Official: U.S. Can Board Panamanian Ships

Tuesday May 11, 2004 4:46 PM


By KATHIA MARTINEZ

Associated Press Writer

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PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) - Panama and the United States have agreed on allowing American officials to board ships carrying the Panamanian flag and search them for weapons of mass destruction on the open seas, a Panamanian official said Tuesday.

The agreement, to be signed Wednesday in Washington, is similar to an accord the State Department reached in February with Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry. Panama is No. 1.

The accord gives the U.S. Navy the right to board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction. It comes amid fears that terror networks would take advantage of the relatively lax security on ships for attacks following heightened security on commercial airliners.

Panamanian Vice Foreign Secretary Nivia Castrellon said in a recent interview that U.S. and Panamanian authorities are ``constantly'' negotiating shipping-related issues.
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More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4078411,00.html

Saddam's WMDs in the Panama Canal????Whatever next? Junior invades South America?

They need a bigger island. Cuba would be to their liking.

Surrendering their nation's sovereignty--how could they do this?!

When he crossed his US patrons.

Panama ships in order to go through the Canal at cut rates. I could be wrong.

That would suck. Shipping prices just went up! Osama is having way too much impact on our lives.

are we impressing Panamanian sailors, too?