CHICAGO (JGL) – President Rody Duterte was right when he called the United States hypocrite in flaming a foreign newsman for blaming Mr. Duterte of human rights violations when there were thousands of victims of extra-judicial killings under his watch without due process related to his war on drugs under five months of his presidency.
“Tang-ina mo! (You son of a whore!),” the President, breaking his self-imposed promise not to go back to his expletive-laden outburst, when he told Jonathan Miller of British Channel 4 News after replying to questions from the reporter at a news briefing at the Davao International Airport late Wednesday (Nov. 23).
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mr. Duterte was incensed when Mr. Miller said, “(M)ore people were killed in the first five months of his (your) administration than during the Marcos dictatorship, the President said: ‘I could ask the same question. Why is America losing 40,000 lives [in] drug-related cases?’”
The temperamental former Davao mayor was irked when Mr. Miller responded that the “killings” in the U.S. “were not sanctioned by the U.S. President.”
And when the President spoke against the US invasion of Panama in 1989 to unseat President Manuel Noriega to plug the transit of illegal drugs from the Central American nation to the US mainland, it reminded me of my report in my post-graduate journalism class at Chicago’s Roosevelt University where I did some research for the class about the first President George H.W. Bush’s Invasion of Panama.
OPERATION JUST CAUSE
The deadly Panama Invasion dubbed as “Operation Just Cause” according to the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA) resulted in the death of 2,500–3,000, and the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Panama (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos de Panamá, CONADEHUPA) estimated 3,500 deaths.
But the Pentagon according to Wikipedia only reported 23 U.S. service members killed and 325 wounded. But in June 1990, the U.S. military announced that of the casualties, the two of the dead and 19 wounded were victims of friendly fire. The U.S. Southern Command, then based on Quarry Heights in Panama, estimated the number of Panamanian military dead at 205, lower than its original estimate of 314.
When Operation Just Cause was brought to the attention of former U.S. Chief of Staff General Colin Powell, Mr. Powell said he liked the name “because even our severest critics would have to utter ‘Just Cause’ while denouncing us.”
The invasion of Panama provoked local and international outrage as it was the first time that the U.S. invasion was not anchored on the Monroe Doctrine, a warning against European powers from encroaching on its backyard nor the cold war.
The official U.S. justification for the invasion was articulated by President George H. W. Bush on the morning of December 20, 1989, a few hours after the start of the operation. Bush listed four reasons for the invasion.
- Safeguarding the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama. In his statement, Bush stated that Noriega had declared that a state of war existed between the U.S. and Panama and that he threatened the lives of the approximately 35,000 U.S. citizens living there. There had been numerous clashes between U.S. and Panamanian forces; one U.S. Marine had been killed a few days earlier.
- Defending democracy and human rights in Panama.
- Combating drug trafficking. Panama had become a center for drug money laundering and a transit point for drug trafficking to the U.S. and Europe. And
- Protecting the integrity of the Torrejos-Carter Treaties. Members of Congress and others in the U.S. political establishment claimed that Noriega threatened the neutrality of the Panama Canal and that the U.S. had the right under the treaties to intervene militarily to protect the canal.
NOT A SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT DECISION EITHER
The Panama Invasion, however, was not a spur-of-the-moment decision either. It was precipitated by a series of events.
In September 1987, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution, urging Panama to re-establish a civilian government. Panama protests alleged U.S. violations of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. This was followed in November 1987 with a U.S. Senate resolution, cutting military and economic aid to Panama. Panamanians, in turn, adopted resolution restricting U.S. military presence.
In February 1988, Noriega was indicted on drug-related charges in the U.S. federal court. U.S. forces began planning contingency operations in Panama (OPLAN Blue Spoon).
In March 1988, the first of four deployments of U.S. forces began, providing additional security to U.S. installations. And there was a PDF (Panamanian Defense Force) officers attempted coup against Noriega.
In May 1988, civilian elections were held in Panama; opposition alliance tally shows their candidate, Guillermo Endara, beating Noriega’s candidate, Carlos Duque, by a 3 to 1 margin. The election is declared invalid two days later by Noriega. President Bush orders 1,900 additional combat troops to Panama thru (Operation Nimrod Dancer).
On December 15, 1989, Noriega declared himself as leader of Panama and that the U.S. was in a state of war with Panama; a U.S. Marine lieutenant was shot and killed by PDF. A U.S. Navy lieutenant and wife were detained and assaulted by PDF. On Dec. 17, 1989, the U.S. NCA (National Command Authority) directs execution of Operation Just Cause.
Despite several rulings by the U.S. Office of Legal Counsel, issued shortly before the invasion, that the U.S. military would be violating the Congressional Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, if it enforced a federal warrant against Noriega outside the U.S. territory, Operation Just Cause went ahead, even despite an executive order, prohibiting the assassination of foreign leaders but is deemed tenable when the assassination is accidental.
When the smoke of battle cleared, the United Nations censured President Bush for the Panama Invasion but the censure was never publicized by the U.S. mainstream media. The senior Bush’s censure may have escaped the prying eyes of the media but not the American people, who had the last word when they did not re-elect him after sanctioning the killings of hundreds, if not thousands, during the Operation Just Cause.
Now, you know why President Duterte exploded again – this time against Mr. Miller. Mr. Duterte does not want the U.S. adopting their playbook on Noriega against him on his war on drugs. Remember, two months ago, Mr. Duterte “accused the CIA of plotting to kill him”? (Contact columnist: jglariosa@hotmail.com)