Word: bushing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Government has encouraged the Panamanian military to overthrow its corrupt commander and turn him over to American authorities to stand trial on drug charges. Last week, after a group of rebellious officers actually had Noriega under their guns, debate raged in Washington about whether the characteristically cautious Bush Administration could have -- and should have -- done more to help the coup's leaders. Senators, senior officials and military officers alike wondered: Had the U.S. fumbled its best opportunity to seize Noriega? Or had it sidestepped a diplomatically dangerous and probably ineffective intervention...
...Bush and his deputies replied, with considerable justification, that it would have been irresponsible to implicate the U.S. fully in a fuzzy coup scheme that would have riled much of Latin America. Still, their tangled and tentative reaction to the uprising raised disturbing questions about the Administration's ability to respond to a crisis. In the three days leading up to and during the coup, the U.S. was hobbled by a breakdown of communications, a distressing lack of reliable intelligence and an obvious dearth of contingency plans should the call for a revolt against Noriega finally be answered...
...first, the U.S. retorted that its limited maneuvers were intended only to safeguard American lives and property, as permitted under the Panama Canal treaties. "There were rumors around that this was some sort of an American operation," President Bush said on Tuesday. "I can tell you that is not true." Two days later senior officials acknowledged that they had acted at the request of the rebels...
...Bush's deputies had difficulty answering congressional questions concerning what they knew about the attempted coup, when they knew it, and why they opted for such a muted response. White House chief of staff John Sununu ordered an investigation of the Administration's handling of the failed coup, as did two congressional committees. Conceded a senior White House official: "You could ) make a good case that we had something of an intelligence failure." Said another: "There's no excuse. We've had a big presence in Panama and close ties with its military for a long time...
...rebel soldiers, Powell was told, wanted Southcom to assist the uprising by blocking two access roads near Fort Amador and the Bridge of the Americas, but otherwise wanted no U.S. involvement that might discredit them. Through Monday, as they waited in vain for news of Giroldi's move, Bush and his aides decided that if a coup were mounted, they would honor the blockade request...