WORLD : Bush Mum on Panama Coup
- Share via
WASHINGTON — President Bush today would not confirm or deny a Los Angeles Times report that his Administration, with secret congressional approval, has launched a new covert attempt to oust Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega.
“If there was a covert operation, would I discuss it, ever?” Bush said to reporters aboard Air Force One before leaving for Houston to attend the private funeral of a friend, C. Fred Chambers. “It wouldn’t be covert if I even referred to it, so there will be no such discussion of anything, which means I am not confirming nor denying.”
The report in today’s Los Angeles Times said the CIA has been authorized to spend $3 million to recruit Panamanian military officers or other dissidents to mount a coup in Panama. (Story, A1)
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
About 2 in 3 fire survivors are still displaced and, as coverage for temporary housing disappears, that number could get increase.
In 2012, the judge presiding over Orange County’s worst mass-shooter case gave a seemingly simple order. He told the Sheriff’s Department to reveal information about a mysterious jailhouse informant.
Modern LA earned its first smoggy nickname 450 years ago, as the “bay of smokes.” At the La Brea tar pits, we take a short walk through a long history with curator Regan Dunn, who explains how and why the first Angelenos would have set fires that filled the broad bowl of LA and foretold the curse of smog.
