The American Military Action in Panama

It was instructive to read the opposing views of Jorge Castaneda and Mackubin Thomas Owens concerning our Panama involvement (Op-Ed, Dec. 27). Castaneda’s statement points out that “the Soviet Union will no longer prop up regimes it likes nor subvert or overthrow those that it doesn’t.” Owens, on the other hand, seems to hark back to the good old days of Teddy Roosevelt and his “bully little war” attitude. Owens states that, “Every now and then a great power has to act like one. If it doesn’t . . . tin-horn dictators may come to believe that they are exempt from the constraints of civilized behavior.” Owens evidently doesn’t believe that a great power should also be constrained to act in a civilized manner.

If the generally accepted view is correct, that the entire objective of the highly organized, superbly equipped mission was to capture Manuel Noriega, the mission failed, which lends credence to Castaneda’s, and most of Latin America’s, view of the United States action as “one of a lumbering, overweight and over-the-hill prizefighter throwing punches, which always seem to miss their mark.” The United States seems to be approaching the 21st Century with all of its 19th-Century attitudes firmly in place.

WILLIAM L. EMERSON

Playa Del Rey