Murphy denied having done this. It is still not known with precision what mission
Murphy was sent to Panama to perform for Bush. [fn 40]
On August 12, 1987, Noriega responded to the opposition campaigns fomented by the US
inside Panama by declaring that the aim of Washington and its Panamanian minions was
"to smash Panama as a free and independent nation. It is a repetition of what Teddy
Roosevelt did when he militarily attacked following the separation of Panama from
Colombia." On August 13, 1987, the Los Angeles Times reported that US Assistant
Attorney General Stephen Trott, who had headed up the Department of Justice "Get
Noriega" Task Force for more than a year, had sent out orders to "pull together
everything that we have on him [Noriega] in order to see if he is prosecutable." This
classic "enemies' list" operation was clearly aimed at fabricating drug charges against
Noriega, since that was the political spin which the US regime wished to impart to its
attack on Panama. In February, 1988, Noriega was indicted on US drugs charges, despite
a lack of evidence and an even more compelling lack of jurisdiction. This indictment was
quickly followed by economic sanctions, an embargo on trade, and other economic
warfare measures that were invoked by Washington on March 2, 1988. All of these
measures were timed to coincide with the "Super Tuesday" presidential preference
primaries in the southern states, where Bush was able to benefit from the racist appeal of
the assault on Noriega, who is of mestizo background and has a swarthy complexion.
During the spring of 1988, the Reagan Administration conducted a negotiation with
Noriega with the declared aim of convincing him to relinquish power in exchange for
having the drug charges against him dropped. In May, Michael G. Kozak, the deputy
assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs had been sent to Panama to meet
with Noriega. Bush had come under attack from other presidential candidates, especially
Dukakis, for being soft on Noriega and seeking a plea bargain with the Panamanian
leader. Bush first took the floor during the course of an administration policymaking
meeting to advocate an end of the bargaining with Noriega. According to press reports,
this proposal was "hotly contested." Then, in a speech in Los Angeles, Bush made one of
his exceedingly rare departures from the Reagan line by announcing with a straight face
that a Bush Administration would not "bargain with drug dealers" at home or abroad. [fn
41]
Bush's interest in Noriega continued after he had assumed the presidency. On April 6,
1989, Bush formally declared that the government of Panama represented an "unusual
and extraordinary threat" to US national security and foreign policy. He invoked the
National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Act to declare a state of
"national emergency" in this country to meet the menace allegedly posed by the
nationalists of little Panama. The May 1, 1989 issue of US News and World Report
revealed that Bush had authorized the expenditure of $10 million in CIA funds for
operations against the Panamanian government. These funds were obviously to be
employed to influence the Panamanian elections, which were scheduled for early May.
The money was delivered to Panama by CIA bagman Carlos Eleta Almaran, who had just
been arrested in Georgia in April, 1989 on charges of drug trafficking. On May 2, with
one eye on those elections, Bush attempted to refurbush his wimp image with a blustering