Casualties in Panama

Kenneth Freed’s search (“Panama Tries to Bury Rumors of Mass Graves,” Part A, Oct. 27) for the source of continuing allegations that some 4,000 civilians died in last December’s U.S. invasion of Panama was well done. But Freed doesn’t explain why many Panamanians continue to believe that the official count of 500--despite respected private investigations and government pronouncements--is wrong.

Perhaps the answer lies in a report I heard from U.S. soldiers this past July. While in Panama to promote a book I had written, members of the 193rd Infantry Brigade told me that they had been detailed to load body bags--hundreds and hundreds of them--onto cargo planes bound for a secret burial at the large American air base in Honduras. While our book, “Invasion,” notes that more than 1,000 Panamanians died in the fighting, the body bag story may be the key to solving the discrepancy between the official U.S. numbers and the belief held by so many Panamanians.

Americans also ought to realize that with 500 deaths, Panama lost proportionately as many people as we lost in the entire Vietnam War. But if, in fact, 4,000 Panamanians died in the invasion, it will mean that Panama lost proportionately more of its population than the U.S. lost in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined.

GODFREY HARRIS, Los Angeles