THE PANAMA DECEPTION documentary, available online.

A riveting Academy Award-winning documentary, made all the more timely by recent U.S. invasions and the current war on terror, 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.

Acclaimed filmmakers Barbara Trent and David Kasper uncover the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, and reveal General Manuel Noriega s longstanding relationship with the C.I.A., the D.E.A., and George Bush, Sr. Utilizing devastating footage, expert commentary, and eyewitness testimony, the film shines a spotlight on this pivotal moment in U.S. history. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self-censorship used to deceive the American public--a film hauntingly relevant today.

http://documentary-review.com/review/29525/the-panama-deception

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"The Panama Deception By Filmmakers Barbara Trent and David Kasper
Rhino Home Video. Empowerment Project.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010

This video is more than a historical document concerning US relations with Panama. It is probably the main document in public circulation covering the December 20th 1989 invasion of Panama by US forces to overthrow General Manuel Noriega for being a “drug runner”. In it you will be reminded many times over of more recent crimes committed by the US government. Washington's methods of war in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Honduras and other countries will come to mind.

The media was closely controlled by the US military during the invasion but what is certain is that hundreds of crimes against humanity were carried out by US troops under orders from George Herbert Walker Bush. The crimes were all convincingly denied by smooth-talking Pentagon Spokesman Pete Williams. Former US Attorney general, Ramsey Clark and others lay bare the war crimes committed by during the invasion:

• Excessive force
  
• Extra judicial executions
  
• Illegal arrests
  
• Arms of war used against unarmed civilians
  
• Wanton destruction and burning of property
  
• Internment camps
  
• Arbitrary imprisonment with no charges
  
• Persecution of political opponents
  
• Mass graves – all 50 of them dug by the US military
  
• Destruction of state instiutions

In other words this invasion has all the hallmarks of US imperialist expertise designed to liberate a country and install democracy by destroying it.

The killing of some 4.000 innocent Panamanians in order to oust General Noriega "was worth it" – fabled words of President George H.W. Bush who obsessed with doubts about his masculinity and bent on abrogating the Panama Canal Treaty scheduled to expire on December 31, 1989. Noriega was installed as a U.S. puppet in Panama but fell out of favor with Washington when he later refused to obey orders. And, yes, you dear reader have guessed it - it was all done with the connivance of the corporate media with the Washington Post, NYT, LA Times and Wall Street Journal supporting the invasion.

The UN voted 78 – 21 with some 40 abstentions to condemn the invasion as a “flagrant violation of international law”. With the human rights abuses abounding, why has not General Maxwell Thurman at least, as the then Commander of Southcom, been charged with crimes against humanity. I see little difference between what he ordered and what Milosevic and others did in Kosovo and Bosnia in the 1990’s.

I would also recommend that any of the crazed Venezuelan opposition who regularly wish for US marines to invade Venezuela to save them from the “Chávez regime” watch this video. They obviously have no idea what it would mean for them and their families, except of course the few who wish to represent the U.S. in puppet regime here and care nothing for their own country's sovereignty or welfare."

ARTURO ROSALES
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The Panama Deception
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Directed by Barbara Trent
Written by David Kaspar

The Panama Deception is a documentary film that won the 1992 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.<1> The film is critical of the actions of the US military during the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States, covering the conflicting reasons for the invasion and the depicting of the US media as biased. It was directed by Barbara Trent of the Empowerment Project and was narrated by actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

The film asserts that the U.S. government invaded Panama primarily to renegotiate the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. Another allegation made by the film is that the United States tested some form of laser or energy weapon during the invasion. The film also includes footage of mass graves uncovered after the US troops had withdrawn, and depicts some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the invasion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Panama_Deception

Available here, 91 minutes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-446387292666223710#

"fabled words of President George H.W. Bush who obsessed with doubts about his masculinity and bent on abrogating the Panama Canal Treaty scheduled to expire on December 31, 1989."



There is no question that this was an imperialist exercise, and that the drug war had nothing to do with it. However it was NOT about the carter-torrijos treaty. Most people have never read the text of the treaty. It's worth a read. We basically didn't give up anything. The treaty gives us the right to go back in pretty much whenever we want under the guide of the security of the canal. If we did it to abrogate the canal-treaty, then why didn't we abrogate the canal treaty?

It has much more to do with Noriega having become a double agent.

Otherwise, the movie is spot-on.

the writer of that passage was just plain wrong, although the invasion itself was unjustified.

Quite a few Zonians were displaced, and many of them began to side fervently with the Republicans because of their displacement. They didn't see it as imperialism. But, that's what happens when colonialist dig in. If it wasn't for the occupation of property which was needed to accommodate the growing Panamanian population, it would have been a perfect symbiotic relationship, since the US provided great jobs for the Panamanians. In essence, the US created a middle class where there was none before.

Thanks, Judi Lynn.

Thanks!