tirade delivered to the Rockefeller-controlled Council of the Americas in which he stated:
"Let me say one thing clearly. The USA will not accept the results of fraudulent elections
that serve to keep the supreme commander of the Panamanian armed forces in power."
This made clear that Bush intended to declare the elections undemocratic if the pro-
Noriega candidates were not defeated.
In the elections of May 7, the CIA's $10 million and other monies were used to finance
an extensive covert operation which aimed at stealing the elections. The US-supported
Civic Democratic Alliance, whose candidate was Guillermo Endara, purchased votes,
bribed the election officials, and finally physically absconded with the official vote
tallies. Because of the massive pattern of fraud and irregularities, the Panamanian
government annulled the election. Somewhere along the line the usual US-staged "people
power" upsurge had failed to materialize. The inability of Bush to force through a victory
by the anti-Noriega opposition was a first moment of humiliation for the would-be Rough
Rider.
This was the occasion for a new outburst of hypocritical breast-beating from Bush, whose
vote fraud operation had not worked so well in Panama as it had in New Hampshire.
Speaking at the commencement ceremonies of Mississippi State University in Starkville,
Mississippi, Bush issued a formal call to the citzens and soldiers of Panama to overthrow
Noriega, asserting that "they ought to do everything they can to get Mr. Noriega out of
there." Asked whether this was a call for a military coup against Noriega, Bush replied: "I
would love to see them get him out of there. Not just the PDF-- the will of the people of
Panama." Bush elaborated that his was a call for "a revolution--the people rose up and
spoke for-- in a democratic election with a substantial - a tremendous- turnout, said what
they wanted. The will of the people should not be thwarted by this man and a handful of
these Doberman thugs." "I think the election made so clear that the people want
democracy and made so clear that democracy is being thwarted by one man that that in
itself would be the catalyst for removing Noriega," Bush added, making his characteristic
equation of "democracy" with a regime subservient to US whim. Bush prevaricated on
his own committment to disbanding the Panamanian Defense Forces, saying that he
wanted to "make clear... that there's no vendetta against the Panamanian Defense Forces
as an institution;" the US was concerned only with Noriega's "thuggery" and "pariah"
status. Bush seemed also to invite the assassination of Noriega by blurting out, "No, I
would add no words of caution" on how to do any of this. He slyly kept an escape hatch
open in case a coup leader called on the US for support, as in fact later happened: "If the
PDF asks for support to get rid of Noriega, they wouldn't need support from the United
States in order to get rid of Noriega. He's one man, and they have a well-trained force."
Bush also seemed to encourage Noriega to flee to a country from which he could not be
extradited back to the US, which sounded like a recipe for avoiding legal proceedings
that could prove highly embarrassing to Bush personally and to the whole US
government.
During this period, Admiral William Crowe, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
attempted to convince the US commander in Panama, Gen. Frederick F. Woerner, to
accept a brigade-sized reinforcement of 3,000 troops in addition to the 12,000 men