the mask of deception, imposed by imperialism-friendly media, has finally fallen and revealed the savage and bloody realities of this genocide."

In the early morning hours of December 20, 1989, about 21,500 US soldiers occupied key positions inside Panama City and unseated General Noriega, Panama's strongman leader and a former Washington ally, charging him with collaborating with drug traffickers.
A 2002 United States Congressional report tallied 63 incidents in which the nation's armed forces had been involved in Latin American affairs. Operation Just Cause was the last overt US military intervention of its kind in the region.

More:
http://www.truthout.org/1222094