NATION : Fast Panama Withdrawal Eyed
The Bush Administration is considering a speed-up of its withdrawal of U.S. military dependents from Panama, the White House said today.
Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that since last spring, 6,300 Defense Department personnel had either been moved to U.S. bases in Panama or sent home. There are still roughly 11,000 dependents in the country.
The Washington Times reported today that the newly appointed U.S. military commander in Panama, Gen. Maxwell R. Thurman, has asked his superiors to evacuate most dependents from Panama.
The newspaper, citing military sources in Panama, said Thurman wants the dependents evacuated to heighten the sense of war among his troops in Panama, where the United States has been pressing for the removal of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega as leader of the Central American country.
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