The Media Goes to war..Panamanian Style

[SoCalDem]

When we hear the "media people" lamenting things they did not know, but should have, and see them wringing their hands about being lied to and cajoled into "making the case for war", KNOW they they are LYING...

This article is very informative about "How Bush 1 conned America into "war" with Noriega".. The media is "conned" time after time, and they never seem to learn.. (nor does the viewing public)..

The strategies in Panama-GW1-Iraq are stunningly similar...


http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/panamainv.html

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The Media Goes to War:


HOW TELEVISION SOLD THE PANAMA INVASION
by Mark Cook and Jeff Cohen

TWO weeks after the Panama invasion, CBS News sponsored a public opinion poll in Panama that found the residents in rapture over what happened. Even 80 percent of those whose homes had been blown up or their relatives killed by US forces said it was worth it. Their enthusiasm did not stop with the ousting of Gen. Manual Noriega, however. A less heavily advertised result of the poll was that 82% of the sampled Panamanian patriots did not want Panamanian control of the Canal, preferring either partial of exclusive control by the US ("Panamanians Strongly Back US Move," New York Times, 1/6/90).

A "public opinion poll" in a country under martial law, conducted by an agency obviously sanctioned by the invading forces, can be expected to come up with such results. Most reporters, traveling as they did with the US military, found little to contradict this picture. Less than 40 hours after the invasion began, Sam Donaldson and Judd Rose transported us to Panama via ABC's Prime Time Live (12/21/90). "There were people who applauded us as we went by in a military convoy," said Rose. "The military have been very good to us ," added Donaldson.

While this kind of "Canal Zone journalism" dominated television, a few independent print journalists stuck out on their own. Peter Eisner of Newsday's Latin American Bureau, for example, reported (12/28/89) that Panamanians were cursing US soldiers under their breath as troops searched the home of a neighbor--a civilian--for weapons. One Panamanian pointed out a man speaking to US soldiers as a "sapo" (a toad--slang for "dirty informer") and suggested that denouncing people to the US forces was a way of settling old scores. A doctor living on the street said that "liberals will be laying low for a while, and they're probably justified" because of what would happen to those who speak out. All of Eisner's sources feared having their names printed.

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CENSORED NEWS: Drug Links of Panama's New Rulers
The Bush White House justified the invasion by claiming that overthrowing Noriega was a major victory in the war on drugs. If journalists had reported the backgrounds of the new Panamanian leaders installed by the US invasion, and their connections to drug-laundering banks and drug traffickers, a primary rationale for the invasion would have been shredded.

But few journalists scrutinized Panama's "new democrats" from the country's banking and corporate elite. One who did was Jonathan Marshall, editorial page editor of the Oakland Tribune. In a series of editorials, "Panama's Drug, Inc." (1/5 & 1/22/90), Marshall reported the following:

PRESIDENT GUILLERMO ENDARA is a wealthy corporate attorney for several companies run by Carlos Eleta, a Panamanian business tycoon arrested in Georgia last April for conspiring to import more than half a ton of cocaine each month into the US. The Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, reported that Endara was Eleta's lawyer for 25 years and a direct stockholder in one of his companies. Endara's political mentor and idol is former President Arnulfo Arias, who reportedly amassed $2 million from smuggling contraband, including hard drugs.

VICE PRESIDENT GUILLERMO "BILLY" FORD is a co-founder and part owner of the Dadeland Bank, in Miami, a repository for Medellin drug cartel money. One of Ford's co-owner's, Panamanian Steven Samos, used the bank in the late 1970s to launder millions of dollars in drug money for a CIA-trained Cuban American. Panama's new ambassador to the US, Carlos Rodriguez, is also a co-founder of the Dadeland Bank. (The New York Times on Jan. 28 mustered up Roberto Eisenmann, the publisher of Panama's La Prensa, to deny allegations linking Ford to money laundering. The Times didn't mention that Eisenmann is another co-founder of the bank.)


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[Alerter_]

1. check out the documentary "The Panama Deception"

http://www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html

The Panama Deception documents the untold story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the events which led to it; the excessive force used; the enormity of the death and destruction; and the devastating aftermath. The Panama Deception uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media and exposes how the U.S. government and the mainstream media suppressed information about this foreign policy disaster.

The Panama Deception includes never before seen footage of the invasion and its aftermath, as well as interviews with both invasion proponents like Gen. Maxwell Thurman, Panamanian President Endara and Pentagon spokesperson Pete Williams, and opponents like U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY.), Panamanian human rights workers Olga Mejia and Isabel Corro and former Panamanian diplomat Humberto Brown. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self censorship relevant to any news coverage today, particularly during times of war.