Center For Security Policy Applauds Bush Action On Panama

The Center for Security Policy today commended President Bush for his decision to engage U.S. military forces in an effort to redress the deteriorating situation in Panama. The Center believes that the use of American troops was long-overdue and fully justified by recent events. It was clearly the only available means of empowering the legitimate, democratically elected government of that troubled country by ending the despotic rule of the drug-dealing tyrant Manuel Noriega, protecting the lives of U.S. citizens against his terror and ensuring the continued viability of the Panama Canal.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., director of the Center said, "The president’s action is a welcome display of this Nation’s commitment to democracy and its willingness to safeguard its vital security interests in this hemisphere."

Gaffney added, "Casualties have apparently been incurred; more must be expected. Indeed, it is perfectly possible that the action taken today will be the beginning of a long and bloody conflict. We are convinced, however, that those costs are both the inevitable price of freedom and will be shown to pale by comparison with those that would have been associated with continued U.S. inaction."

The Center for Security Policy regards this operation as dramatic evidence that effective and courageous U.S. leadership must be brought to bear whenever aspirations for democracy are frustrated by despots of the right or left. If such leadership is to be possible in the future, however, the United States must continue to maintain the robust and flexible ability to project American power flexibly throughout the globe.

Gaffney noted, "The Soviet Union’s immediate and vitriolic denunciation of President Bush’s initiative — coming on the heels of Gorbachev’s outright misrepresentations at Malta concerning Sandinista efforts to subvert the elected government of El Salvador — should disabuse the Bush Administration of any lingering illusions about the prospects for Soviet cooperation in promoting democracy in Latin America. The regrettable truth is that in this hemisphere, as elsewhere, Moscow’s foreign policy gains are being pursued at American expense — rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding."