President Bush is sending nearly 1,900 combat troops to Panama to protect American lives there, he said Thursday, and he vowed he would ”not be intimidated by the bullying tactics” of dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.
”I`m worried about the lives of American citizens, and I will do what is necessary to protect the lives of American citizens,” the President said.
Facing the first major foreign policy test of his presidency, Bush announced a seven-point plan that included recalling the U.S. ambassador, reducing the embassy staff to essential personnel and ordering U.S. government employees and their dependents to relocate to secure areas.
The actions came in response to a rising crisis in Panama, which included what the President called ”massive fraud and intimidation” to steal Sunday`s presidential election and the subsequent voiding of the results after it became apparent that Noriega`s forces had lost by a 3 to 1 ratio.
On Wednesday, Noriega`s agents attacked and beat the opposition`s presidential candidate and his running mates.
Bush appeared grim as he made his late-afternoon announcement in the White House briefing room Thursday, after a day of meetings with his advisers and congressional leaders. Dogged by criticism that he had not acted decisively enough in his 4 1/2 months in office, the President pointedly recited the list of seven actions.
He faces a thorny-and perhaps dangerous-problem in sending troops to Panama, in that he could incite resentment among the local population and even other Latin American nations by seeming to interfere in another country`s interests.
He and his advisers have been concerned that, with about 51,000 Americans living in Panama, including as many as 20,000 unrelated to the U.S. military there, he could be setting the stage for kidnapings or hostage takings, along the lines of what has happened in Iran, or even assassinations.
In apparent recognition of the dangers, and in an attempt to encourage support and initiatives from other Latin American nations, Bush made a point of saying he called on countries in this hemisphere ”to either jointly or personally make strong statements” against Noriega.
He also said the U.S. would strongly support regional diplomacy and action in the Organization of American States to deal with the crisis.
But while some Latin nations did issue strong criticism of Noriega, the administration apparently failed to win strong backing for its actions from Latin American leaders. Several cautioned the U.S. against intervening militarily.
Costa Rica, normally a vocal supporter of the U.S., declined to come out in support of Bush`s initiatives. A spokesman for Honduras` embassy in Washington said that country`s officials did not wish to be asked to back the U.S. efforts. Mexican officials bluntly said the U.S. moves were a bad idea.
Officials in Cuba warned that any use of U.S. force against Noriega would result in ”an inevitable and explosive reaction among the people of Latin America.”
Several of the measures announced by Bush, including economic sanctions and deployment of military troops, were first tried by President Reagan in an attempt to oust the combative Noriega, who is under indictment in the U.S. on drug-smuggling charges.
The Reagan administration sent an augmentation force of about 1,400 troops to Panama in a show of strength in April, 1988. They returned home a short time later.
The 1,881 troops to be sent to Panama by Bush, equipped at this time to be a defensive force, will augment the nearly 11,000 troops already on duty in Panama, and will be drawn from Ft. Ord, Calif., Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Ft. Polk, La. The first unit was expected to be underway within 24 hours, and the Pentagon described their stay as open-ended.
Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said there were no plans to change the President`s forthcoming travels, which include commencement addresses in Texas and Mississippi Friday and Saturday and a fundraiser in Kentucky Saturday night before he returns to the White House at mid-day Sunday.
Brent Scowcroft, Bush`s national security adviser, briefed reporters after the presidential announcement and described the troop movement as
”precautionary as much as anything. There were some Americans held briefly yesterday. They have been released. But in view of the treatment of the opposition candidates and, indeed, in view of the cases of harassment (of Americans) over the past three months . . . it`s a prudent step to take.”
Scowcroft described Noriega as ”a thug” but added that he ”clearly operates with some prudence when he has to.”
Asked what the prospects now were for some kind of armed conflict in Panama, Scowcroft replied, ”That`s basically up to him (Noriega).”
But he all but acknowledged that Bush`s action would do little to force Noriega from power. ”We can always hope he will see the error of his ways and we are looking at ways to help convince him to recognize the will of the Panamanian people,” Scowcroft said.
Asked if it would be acceptable for Noriega to still be in power a month from now, Scowcroft said, ”I don`t see why not.”
Scowcroft noted that one of the problems with the economic sanctions ”is that they`re hard to pinpoint on particular things that they`re designed to do, and of course, a lot of innocent people suffer.”
Congressional leaders, briefed in advance by the President, offered him strong support. But some said there is pressure on him either to invade Panama or to scrap the treaty turning the Panama Canal over to Panama by the end of the century.
Sen. Alan Cranston of California, the Senate`s deputy Democratic leader, disclosed that, at a meeting earlier Thursday with members of Congress, Bush had ”rejected advice to invade Panama or to break the treaty with Panama.”
He did not say who gave that advice.
Earlier in the day, Fitzwater outlined some of the decision-making process Bush had gone through before making his final call on sending in troops. He said it began ”a couple of weeks ago.”
”When it became clear that we were faced with the possibility of election fraud,” Fitzwater said, ”the President started the process that involved encouraging observer delegations to go to Panama. . . . At that time, the various security agencies of the government were also instructed to begin working on various contingency plans for various scenarios, certainly including one in which there would be any threat to American personnel or in which elections would be fraudulent. . . .
