Word: airlift
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When George Bush ordered military action against the increasingly arrogant dictator, the Pentagon put the finishing touches on the option it preferred and had been secretly preparing to implement: a massive simultaneous assault on all P.D.F. strongholds by a combination of forces already in Panama and a huge airlift of reinforcements from bases...
...Wednesday's H hour approached, huge military transports were landing at ten-minute intervals at Howard Air Force Base, doubtless alerting Noriega that a U.S. strike might soon be under way. Pentagon spokesmen dismissed the airlift as a routine exercise. But total surprise had never loomed large in Pentagon planning, which depended on vastly superior manpower, firepower and speedy execution...