Word: commandeering
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...managed to revive democratic institutions, Aquino has yet to forge a clear set of legislative priorities. Her attempts at promoting economic recovery were sidetracked by last month's uprising. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that Honasan is planning to launch another takeover attempt, this time using tanks under his command. And late last week, Communist guerrillas waged a heated battle with government troops + just 30 miles away from Manila. Aquino is likely to find that keeping Arroyo in the Cabinet could make her life more difficult -- but that dropping him may not make things much easier...
...standards of Latin American despots, Panama's strongman General Manuel Antonio Noriega is no slouch. He has been accused of drug running, money laundering, election fraud and helping to steer restricted American technology to the Cubans and Soviets, not to mention repressing his own people. Yet Noriega, the Commander of the Panama Defense Forces and de facto dictator since 1983, has been adept at exploiting his country's strategic position. Although he openly cuddles up to Havana, he has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with the CIA, and his country plays host to the headquarters of the 10,000 troops...
...Cebu, 350 miles southeast of Manila, troops commanded by Brigadier General Edgardo Abenina flew the Philippine flag upside down at their garrisons as a sign of sympathy for the rebels. Civilian authorities were placed under house arrest. But after Ramos relieved Abenina of his command, the brigadier general peacefully submitted...
Nonetheless, the Army's top command -- particularly Chief of Staff General Edward Meyer and Vice Chief General John Vessey -- had become committed to secret operations. When the Reagan Administration took office, the generals made the new ad hoc groups permanent. In early 1981 Colonel James Longhofer, who had worked on Honey Badger, was assigned to head an expanded office of special operations to oversee various types of unconventional missions. One of its field units was Seaspray, jointly commanded by the Army and the CIA, which took over the special helicopters developed for the Iran rescue mission. The Pentagon dutifully briefed...
...Congress was not told that $20 million of that sum went to set up a supersecret intelligence unit, the ISA, under the command of Colonel Jerry , King. (The role of regular Army intelligence is to collect tactical military information, not to lay the ground for covert operations.) ISA initially was to act as a pathfinder for secret missions, but its functions quickly expanded. When General William Odom became assistant chief of staff for intelligence in late 1981, he argued persuasively that ISA was needed to fill gaps in the CIA's activities. Its personnel grew from about...