Latin America
Related: About this forumThe Proclamation Of A Lone Superpower Above The Law: The Invasion Of Panama
December 15, 2014
The Proclamation Of A Lone Superpower Above The Law
The Invasion Of Panama
by MATT PEPPE
Twenty five years ago, before dawn on December 20, 1989, U.S. forces descended on Panama City and unleashed one of the most violent, destructive terror attacks of the century. U.S. soldiers killed more people than were killed on 9/11. They systematically burned apartment buildings and shot people indiscriminately in the streets. Dead bodies were piled on top of each other; many were burned before identification. The aggression was condemned internationally, but the message was clear: the United States military was free to do whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted, and they would not be bound by ethics or laws.
The invasion and ensuing occupation produced gruesome scenes: People burning to death in the incinerated dwellings, leaping from windows, running in panic through the streets, cut down in cross fire, crushed by tanks, human fragments everywhere, writes William Blum. [1]
Years later the New York Times interviewed a survivor of the invasion, Sayira Marín, whose hands still tremble when she remembers the destruction of her neighborhood.
I take pills to calm down, Marín told the paper. It has gotten worse in recent days. There are nights when I jump out of bed screaming. Sometimes I have dreams of murder. Ugly things.
In the spring of 1989, a wave of revolutions had swept across the Eastern bloc. In November, the Berlin Wall fell. The Cold War was over. No country was even a fraction as powerful as the United States. Rather than ushering in an era of peace and demilitarization, U.S. military planners intensified their expansion of global hegemony. They were pathological about preventing any rival to their complete military and economic domination.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/15/the-invasion-of-panama/
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Hard to believe we have never recovered from that...even though we AREN'T Panama.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Somebody should make this a novel and movie. None of that is true. Cute though. Good try.
Judi Lynn
(160,211 posts)here is the video which was mentioned and live-linked in the O.P.
Here's the Wikipedia description of the documentary:
The Panama Deception is a 1992 American documentary film that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1] The film is critical of the actions of the US military during the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States, covering the conflicting reasons for the invasion and depicting the US media as biased. It also highlighted media bias, showing events that were unreported or misreported in the news. It was directed by Barbara Trent of the Empowerment Project and was narrated by actress Elizabeth Montgomery.
The film asserts that the U.S. government invaded Panama primarily to renegotiate the terms of the TorrijosCarter Treaties. Another allegation made by the film is that the United States tested some form of laser or energy weapon during the invasion. The film also includes footage of mass graves uncovered after the US troops had withdrawn, burned down neighborhoods, as well as depictions of some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the fighting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Panama_Deception
Anyone who is interested in U.S. American relations with the people of the Americas would benefit by taking the time to think about it. As we know, a lot of the history has been either totally white-washed, or never covered at all in our media, or completely misrepresented altogether.
Continue searching for information on your own, and you will become convinced it was worth your time.
Don't take the word of propagandists. Start your own searches.
Judi Lynn
(160,211 posts)Excerpt from Tace's article:
More:Utilizing a classic spin technique, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Thomas Pickering defended the invasion by claiming that Article 51 of the UN Charter provides for the use of armed force to defend a country, to defend our interests and our people.
Pickering argued that Bush was compelled to invade because Panama was being used as a base for smuggling drugs into the United States. Since such durable disinformation tactics never seem to fail, the long reliable CIA asset General Manuel Noriega fell from grace in record time.
Every human life is precious
Estimates range from 500 to 4,000 dead Panamanian civilians killed during the invasion and the fighting afterwards. Bush the Elder was later asked if getting Noriega was worth all those deaths.
As if to confirm the unspoken tenet that some lives count more than others, the president replied: Every human life is precious, and yet I have to answer, yes, it has been worth it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016109138
Absolutely sickening. No wonder they wanted to keep it as quiet as possible here among the hard-working taxpayers who financed this madness.