A Prudent Plan for Panama : If Bush Moves Quickly, He Might Send Noriega Packing

President Bush has offered a prudent, strong plan to protect American lives and interests in Panama while supporting the democratic aspirations of the Panamanian people. Bush deserves bipartisan support from Congress and the American public.

The President’s actions--rallying international opposition to Gen. Manuel A. Noriega and sending additional troops to Panama--are steps toward our ultimate goal: the removal of Noriega and restoration of democracy.

Time is critical. International attention is a potent but perishable commodity. Delay and equivocation serve no one except Noriega. Failure to build on these first steps toward the goal within the next 45 days could cripple the international efforts now being made to liberate the Panamanian people from this cruel despot.

The bloody images we saw late Wednesday from Panama City--street beatings of Noriega’s opposition--told the world that this man is more than a menace. He’s a brutal dictator who stole Sunday’s election and then unleashed pipe-wielding thugs on peaceful demonstrators and the candidates who ran against his regime.

Why should we care? Because Panama is vital to our security and economic interests. Panama’s importance to the United States is unique in this hemisphere, because of the Panama Canal and U.S. military bases there.

Equally important for our long-range interests is that Noriega’s despotism sends a powerful, adverse signal to Central and Latin America: Dictators funded by the drug cartel can hold on to power via rigged elections.

If Noriega can get away with stealing this election from the Panamanian people, then a destructive precedent will have been set concerning Nicaragua’s election, scheduled for next February. Thus, the future of Panama is directly linked with the future of democracy in this hemisphere.

International condemnation of Noriega has been building, but it must be sustained if we are to isolate and ultimately remove this dictator. Nine democratic governments, including those of Venezuela, Peru and Costa Rica, have publicly called on Noriega to respect the will of the Panamanian people. More need to do so.

President Bush should continue to consider all options, including the use of force. He should take nothing off the table.

Diplomacy, backed by the possibility of force, triumphed in the Philippines, when international pressure helped oust entrenched dictator Ferdinand Marcos without a civil war.

The actions that the President announced Thursday--a prudent combination of diplomatic and military pressure--should lead us in the same direction.

Bush and Congress should continue to work closely. I commend the President for dispatching a bipartisan observer team to Panama. He appropriately recognized the importance of international focus on the election.

The President and Secretary of State James A. Baker III showed their ability to forge a bipartisan consensus on a tough foreign-policy issue by negotiating an aid package for the Nicaraguan Contras that won 89 votes in the Senate. Now Bush and Baker have a chance to build on this success with their bipartisan plan for Panama. Whatever course the United States decides to follow in the coming days and weeks, the Administration must insist that its long-range follow-through match its rhetoric.

The previous Administration talked a hard line against Noriega, but its anti-Noriega policies were ineffective, sapping U.S. credibility.

In constructing this long-range bipartisan policy, our primary focus should not be the Panama Canal treaties. That’s what Noriega wants, because he can exploit the canal treaty issue at home, masking his election fraud and drug dealing.

Many Americans do not want to hand over the canal under current circumstances. Neither do I.

But the best way to safeguard our treaty interests and the long-term security interests of the canal is to support the democratic process in Panama.

Central America--and Panama--are at a crossroad. One path leads toward democracy, the other to continued tyranny of the extreme left and extreme right.

There is no room on the path to democracy for dictators who steal elections and traffic in drugs. Dealing with Noriega may be tough, but we can’t afford the price of acquiescence.