The goal was not to level the place, but to minimize damage to property and most important of all, to minimize casualties. That was accomplished. My daughter did not belong to any group. She was innocent. She had nothing to do with all of this. They killed her. Do it again, i would do it again because the cost was high. And theen, civilian military who gave their lives not for us. They gave their lives for democracy, for freedom. I do not mind paying any price under the sun to be free. On december 19th, 1989, while panamanians were getting ready for the christmas holidays, the United States was secretly mobilizing 26,000 troops for a midnight attack. I saw helicopters approaching. They were close. The lights went out, the helicopters began to shoot. People were running left and right without direction, without knowing where they were going. It was not just machinegun fire. There were bombs. The noise was frightening. You could hear gunfire from all directions. And, a strange noise we had never heard before. People were frightened, running, wondering what was going on. The sky was completely red. There was a tremor you can feel throughout the city. The invasion was swift, intense and merciless. When it was over, thousands lay dead and wounded and the country was in shambles. Millions of u. S. Tax dollars were swallowed up in three days of brutal violence. The strategy was considered a stunning military and political success. In many ways, the invasion served as a testing ground for the persian gulf war one year later. It is also an indication of the kinds of intervention the United States may undertake in the years to come. But still, Big Questions remain. What exactly happened during the invasion of panama . And why . This is the pbs evening news. Dan rather reporting. Good evening. More than 20,000 u. S. Soldiers and marines launched their attack in the Early Morning darkness as the invasion unfolded, americans stayed glued to their tvs and newspapers for coverage. But how much of the real picture did the media give them . The performance of the mainstream news media in the coverage of panama has been just about total collaboration with the administration. Not a critical murmur, not a critical perspective, not a second thought. The story that the white house was pushing was getting this socalled narcoterrorist in a net. And that was the thrust of all of the coverage. When are we going to get noriega . Have they let noriega get away . By late today, they had taken control of much of the country but their chief target, general Manuel Noriega, escaped. Manuel noriega belongs to that special fraternity of international villains. Men like qadaffi, idi amin, and the ayatollah khomeni, whom americans just love to hate. The white house announced a one milliondollar reward the Justice Department that up a hotline to take on tips on noriegas whereabouts. They focused on noriega to the exclusion of what was happening to the panamanian people, to the exclusion to the bodies in the street, to the exclusion of the number dead, to the exclusion of what happened to the women and children in that country during this midnight invasion. In some ways, the 1989 u. S. Invasion of panama was no surprise given the history of relations between the countries. The United States refused to recognize panamas independence throughout the 1800s. When the u. S. Proposal to build a canal was turned down by columbia, u. S. Policy changed. In 1903, the United States provided military backup, enabling panama to secede from columbia. By doing so, the United States secured the rights to take over the canal project that had been abandoned by the french. In a treaty negotiated between the french canal investors and the United States, the americans were granted sovereign control in perpetuity of a 10 mile wide strip of land they called the canal zone. Panamanians were not included in the negotiations and no panamanian signed the treaty. The United States immediately placed the canal zone under military control. Teddy roosevelt was asked by what right he acquired possession of the canal. At least in the honest words, he said i took it. That gives you no right. Never has. Hopefully never will. The canal project had an impact on panama. The u. S. Imported cheap labor from the caribbean, india, and asia, changing the racial makeup of the country. Thousands of these workers died and those who remained lived as part of a new racial underclass. They created an apartheid based in panama, a system on racial segregation where black people could not even use the same water fountain. The jim crow law that was practiced in the southern United States was implemented in panama by the United States government. After the canal was completed in 1913, the United States continue to expand its military presence and tighten its grip on panamanian politics. Violent confrontations between panamanians and the u. S. Military grew in the decades that followed. Tensions peaked in 1964 when students tried to exercise their right to fly the flag in the canal zone. 21 panamanians were killed and hundreds were wounded in the confrontation. In 1968, the panama government was overthrown in a military coup. The colonel in the National Guard emerged as the new leader of panama. Although he used repressive measures to consolidate his power, he became immensely popular. He introduced social reform that benefited the majority population of black, indian, and mestizos. It created a populist reformist process. An administrator at the State University of new york served as the panamanian diplomat to the United Nations. He was educated in panama. For the first time in panama, we had participation of the nonoligarchical people of the nation. People like myself could go to university and get a degree. All the people were deprived an opportunity for once in their life were playing an Important Role in the nation. In 1978, relations between the United States and panama reached a high point. Jimmy carter negotiated treaties to abolish the 1903 treaty, establishing a new relationship between the countries. The carter treaty required the United States to vacate its military bases and withdraw its troops by the year 2000. Full control of the canal and the canal zone would be turned over to panama. Although these treaties were a source of pride for panamanians, many conservatives in the United States had opposed them. The panama canal zones sovereign United States territory as much as alaska as well as the louisiana purchase. We bought it, we paid for it. General torrijos should be told we are going to keep it. In november 1980, Ronald Reagan defeated jimmy carter in a landslide election victory. Eight months later, on the night of july 31, 1981, torrijos was killed in a fiery plane crash. The circumstances of the incident are unclear. Authorities said his plane crashed into the side of a mountain. Witnesses said the plane exploded in flight. Although his death was declared an accident, many suspect he was assassinated. Some think Manuel Noriega may have been involved. Many are convinced it was the cia that was responsible. I am convinced the cia killed torrijos. This i know because i worked with torrijos. Jose martinez was one of his aides for many years. They killed him precisely at the moment they had to kill him. He was having a big influence over Central America. Especially among the revolutionary movement. Torrijos represented the political solution of the whole Central American problem. Waiting in the wings, was Manuel Noriega, the cias primary contact in panama. Noriega was head of the military intelligence and had a long standing relationship with the United States. He had been on the cia payroll since the 1960s. When george bush became director of the cia in 1976, under president ford, he inherited noriega as a contact. Despite evidence that noriega was involved in Drug Trafficking, bush kept noriega on the payroll. In fact, he increased noriegas salary to more than 100,000 a year and eliminated a requirement that intelligence reports on panama include information on Drug Trafficking. Over the last 20 years since noriega was recruited to be an asset, he had provided many important pieces of information to u. S. Intelligence. Peter is an analyst at the National Security archives. The archive has assembled hundreds of documents revealing the details of noriegas relationship to u. S. Intelligence. They paid him an incredible amount of taxpayer money. Obviously, they decided his value to them was so important that his drug smuggling and other activities could be ignored. I do solemnly swear i will support and defend the constitution of the United States. I will support and defend after george bush became Vice President under Ronald Reagan in 1981, he was named head of the antidrug campaign and once again took responsibility for monitoring noriegas intelligence activities. Bush in fact seems to have been instrumental according to the documented evidence made available in seeing to it noriega was taking care of. And the former director of the cia under carter claims he cut noriega off. That he removed him from the u. S. Payroll. Bush put him back on. And in fact gave him a raise. Developed an even closer relationship than existed before. With support from the cia, noriega was able to outmaneuver his rivals, and in august of 1983, he became commander of the panamanian military. As the Reagan Administration expanded its covert war against the sandinista government in nicaragua, noriega became increasingly helpful. Working with the cia and with israeli arms dealers, noriega helped coordinate an arms supply network to provide weapons to contra bases in northern costa rica. It is undeniable that the same planes carrying arms from panama into costa rica were also carrying drugs. In fact, the people who were the pilots flying those arms to the contras had been indicted and are serving time. This operation gave noriega the assurance they would turn a blind eye to his continued brokering of cocaine deals in return for using his network to get the arms to the contras in northern costa rica. Noriegas involvement in the drug traffic really increased his importance as a source for the cia and as someone who was able to conduct dirty tricks in the region for the cia. So its no accident that the cia became the most prominent defenders of noriega against the drug charges, because thats the sort of thing which cia clients tend to do. Time after time, when we the thirdrongmen in world, because we want them to be strong, we want them involved with the strongest local economic forces, which time after time are the drug traffickers. Despite noriegas collaboration with many u. S. Covert operations, he was becoming increasingly uncooperative with u. S. Objectives in Central America. In 1984, he angered the Reagan Administration by hosting latin american leaders at the contadora peace talks. The talks called for an end to u. S. Intervention in Central American affairs. Noriega was not the yesman the United States wanted him to be. He did not like to be pushed around. He certainly did not people like John Poindexter coming down to his villa and telling him what he should or should not do. In 1986, the irancontra scandal erupted. Noriegas contacts were now under intense scrutiny. Oliver north was fired. Poindexter was forced to resign. William casing fell ill with a brain tumor. All three of noriegas major protectors were out of government and that led to a shift in u. S. Policy. Sentiments within panama were turning against noriega as well. For three years, noriega worked with the dea in a sting operation codenamed operation pisces. In 1987, authorities arrested hundreds of suspects and froze millions of dollars in panamas banks, disrupting the moneylaundering business. The Financial Community was outraged and noriegas opponents mobilized against him. Back in washington, noriegas opponents testified against him, accusing him of murder, corruption, and drug running. The u. S. Media quickly turned it into a major story. But relations with panama are under a new cloud tonight because of news reports alleging senator jesse helms charged today that the military strongman of panama, Manuel Noriega, is the number one drug trafficker in the americas. He said depending on how the situation new investigations on capitol hill. Faced with pressure, in the u. S. And panama, noriega introduced a wave of brutal repression, attacking protesters in the streets and jailing hundreds of opponents. The Reagan Administration now openly called for his removal. We do want noriega out of there and a return to a civilian democratic government. Behind the scenes, the administration was negotiating with noriega, promising not to indict him on drug charges if he would cooperate with u. S. Objectives. Gabrielle, the director of the independent commission on the u. S. Invasion of panama, spoke to noriega about his negotiations with the u. S. General noriega told us there were a number of demands placed on him through poindexter and other meetings where the state department pressured him to change the panamanian governments policy on several issues. He said the most pressing was the demand that noriega and the panamanian government allow the u. S. To expand their military presence in panama and keep control over the 14 military bases that exist in panama. Noriega refused to agree to the u. S. Demands or to relinquish power in panama. In february 1988, two grand juries in florida indicted noriega, accusing him of Drug Trafficking and racketeering. It was the first time a foreign head of state had been indicted in the United States. The u. S. Now undertook a systematic effort to overthrow noriega. Economic sanctions were stepped up and additional troops were dispatched to panama. The United States tonight declared in effect that panamas general Manuel Noriega is a threat to this countrys National Security. Mr. Noriega, the drug indicted, drugrelated, indicted dictator of panama. We want to bring him to justice. We want to get him out and we want to restore democracy to panama. When you read these outrageous charges by a drugrelated indicted dictator, discount them. They are total lies. Still unable to force noriega stateswer, the united turned to influencing the 1989 Panamanian National elections. The Bush Administration, working through the cia and the National Endowment for democracy, funneled more than 10 million into the opposition candidate, a wealthy lawyer educated in the United States and his Vice President ial running mate. If the same scenario had taken place in the United States, they would have been illegal. In the United States, accepting money from a Foreign Government for the purpose of influencing a domestic collection is illegal. Those elections were irregular from the beginning. How can you call it a Fair Election . The strategy was applied in panama and nicaragua and every government that disagreed with u. S. Policy. They used sanctions to starve the vote. Because people vote to get bread when they are hungry. I dont think that is democracy. The elections were held. The countings of the vote counting of the votes again. It became clear that the prd would lose. At that point, and not for the first time, the military rulers halted the electoral process. The country erupted in violence. Ballot boxes were seized. The u. S. Supported candidates who have been leading in vote tallies were brutally beaten in front of tv cameras. The assailants were alleged to be noriegas dignity battalion, although none were ever identified. It was a photo opportunity that crystallized world Public Opinion against noriega. Good evening. The violence in panama escalated sharply this evening when goons were beaten up in panama city. Confirmed he was attacked by goons. The following day, president bush ordered 2000 additional troops into panama. I will do what is necessary to protect the lives of american citizens, and we will not be intimidated by the bullying tactics, brutal though they may be, of the dictator noriega. After the election fiasco, the Panamanian National assembly declared a state of emergency and appointed noriega head of state. George bush now openly encouraged the panamanian military to revolt against noriega. We would like to see him out of there. With support and encouragement from the United