Volume 38, Number 11 · June 13, 1991
The Salvation of Panama?
By Michael Massing
Panama: The Whole Story
by Kevin Buckley
Simon and Schuster, 304 pp., $21.95
Compared to the Gulf war, the invasion of Panama was little more than a skirmish. Nonetheless, there are some similarities between the two conflicts. In both Iraq and Panama, the US government spent years indulging a ruthless dictator. Then, waking up to his perfidy, the White House expressed its dismay in highly personal terms, comparing the one tyrant to Hitler, calling the other a drug trafficker. In both cases, Washington chose to resolve its dispute through military rather than diplomatic means. Then, after winning the war, it had to win the peace. Today, in helping to rebuild Kuwait, the US claims to be drawing on its 'nation-building' experience in Panama. Events in that Central American country, then, can offer insights into the problems we now face in the Gulf. Kevin Buckley's book is the latest to examine our recent involvement there.
Review, 2510 words
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