Yanqui Don’t Go Home--Yet : Panama: Law and order has broken down. Without U.S. help in training new police forces, violence will worsen.

President Bush and Secretary James A. Baker III may be on the verge of turning the military success of the Panama invasion into the political fiasco of the 1990s. The U.S. Southern Command’s newspaper headlined the problem earlier this week: “Breakdown in law, order spreads fear.”

That’s putting it mildly. An internal report prepared by the Southern Command portrayed the successor to Manuel A. Noriega’s Panamanian Defense Forces, the Public Forces, as indequate in terms of personnel, training, organization, discipline and morale. Which means that the President’s rush to withdraw all the American troops sent to Panama in December is terribly misguided. Indeed, the United States has no choice but to become more involved in re-establishing the security of Panamanians and Americans in the country.

U.S. help in keeping order and training the new Public Forces will take months. Although thousands of arms have been confiscated since the invasion, armed robberies and other assaults are widespread. What’s more, many Panamanians don’t yet trust the new police force since many of its members previously worked for Noriega. In response, some Panamanians have called for the formation of local defense brigades, which would no doubt increase the violence and death.

“How long?” was the question most asked during Vice President Dan Quayle’s visit to Panama last weekend. President’s Bush answer should be, “Not yet.”