Panama: The Road to Recovery : Bush Sends Cheney to Visit U.S. Troops

President Bush, dispatching Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to Panama on a morale-boosting visit with U.S. troops on Christmas Eve, said Sunday that members of the armed forces there “put their lives on the line for the basic values of liberty and decency on which our nation is founded.”

In a brief radio address, Bush portrayed the massive U.S. assault on the regime of Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega as part of a long American tradition of confronting tyrants.

“We are a people with the endurance to work day and night for peaceful solutions when we can. But we are also a people with the strength to confront tyranny when we must. Gen. Noriega is the latest one to learn that lesson,” Bush said.

The President, who was spending the Christmas holiday at Camp David with his family, flew by helicopter to the Pentagon to broadcast his message over Armed Forces Radio. He also received a 90-minute briefing on developments in Panama and spoke by telephone with Gen. Maxwell R. Thurman, the senior officer of the U.S. Southern Command in Panama.

Afterward, Bush said a “real turnaround” had been achieved in restoring public order and that U.S. troops were now turning their attention to “humanitarian concerns,” including caring for thousands of civilian casualties and refugees.

In his radio speech, the President said: “Our hearts and those of every American go out to the families of those who fell. To all those who mourn a husband, a son, a brother, a father or a friend, I can only offer the thanks of a grateful nation. Your loved ones served a noble and just cause with honor and distinction.”

Bush noted that it was exactly 45 years ago that he returned from service as a Navy flier in the Pacific.

“History has long since passed judgment on those years of conflict. But that war did not end all wars, and today we still live in times of great challenge, and there are still times when America must sacrifice in the cause of peace.

“Years from now, let it be said that America used her strength for good, and let it be known that she honored her defenders of freedom,” he said.

The Cheney mission was kept secret until after his Air Force plane was in the air.