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U.S. invasion of Panama
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On December 20th 1989 American troops invaded Panama. The invasion was to free the people of there drug dealing dictator and restore democracy to the country. The mainstream media wanted the American people to think that the invasion was well executed and with good reason. Alternative Medias wanted you to hear the other half of the story which may or may not be the truth. When you watch the news on TV you get a story that you may not be sure is the truth. For most of the population they do not even realize that the mainstream media is portraying only part of the story. Alternative media although is much tougher to find seems to be a better source for information. The invasion of Panama was portrayed differently by both the mainstream and alternative Medias this will be shown in this essay. The Mainstream Model Of course as we all know, or should know, in the mainstream media you really only get one side of the story. And because we live so close to the United States and get all their television channels the one side of the story that is portrayed is the pro American side. The United States claimed that the reason for the invasion was to restore democracy and protect American lives. White house spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that Bush ordered U.S. military forces into action to restore democracy to Panama and to protect American lives . This seems like a fair reason to demolish a small, poor Central American country. “American lives were clearly in danger and our ability to honor obligations under the Panama Canal Treaty was threatened by the violent actions,” he said . President Bush also justified the attack on the grounds that any country has the right to protect its citizens from life-threatening situations. And that provisions in the charters entitle the U.S. “to defend our military personnel, United States nationals and U.S. installations,” he said . Of course the President of the United States tried his best to avoid any bloodshed but Noriega just would not accept any rational efforts from the States.” The President has made every effort to resolve the situation peacefully…..General Noriega has rejected all of these efforts,” Fitzwater said . The triggering of the invasion was an apparent unprovoked attack on defenseless American officers. The troops moved in after several days of tension triggered by the shooting death in Panama on Saturday night of a U.S. military officer. The States were very stern on saying that the death of the American soldier was unprovoked. The United States said the killing and beating were unprovoked. On the other side of the story the Panama claimed that the killing was clearly not unprovoked. Panama claimed the Americans were driving through checkpoints surrounding Noriega’s headquarters. At first the killing of the American officer seemed to go unattended to by the American government but as the Toronto Star has it the Monday after the killing there was a new light on the event. At first, Bush administration officials downplayed the killing, saying it was an isolated incident. By Monday, they were describing it as a major threat to the United States . It seems that after thinking about the death over the weekend someone in the Bush administration must have figured that the event could be as good cover up for invading Panama. On that unfortunate night in December 1989 Panama City was under attack by the United States. In an operation codenamed “Just Cause,” thousands of U.S. troops invaded Panama early yesterday to end the Panamanian dictator’s “dark chapter of dictatorship” and took control of much of the country . There was no doubt that the Americans would avoid residential areas at all costs and focus their attack on the military headquarters. But the major brunt of the fighting was near the military headquarters, where an area encompassing several city blocks appeared to be on fire, spending plumes of black and orange smoke billowing into the sky . The invasion of course was not for the benefit of the United States but was for the small country of Panama. It was aimed at crushing remaining pockets of opposition, freeing civilians taken hostage and restoring order in a nation plunged suddenly into confusion and disorder . When we flipped on our televisions in the days after the invasion on Panama of course our first concern was the amount of causalities. To be even more specific we all wanted to know how many faithful American soldiers were killed so that we could focus our mourning. In the first couple days of the invasion, TV journalists had one nagging question: “How many American soldiers have died?”.
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