What I just can't understand, is why some people, both Panamanians or not, have such a hard time believing the US Government and the troops can behave like this. Both before (like in Vietnam, My Lai massacre), and after (Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo), the US has committed terrible war crimes and crimes against humanity, but we refuse to accept this.
Some Panamanians blame the people from Panama like the "Dignity Battalions" with burning down the Chorrillo. With all the history of the atrocities by the US military, and the footage showing you the firepower used, in the middle or a large barrio of wooden houses, they want (need) to believe that somehow all these missiles and bombs only fell in the so called "targets" and completely missed the houses, which were then conveniently burned by Panamanians.
I was also there (18y/o). Regrettably, having swallowed 18 years of indoctrination, I supported it, and I supported people like Endara and the guy beaten by the police, Guillermo Ford (who despite being Latino prefers to call himself "Billy").
Mr Ford says he doesn't care about the price tag, and that he would pay "any price". Of course, he did not die, nor did his children, parents, wife, siblings, etc. It is easy to pay "any price" when that price is the blood of others. He reminds me of Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under Clinton, who also thought the lives of the 500,000 Iraqi children that died according to UNICEF as a result of the US sanctions, were a price "worth paying".
I wished the film would have stopped for a second longer to challenge the elections of 1989. The opposition was funded by the US. This is illegal under both US and Panamanian law. As it is under Venezuelan law (the US funds the Venezuelan opposition as well). So yes there was fraud on Noriega's side, but there was fraud before on the opposition side, accepting money from a Foreign Government. And there was the economic sanctions applied to Panamanians, which obviously influenced the result as well. And BTW I voted for those people you saw on the film, Endara & Co, who now I regard as "vendepatrias (people who sell their country)". How dare they be "sworn in" as president in a US base? Last thing, someone said the filmmakers "have an agenda". We all do. Wake up, the US media has an agenda too. To take your tax dollars for themselves and the military industrial complex, of which NBC is a part. The US commercial media has a huge agenda that has nothing to do with you (unless you hold shares) and everything to do with keeping you distracted from what truly affects you.
I remember naively taking food and water to US troops camping in front of my house. Now I realize how stupid and foolish I was, risking my life and trusting the "good intentions" of soldiers. There are many dead people in Iraq who did the same and approached US checkpoints.
Some Panamanians blame the people from Panama like the "Dignity Battalions" with burning down the Chorrillo. With all the history of the atrocities by the US military, and the footage showing you the firepower used, in the middle or a large barrio of wooden houses, they want (need) to believe that somehow all these missiles and bombs only fell in the so called "targets" and completely missed the houses, which were then conveniently burned by Panamanians.
I was also there (18y/o). Regrettably, having swallowed 18 years of indoctrination, I supported it, and I supported people like Endara and the guy beaten by the police, Guillermo Ford (who despite being Latino prefers to call himself "Billy").
Mr Ford says he doesn't care about the price tag, and that he would pay "any price". Of course, he did not die, nor did his children, parents, wife, siblings, etc. It is easy to pay "any price" when that price is the blood of others. He reminds me of Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under Clinton, who also thought the lives of the 500,000 Iraqi children that died according to UNICEF as a result of the US sanctions, were a price "worth paying".
I wished the film would have stopped for a second longer to challenge the elections of 1989. The opposition was funded by the US. This is illegal under both US and Panamanian law. As it is under Venezuelan law (the US funds the Venezuelan opposition as well). So yes there was fraud on Noriega's side, but there was fraud before on the opposition side, accepting money from a Foreign Government. And there was the economic sanctions applied to Panamanians, which obviously influenced the result as well. And BTW I voted for those people you saw on the film, Endara & Co, who now I regard as "vendepatrias (people who sell their country)". How dare they be "sworn in" as president in a US base? Last thing, someone said the filmmakers "have an agenda". We all do. Wake up, the US media has an agenda too. To take your tax dollars for themselves and the military industrial complex, of which NBC is a part. The US commercial media has a huge agenda that has nothing to do with you (unless you hold shares) and everything to do with keeping you distracted from what truly affects you.
I remember naively taking food and water to US troops camping in front of my house. Now I realize how stupid and foolish I was, risking my life and trusting the "good intentions" of soldiers. There are many dead people in Iraq who did the same and approached US checkpoints.
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