World

Packaging the Panama invasion

Media coverage of the American inva-
sion of Panama has provided some of the
most bizarre and fascinating examples of

- stupid-speak and mindless flag-waving in

history.

The entire production was packaged
and delivered like soap or Chevrolets or
Coors ‘beer. Television was remorseless.
You could almost hear Uncle Sam’s voice
describing his marines dropping from
tropical skies, hot on Noriega’s heels.

You could see the scourge of drugs lift-
ing from America’s streets. The Red Sea

damn near parted before your eyes.

Even the slowest learner was supposed
to be able to tell the good guys (with the
Stars-and-stripes patch on their shoulder)
from the bad guys (with Spanish accents).

All this, it must be appreciated, took
careful planning by many people.

An act of international banditry had to
be transformed into a ‘crusade. Invasion

-had to be portrayed as liberation. The
killing of 800 Panamanian civilians needed.

to be downplayed. Two billion dollars in
economic damage from U.S. bombing
had to be dismissed as “‘worth it.” United
Nations’ and OAS condemnations needed
to be pooh-poohed.

But, you’ve got to give the U.S. military
credit for one thing: and that’s their new-
found ability to pick opponents. No more
Vietnamese for these guys. No more
North Koreans either. They’ve learned
their lesson.

Fresh from the heroics of subduing the
Grenadian army, and building upon the
bravery of U.S. pilots who killed Moam-
mar Khadaffi’s infant daughter as she

slept in a tent, planners of the Panama

operation and their media pool quickly
learned the advantage of purveying only
good news.

The-U:S. public adores good news: 85
per cent of them back their president in
Panama and so does the Democratic so-

Tom Morris

COMMENTARY

called opposition.

So do people like Mulroney, eager to
please, anxious for praise.

Listen to this nauseating chorus:

“It was probably the best-conceived
military operation since World War
Two,” said retired U.S. Army Chief of
Staff General Edward Meyer.

“The Panama invasion was a test of
manhood,” breathed a top Pentagon
officer.

“This time the medals were truly
earned,” agreed Time magazine’s Jan.8
edition, calling the operation “‘a triumph.”

Not everyone was taken in.

The majority of the world community
and all of Latin America except Alfredo
Cristiani, Bush’s caged monkey in El Sal-
vador, condemned it. Most people recog-
nized it as running totally against the tide
of the new political realism of the late
1980s.

Most states call it what it is: illegal gun-
boat diplomacy of the worst sort; the U.S.
again as world policeman — brutal, arro-
gant, jingoistic, ugly and dangerous.

The Globe & Mail, normally a Mulro-
ney backer, blasted the invasion in the
strongest language from Day One. Both
Opposition parties in Parliament scorned
the trained seal act by Mulroney, calling it
a clear sign that our sovereignty is further
compromised by our recent membership
in the OAS.

Major churches agreed, describing as
hypocritical Bush’s argument that the
invasion was to protect U.S. lives, and
pointing to Washington’s defensive res-
ponse to the recent murders of six Ameri-
can Jesuits in El Salvador by Cristiani’s
troops.

And from a military viewpoint, you’d
think General Meyer and our Pentagon
voyeur might be a bit more modest.
Overwhelming U.S. power descending on
a pitifully weak Panama hardly constitutes
“the best-conceived military operation
since World War Two.”

It might be the best conceived one since
Jimmy Carter’s helicopters crashed into
each other on an Iranian desert, or since
293 marines died after running into serious
fighters in Lebanon, or since a helicopter
lifted the last invader off the roof of the
U.S. embassy in Saigon.

Over 24,000 U.S. troops (12,000 per-

. manently stationed in Panama, only min-

utes from the capital), total air and sea
supremacy, and bottomless resources
were pitted against 15,000 untried Pana-
manian troops. And Noriega finally
simply walked out of the Vatican embassy
and gave himself up.

Not the stuff great sagas are made of
(though the U.S. has shamelessly managed
to create heroism from such dismal epi-
sodes as San Juan Hill and the Alamo).

Panama does set an interesting prece-
dent, though. According to U.S. rules, a
larger. power can simply declare the head
of another state.a felon, invade, occupy the
country, swear in its own people, arrest,
transport and bring the person before its
courts. It presents some fascinating scena-
rios for future international relations.

While this one-sided farce in Panama
may satisfy the Pentagon’s need to assert
its “manhood,” it’s hardly a case for too
many medals — except, perhaps, for best
actor, screenplay and special effects.

And here the stage belongs to the best-
equipped, best-kept and most efficient
propaganda machine since Goebbels: the
U.S. domestic media and its international
agencies which control most of the world’s
information sources.

Over to you, Dan.

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Continued from page 3

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Pacific Tribune, January 15, 1990 « 11