already stationed in Panama. Woerner declined the additional men, which the Pentagon
had intended to despatch with great fanfare in an attempt to intimidate Noriega and his
triumphant supporters. At this point the Pentagon activated preparations for Operation
Blue Spoon, which included a contigency plan to kidnap Noriega with the help of a Delta
force unit. There were discussions about whether an attempt could be made to abduct
Noriega with any likelihood of success; it was concluded that Noriega was very wily and
exceedingly difficult to track. It was in the course of these deliberations that Defense
Secretary Cheney is reported to have told Crowe, "'You know, the President has got a
long history of vindictive political actions.''Cross Bush and you pay,' he said, supplying
the names of a few victims and adding: Bush remembers and you have to be careful." [fn
42] Thus intimidated by Bush, the military commanders concurred in Bush's
announcement of a brigade-sized reenforcement for Woerner, plus the secret despatch of
Delta forces and Navy Seals. On July 17, Bush approved a plan to "assert US treaty
rights" by undertaking demonstrative military provocations in violation of the treaty.
Woerner was soon replaced by General Maxwell Reid "Mad Max" Thurman, who would
bring no qualms to his assignment of aggression. Thurman took over at the Southern
Command on September 30.
In the wake of this tirade, the US forces in Panama began a systematic campaign of
military provocations which continued all the way to the December 20 invasion. In July
the US forces began practicing how to seize control of important Panamanian military
installations and civilian objectives, all in flagrant violation of the Panama Canal Treaty.
On July 1, for example, the town of Gamboa was seized and held for 24 hours by US
troops, tanks, and helicopters. The mayor of the town and 30 other persons were illegally
detained during this "maneuver." In Chilibre, the US forces occupied the key water
purification plant serving Panama City and Colon. On August 15, Bush escalated the
rhetoric still further by proclaiming that he had the obligation "to kidnap Noriega". Then,
during the first days of October, there came the abortive US-sponsored coup attempt,
followed by the public humiliation of George Bush, who had failed to measure up to the
standards of efficacy set by Theodore Roosevelt.
All during October and November and into December, the Bush Administration worked
to prepare the plans for a large-scale invasion of Panama, Operation Blue Spoon. By mid-
December, there were a total of 24,000 US troops in Panama, arrayed against the 16,000
of the PDF, of whom only about 3,500 were organized and equipped for military combat.
The US was now committed to a military attack. Beginning on January 1, 1990,
according to the US-Panama treaty, the head of the canal administration would have to be
a Panamanian citizen, proposed by Panama and approved by the US government. This
was a transaction which Bush wished to conduct with a puppet state, and not with an
independent government. In the light of transparent US preparations for a short-term
invasion or other armed incursion, the National Assembly of Panama passed a resolution
of December 15 to take note of the state of affairs that had now been forced upon Panama
by Bush. The statement was designed to permit the assumption of emergency powers by
the Panamanian government to meet the crisis, and was in no way equivalent to a
declaration of war under international law, no more than Bush's April 6, 1989 declaration