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Wading Thru Mud
SB News Press January 29, 1990
Panama welcomes Quayle
Panamanians appeal for US. troops to stay
The New York Times
PANAMA CITY, Panama - Vice President Dan Quayle got a warm welcome Sunday from Panamanians, who thanked the United States for toppling Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega and said they wanted US. troops to stay. …
Quayle was given an enthusiastic reception Sunday. Worshipers at a Roman Catholic church, shoppers in the central market and people on the street welcomed him as the representative of a country that had liberated them from oppressive rule by a military dictator. …
“When you have people with tears in their eyes saying ‘God
bless America,’ you know President Bush did the right thing,”
VICE PRESIDENT DAN QUAYLE
… Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., said that Bush’s action “forced Panama into being a colony.” Quayle countered, “if he walked out with the people like I did this morning, it’s anything but that.”
LA Times January 29, 1990
Quayle Tours Panama
Gets Warm Reception
•Diplomacy: But he visits traditionally pro-American neighborhoods. Country is still firmly under military occupation.
By DAVID LAUTER
TIMES STAFF WRITER
PANAMA CITY-Vice President Dan Quayle toured Panama on Sunday in a series of photo opportunites designed, aides said, to demonstrate to the world that the country has returned to normal.... The expressions of public support appeared to be widespread although most of Quayle’s visits were to neighborhoods of upper class, traditionally pro-American section of the populace - not the lower-class population that once provided Noriega’s power base.
But while the support may be genuine, the picture of normality clearly is not. Panama is still firmly under American military occupation....Endara and his government- although they also would like to see troop numbers reduced eventually-- are more concerned about having Americans available “to preserve public safety.”... Street crime levels are substantially higher than before the invasion, and sporadic shooting has continued in parts of the country’s interior.
Both articles appeared at the end of January 1990 – one in the SB NewsPress and the other in the LATimes. Note that while the LA Times has its own correspondent in Panama, the SBNewPress, as a small newspaper, must rely on the byline from its parent company, the liberal NY Times, puppet of the East Coast Establishment. The SBNP article was featured on the front page, while the LAT article appeared on page 10 – right next to a half page add featuring a sexy lady, which, of course, diminishes it’s subversive impact.
While the headlines for both are in a similar vein, the subheading beneath the respective articles tells an entirely different tale. While the SBNP article implies that we are so beloved they don’t want us to leave, the LATimes states the disclaimer – Quayle only visits pro-American sections of the city & the country is firmly dominated under American military occupation.
The SBNP in its lead paragraph re-emphasizes the warmth of his welcome by the Panamanians while the LA Times mentions the purpose is to provide ‘photo opportunities’ to show the world that Panama has returned to normal, which he assures us in the next paragraph it has not.
The SBNP, or should I say the New York Times, version has Quayle loved by everyone. Even the ‘people on the street welcomed him as the representative of a country that had liberated them from oppressive rule by a military dictator’. The LA Times gives an entirely different image. Things are not the same. Soldiers in battle fatigues, armed to the teeth, patrol the streets. They do not go out after dark. Crime is substantially higher than before the invasion. Images of destruction & chaos to be sure.
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It’s All in a Word.
Nowhere does the New York Times version, distributed widely throughout the United States, mention the invasion of Panama. The word invasion comes from the mouth of a lone dissenter, the president of Venezuela, (the only country, other than the ones under our control, that would allow Quayle to visit.) The NY Times refers to the invasion of Panama as an ‘offensive’, the ‘toppling’, ‘liberated’. They don’t want to give Americans the idea that we have forced something on the Panamanians.
Invasion conveys the image of forcing something on someone against their will. On the extreme raping, bullying, murdering are an invasion of personal space. It’s never pleasant when an invasion of ant swarms through a house. Russians invade; we liberate. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia; we topple dictators. China invades Tibet, while Captain America George Bush liberates countries all over the world.
Then why the F__K did we close 15 newspapers and 5 radio stations as soon as we ‘liberated the country’? Why do we have almost 20,000 troops patrolling the streets by day in this country of 4 million? If the Panamanians love us so why are we reducing our military occupation so slowly? Why do we have no intention of removing all our troops from the Panamanian heartland – the Canal Zone?
And why is Endara, the recently installed Panamanian president, down on his hands and knees begging us to stay? “Please stay! Don’t leave me with those thugs,” he pleads. Is it because he is our puppet and needs our military to prop him up?
What is Endara afraid of if he represents the liberators? Is this because the rich are liberated & the poor aren’t too happy about being enslaved? (This keeps sounding like Vietnam.) Why does he look so worried, as Vice President Dan Quayle has his arm around him, promising him US military and foreign aid to the tune of one billion dollars next year?
“Darn it George, you’re just incredible! You bomb out Panama, then offer to rebuild it. What a heart! Corporate Business must love you. Arms dealers and international construction concerns will get even richer. By the way, who’s going to pay?”
Bush: “Not to worry. The Social Security surplus will take care of everything. Rob the poor to give to the rich. I’m a modern day Robin Hood. You know what else? I’ve got Endara by the balls so tight he can’t even move. He so desperately needs our money to rebuild his devastated country that he’ll certainly be quite receptive to our suggestions, if you know what I mean.” George winks suspiciously: “For instance it was real nice of him to accept our suggestion for Panama Canal Zone supervisor. You see we are following along with the treaty that Goddamned Jimmy Carter signed.”
Bush looks around furtively, “This is off the record, right? No hidden microphones anywhere?”
“Of course not.”
“This has worked far better than I ever expected. My popularity is soaring. We have occupied Panama permanently. Before we were only in the Canal Zone.”
“Whadayamean?”
“Our 10,000 soldiers were stationed in the Canal Zone and only partied in Panama City. Now they are permanently stationed as Panama’s police force. What could be more ideal?” Skippy rubs his hands, gleefully. “Also Endara has agreed to eliminate his army. How convenient for him that he took our suggestion. This makes it so much easier for everyone. Now we are the law. Before we were stationed right next door and had our hands tied. Now those ingrates are dependent upon us. We will force them to love us. And if they don’t, we’ll knock them down again.”