Bush Hints at Military Move on Noriega

President Bush, complaining about “instant hawks” who challenged the Administration’s limited involvement in the failed Panamanian coup, suggested Friday that he still might use the U.S. military in the campaign against Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

Clearly bridling at the sharp criticism directed at the White House after the unsuccessful coup--a rebellion that Bush had encouraged for five months--the President offered his most extensive defense of the decision not to commit American troops to the effort.

The idea that his interest in ousting Noriega gave “carte blanche” to the use of American troops, he said, was “a stupid argument.”

And, while arguing that he found no fault with the way officials in the White House and other agencies responded when Maj. Moises Giroldi Vega and a small band tried to unseat Noriega, Bush said the Administration has begun to “fine-tune” its mechanism for handling crises.

In his first news conference in more than three weeks, Bush sent mixed signals about what steps he would take in the future to accomplish his goal of bringing Noriega to justice on the drug-trafficking charges that the Panamanian strongman faces in U.S. courts.

“I wouldn’t mind using force if it could be done in a prudent manner,” Bush said. But, he said, “I am not going to give carte blanche support to an operation, particularly when they don’t ask for this support.

“And I have to reserve that right,” he said. “I have at stake the lives of American kids, and I am not going to easily thrust them into a battle unless I feel comfortable with it and unless those general officers in whom I have total confidence feel comfortable.”

In the days after the Oct. 3 coup attempt, Bush came under criticism from many in Congress as details of the confused hours in Panama City became public. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), one of the most conservative senators, was a leading critic of the Administration’s decision not to intervene more aggressively, but he was joined by others who previously have balked at the use of military forces.

Almost as an aside as he was leaving the White House press briefing room, Bush said that he was undisturbed by the criticism.

“I can understand instant hawks appearing from where there used to be the feathers of a dove, because some of it’s political and some of it is the understandable frustration they feel about this man still staying in office,” the President said.

Asked whether it was consistent to call for Noriega’s ouster, as he did in May, “but then to do nothing,” Bush replied: “Absolutely, totally consistent. I want to see him out of there, and I want to see him brought to justice.”

But, he said, this goal does not oblige him to support all attempts to accomplish it.

Meanwhile, sources have indicated that the Administration will pursue a more aggressive approach to unseating Noriega, who has frustrated U.S. officials for more than a year and a half.

Administration officials have argued that the leaders of the failed coup never sought their direct assistance and that indecision on the part of the rebels prevented the United States from lending a more active hand during the short-lived uprising.

But sources close to the coup attempt have portrayed a period during which its leaders gave Noriega a choice between retiring and being exiled from Panama or being handed over to the United States for extradition on drug charges. Their account suggested that their leaders were less disorganized than portrayed by the Administration.

In addition, these sources have offered accounts of contacts between U.S. officials and Giroldi suggesting that in a meeting two days before the coup attempt, the rebels had been led to expect the United States to be ready to assist them.

According to one account, two men believed by Giroldi to have been from the CIA “gave Giroldi a special telephone number to call in case he needed to contact them again,” a Panamanian military source said. Those close to the coup have complained that when the rebels called the number during the uprising, they were challenged to state the purpose of the call.

“We’re reviewing the procedures to see if . . . we can’t do it better,” Bush said.

Sources have said that such a review will lead to a reform of the Administration’s crisis management system to enable U.S. officials to respond more quickly.

The President expressed no interest in seeking a compromise that would lead to Noriega’s departure from his powerful post as commander the Panama Defense Forces but would not result in his facing trial in the United States.

“I can’t do that,” Bush said. “It would send an impossible signal in this fight against drugs. I can’t drop a good indictment. . . . If that’s the sine qua non (prerequisite), it’s too much.”

And Bush denied that he has sought to quiet any back-biting among his senior aides over responsibility for the failure of the coup.

“I did not have to have any gag order because all of them are singing from the same sheet of music,” he said. “They all did a good job.”

BACKGROUND

The United States first imposed sanctions on Noriega’s regime in mid-1987, freezing economic and military assistance to Panama after pro-Noriega demonstrators assaulted the American Embassy during a tumultuous political crisis that summer. That crisis, provoked by the regime’s restrictions on civil liberties and the media, has never really ended. Washington imposed new economic sanctions in March and April, 1988, after Noriega was indicted on U.S. federal charges linked to drug trafficking. The sanctions and political turmoil dropped Panama into an economic depression that experts believe will not lift until the domestic political crisis is resolved.