Bush Sends Troops to Panama Amid Crisis : U.S. Citizens, Canal to Be Protected

WASHINGTON — President Bush, declaring “we will not be intimidated by the bullying tactics” of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, announced Thursday that he will dispatch nearly 2,000 troops to Panama to protect American citizens and the strategic Panama Canal.

Bush, facing the first international confrontation of his presidency, also recalled U.S. Ambassador Arthur H. Davis from Panama City and cut the staff of the U.S. Embassy there because of Noriega’s refusal to recognize what was widely regarded as an opposition victory in Sunday’s presidential election.

The President said all U.S. military personnel, government employees and family members in Panama are being placed in secure U.S. housing areas or prepared for transfer out of the country.

‘Worried About Lives’

“I’m worried about the lives of American citizens, and I will do what is necessary to protect the lives of American citizens,” Bush said.

The White House reported no attacks Thursday on Americans in Panama. However, in detailing the security precautions, officials cited the recent outbreaks of political violence and the harassment of servicemen by Panamanian police.

The measures, announced by Bush in a late-afternoon appearance in the White House press room, won wide support from congressional leaders.

“This is a measured, careful response designed to protect American lives and to convey our interest in the events in Panama,” said Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), one of the lawmakers summoned to a conference with the President several hours before the announcement. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and others expressed similar approval.

In choosing to send the troops to provide protection but to take no direct action against Noriega, Bush was walking a fine line in the escalating feud with the Panamanian dictator. He sought to take a decisive stand against election fraud and violence in a nation crucial to U.S. strategic interests without inflaming regional sensitivity to American interference in Latin American affairs.

In his remarks, Bush repeatedly emphasized that his Administration is acting in cooperation with U.S. allies in the area and with the Panamanian people who, he said, defeated Noriega’s candidate in an election that the government has since nullified.

“Latin American leaders have condemned this election fraud,” he said, citing reports by U.S., Latin and European observers that opposition presidential candidate Guillermo Endara was the clear victor at the polls.

Further, he said, “the crisis in Panama is a conflict between Noriega and the people of Panama. The United States stands with the Panamanian people. We share their hope that the Panamanian Defense Forces will stand with them and fulfill their constitutional obligation to defend democracy.” Noriega heads the Defense Forces.

Bush, in another gesture to mollify Latin American concerns, emphasized that the United States intends to adhere to its obligations under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties. Under the agreements, the United States is scheduled to hand over full operating control of the waterway to Panama at the end of 1999.

The new troops dispatched--990 soldiers from Ft. Ord, 726 soldiers from Ft. Polk, La., and 165 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C.--will join 10,000 U.S. military men and women already stationed at U.S. bases in Panama.

Justifying the need for the additional protection, the Administration said there have been 690 recorded instances of harassment of Defense Department personnel in Panama since February, 1988, when tensions between the United States and Noriega heightened in the aftermath of his indictment in Florida on drug-trafficking charges.

More than 40 of the incidents against Americans were deemed serious, involving beatings, extended detention and destruction of property, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Organization of American States called a special session for today to determine whether it can play a role in the Panamanian crisis.

Among Latin American diplomats in Washington, there was sympathy for the U.S. move, largely because of widely publicized attacks Wednesday by pro-Noriega forces that injured Endara and other opposition leaders during anti-government rallies. But no Latin nation is expected to support military intervention to topple the dictator.

‘Very Measured Response’

In a television interview, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney called the dispatch of the troops a “very careful, very measured response” to the growing violence and threat to Americans’ safety.

He said the U.S. military action is not intended to force Noriega from power.

“That’s not its immediate, up-front purpose,” Cheney said. He added, however, that “we’d love nothing better than to see Mr. Noriega step aside.”

Cheney also ruled out an American role in any possible coup attempt mounted by Panamanians against Noriega. “We’re not sending in troops to decide who rules Panama,” he said.

He added: “You don’t know what’s going to develop in Panama, and the safe thing is to have enough troops there to take care of any eventuality. . . . A resolute show of force is the best way to prevent violence.”

Bush left open the possibility that the United States would be willing to negotiate with Noriega on conditions for his abdication, as it did unsuccessfully last year. But he replied “no” when asked if the Administration would be willing to drop the drug indictments to speed his exit.

The troops were to begin to move to Panama by air within 24 hours, Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said. He said it would take 70 flights aboard C-141 transport planes to move the troops to Howard Air Base in Panama.

The Defense Department spokesman said the troops will be stationed on U.S. military installations and that the term of the deployment is open-ended.

Officials of the U.S. Southern Command, headquartered in Panama, broadcast a message to families of U.S. servicemen living outside U.S. military installations to begin moving onto secure bases. A total of 3,081 dependents live in off-base housing, and space is being made available at various U.S. bases to shelter them.

The aircraft carrier America left Norfolk, Va., Wednesday on a previously scheduled deployment to the Indian Ocean, but Pentagon officials deliberately left open the possibility that the ship could be diverted to Panama.

“As the President said, there could be follow-on actions taken,” Howard said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s senior military officers, reluctantly agreed to the deployment, Pentagon sources said. At a White House meeting Wednesday night, Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argued strongly that in the absence of further attacks on U.S. military personnel or their families, there is no need to send additional troops.

The admiral was overruled, however, by the President on grounds that a show of U.S. resolve was needed to deter further provocation directed at American citizens.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that on Wednesday, Bush “made at least a half-dozen to a dozen phone calls to representatives of other governments” and that additional contacts were made Thursday.

He refused to say with whom Bush had spoken, but he said that Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Spain, Britain, Canada, Costa Rica and Venezuela “have spoken out against the fraudulent elections.”

The Soviet Union, however, through its press agency Tass and in the newspaper Izvestia, criticized U.S. opposition to Noriega even before the deployment was announced.

Fitzwater said the steps taken had been under consideration for several days. Indeed, he said, given the Administration’s anticipation that the election would be marred by fraud, some measures have been under study for weeks. He said the decision to dispatch an election observer delegation to Panama to examine the voting procedures was an element.

“At that time (several weeks ago), the various security agencies of the government also were instructed to begin working on various contingency plans for various scenarios, certainly including one in which there would be any threat to American personnel or in which elections would be fraudulent and we would see other kinds of turmoil and disruption in Panama,” Fitzwater said.

In addition to announcing the new measures, Bush said that economic sanctions placed on Panama last year will remain in effect. Those measures, while constricting the nation’s economy, have failed to dislodge Noriega from power.

Times staff writers John M. Broder, Josh Getlin and Don Shannon contributed to this story.