Good-Neighbor Policy or Just Plain Madness?

The invasion fails any number of practical and psychiatric tests. It is both potty and inefficient.

America, bizarrely, still fails to understand the nature of democracy. It is not some imported ideology to be imposed on a country. It must (see Czechoslovakia, see Hungary, see--in time--Romania) “spring” from within. It must, in the end, be what the people of Panama want and will themselves defend. It cannot be dumped on a country overnight by the U.S. Army. That will prove, over coming months, the bitterest legacy for President (Guillermo) Endara and Vice President Guillermo Ford. If they wanted--down the long, grimy, historical road of Panamanian oscillations--finally to provide their country with clean, free government, they arrive carrying a poisoned chalice hung on a Marine bayonet.