Word: panama
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...White House following the Christmas party "started as an in-depth briefing" of Bush by his senior aides, says a participant. The President was especially infuriated to hear details of the incident in which an American Navy lieutenant was pulled out of a car and beaten by Panama Defense Forces soldiers while his wife was threatened with gang rape. "Enough is enough," said Bush. "This guy ((Noriega)) is not going to lay off. It will only get worse...
Among other reasons, the invasion was notable as perhaps the biggest U.S. foreign policy venture in 40 years that had nothing to do with containment of communism. Nobody ever pretended to find reds among Noriega's entourage or voiced any fear that Panama would go communist. Communism also was only a peripheral issue in the Philippines intervention. One reason the Philippine military dislikes Aquino is that it feels she has not been vigorous enough in suppressing communist guerrillas. But the main issue for Bush was simply the survival of a democratically elected government that Washington had helped to install...
White House aides point out that Bush's policies, notably the cozying up to China, are not always pro-democracy. The Philippines and Panama were special cases in which the U.S. had historic ties with the countries involved, major assets to protect -- the Panama Canal and sea and air bases in the Philippines -- and strong military forces on the scene and ready for action. Says a senior Administration official: "It's always nice, of course, when you can intervene on behalf of democrats, but that's not always possible...
...power to further U.S. interests that have little or nothing to do with communism -- suppressing drug traffic or terrorism, for example. U.S. helicopter pilots have been supporting drug-eradication efforts in Peru and Guatemala, though Peru last week called a halt to joint antidrug action in protest against the Panama invasion. The Washington Post has quoted Joint Chiefs Chairman Powell as telling colleagues that "we have to put a shingle outside our door saying SUPERPOWER LIVES HERE, no matter what the Soviets do, even if they evacuate from Eastern Europe." That may be a better summary of the reasoning behind...
...that comes with a gigantic if: it assumes the operation in Panama will succeed quickly at a relatively light cost. Of all the lessons of foreign policy, the one that seems to apply most directly to Panama is that a fait accompli will be accepted by domestic and world opinion -- but that few setbacks are as damaging as a fait accompli that is not quite accompli...