We are coming up on the fourth anniversary of our much-trumpeted invasion of Panama to topple dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, our favorite tinpot bogeyman at the time.
But there is nothing great to celebrate on Dec. 20.What did the mobilization of 27,000 troops, the death of 23 U.S. soldiers, the wounding of more than 1,000 Americans and Panamanians, the destruction of neighborhoods and $84 million in post-invasion guilt money really accomplish anyway?
Only one thing. After an embarrassing 10-day standoff, we finally did capture Noriega, who was convicted in Miami last year of cocaine trafficking, racketeering and money laundering. He was sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.
But jailing Noriega has made little difference except to get Panama off the American front pages.
The only big winner in the whole episode may be Al Pacino, who is going to star in an Oliver Stone movie next year that is based on Noriega's rise and fall.
President Bush didn't get much out of the invasion. The president won brief public applause here at home but much criticism from abroad for being heavy-handed. And he'll probably be the villain in Stone's movie.
Panama didn't get much either. It got civilian leadership that's more polite to Washington than Noriega but only slightly better at governing in a way that serves the public good.
Pompously dubbed Operation Just Cause, the Panamanian invasion involved more troops than President Reagan's invasion of Grenada and was the largest military operation to follow the Vietnam War until the 1991 Desert Storm assault on Iraq. As with Grenada, however, the purpose of the exercise, beyond presidential pique, was never quite clear.
The reason offered by Bush that made the most sense was "to combat drug trafficking." Yet Noriega's nasty money-raising sideline was scarcely such a big surprise to Washington that military intervention was suddenly required. After all, Noriega had been on the Central Intelligence Agency payroll and was a known drug dealer back when Bush was head of the agency nearly 20 years ago.
In any case, the drug dealers don't miss Noriega one bit. Panama's illegal trade flourishes just as before, funneling drugs from South America to the lucrative American market with money laundered by the powerful banking industry there. Old habits die hard.
Our diplomatic relations with Panama remain awkward, corruption remains widespread and most people are still as poor as they were when we sent in the troops.
American tourists say there is little love for us in Panama. We destroyed property and flew away, leaving the country a shambles.
Some 10,000 U.S. troops still patrol the Panama Canal, as American forces have done since 1904. They generate some 13,000 jobs for Panamanians and pump an estimated $600 million into the local economy. When they leave in 1999, as they are required to do under the 1977 treaties that turn control of the canal over to the local government, the Panamanian economy is likely to suffer.
And that's when unhappy memories of being pushed around by the Bully of the North could provoke new tensions and problems for us. Nations, like individuals, reap what they sow.
The invasion came about, really, because Bush got mad. Noriega had successfully defied American efforts to get rid of him and establish a democratic, civilian government in Panama. Economic sanctions imposed the year before didn't finish him off and neither did a U.S.-backed coup that failed earlier that fall.
The more elusive Noriega proved, the more Bush elevated Noriega to the rank of an international menace. Noriega served as a sort of dry run for Saddam Hussein. When a Marine was killed by Noreiga's troops, that was the last straw.
But Panama has not improved much since then. The drug situation is so bad the U.S. Senate is holding up a law enforcement treaty that was supposed to force Panama to clean up its criminal drug activities. The treaty sounds good in theory; it would require U.S. and Panamanian investigators to exchange evidence and information. But so many Panamanian politicians and business operators seem to be involved in the drug trade that some prosecutors fear the law would be counterproductive, allowing confidential U.S. data to fall into the wrong hands and tip off smugglers.
No, there is nothing to celebrate on the anniversary of the invasion. Except perhaps that it was over quickly.