United States invasion of Panama

 United States invasion of Panama (invasion,  military operation,  war)

Date	December 20, 1989 - January 31, 1990
Description	US war of aggression in 1989

The Panama Deception also available on Rumble

The United States Invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush

Preparations

Full article: Document:The Man Who Sold the War

An intense media campaign to vilify the Panamanian leader was part of the preparations

In 1989, shortly after his election, President George H.W. Bush signed a highly secret "finding" authorizing the CIA to funnel $10 million to opposition forces in Panama to overthrow Noriega. Reluctant to involve agency personnel directly, the CIA turned to the Rendon Group. Rendon's job was to work behind the scenes, using a variety of campaign and psychological techniques to put the CIA's choice, Guillermo Endara, into the presidential palace. Cash from the agency, laundered through various bank accounts and front organizations, would end up in Endara's hands, who would then pay Rendon.

Noriega foiled a two coup attempts and declared the May 7, 1989 civilian elections invalid.

Pretext

In the months beforehand, U.S. military forces were instructed to begin maneuvers and activities within the restrictions of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, such as ignoring PDF roadblocks and conducting short-notice "Category Three" military exercises on security-sensitive targets, with the express goal of provoking PDF soldiers.

The U.S. launched its invasion of Panama on December 20, with the ostensible reason being the killing of a US Marine that was shot at a road block a few day earlier, although the operation had been planned for months before his death.

Purpose

Full article: Panama Canal

The primary purpose of the invasion was secure full control the Panama Canal, which had been signed back to Panama in 1977 by the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. The canal and the Canal Zone was supposed to be handed from the U.S. to Panama by January 1, 2000.

to depose the Panamanian leader, general and dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega, who for a long time worked with the Central Intelligence Agency with among other things drug trafficking, was wanted by the United States for racketeering and drug trafficking.

Following the operation, the Panama Defense Forces were dissolved (another objective) and a more obedient government under President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office. The United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States condemned the invasion as a violation of international law.

In 1988, Noriega declared:

I’ve got Bush by the balls

According to John Perkins, son George W. Bush and other high ranking US leaders had been secretly videotaped while having sex with prostitutes and and doing drugs on Contadora Island in Panama. According to Perkins, one of the reasons President George HW Bush invaded Panama was in order to seize the incriminating tapes. There might also have been blackmail material from the Iran-Contra affair. George HW Bush had been CIA director when the Agency collaborated with Noriega and Colombian smugglers.

Weapons tests

The United States military tested new advanced weaponry in Panama during the invasion (see the article weapons testing for more information).

The military operations

The military incursion into Panama began on December 20, 1989, at 1:00 a.m. local time. The operation involved 27,000 U.S. troops and over 300 aircraft, against 2,500 mebers of the Panamanian Self-Defence Forces.

Casualties

The number of civilian casualties have been consistently minimized in the official narrative. According to official Pentagon figures, 516 Panamanians were killed during the invasion, including 314 soldiers and 202 civilians.

The newly installed government officially had the number at 300 civilians and 63 military personnel.

During a trip to Panama, Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark heard varying estimates of death tolls ranging from 4,000 to 7,000 Panamanian citizens. The estimates came from hospitals, Red Cross and human rights officials and U.S. and Panamanian citizens, said Clark.

Aftermath

The newly installed government disbanded the armed forces, only retaining a small paramilitary security force.

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Manuel Noriega	“He was a pawn in an international game that was way bigger than him and he certainly paid dearly," said Barbara Trent, a filmmaker who directed "The Panama Deception," a 1992 documentary about the U.S. invasion. "He was a small-time player catapulted to international fame by the U.S. government and the media to drum up support for a ruthless invasion," Trent added. Working with the CIA Noriega ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989. Before and during that time, he worked with multiple U.S. intelligence agencies who agreed to ignore allegations that he was a drug trafficker in exchange for a staunch anti-communist ally in Central America during the height of the Cold War. Noriega was paid handsomely for his help, about $10,000 per month at one point, according to John Dinges, author of "Our Man in Panama: How General Noriega Used the United States and Made Millions in Drugs and Arms (1990)." "The relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon was quite intense in the early '80s," Dinges told ABC News. "He was considered an important asset, and everyone in the documents I've read spoke very highly of him. He was trusted to the extent that you trust someone who is a paid intelligence asset.”	Manuel Noriega Kaelyn Forde ABC News	2017

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The Man Who Sold the War	Wikispooks Page	17 November 2005	James Bamford

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