The Panama Deception

Although the film maker's bias tends to show through, this is probably the most thourough (I bet I spelled that wrong) account of the US invasion of Panama I have ever seen. I have already read volumes of books, all of which agree with what was expressed in this documentary (and the funny thing was, I wasn't specifically looking for that, either. I couldn't find any first-hand accounts that towed the US-government line).

I have two friends who served in Panama, and became very disillusioned after the things they were ordered to do. Although most people will never hear of this, much of what is discussed in this documentary is actually standard military practice all over the world. I'm not defending it, i'm not attacking it. I'm just stating it; shelling of civilians is somewhat of a game to many military men. Most of my male family members in the States are military guys, and there was a massive change in them after their tour of duty.

The funny thing is, I think this is a great documentary, and i'm further from the left than Reagan. But, you can't argue with the truth. A splendid look at how the truth gets shut out sometimes.

Narrated by Elizeabeth Montgomery and produced by Barbara Trent who previously produced "Cover-Up" a documentary about the Iran-Countra scandal or deception "The Panama Deception" has to do with the real reasons behind the 1989 invasion of Panama which had nothing at all to do what we the American people were told at the time by the Bush I Administration and the US media.

The unprovoked invasion of Panama that cost as many as 4,000 Panamanians and two dozen US servicemen's lives had to do with the September 1977 Carter-Torrijos Treaty that was to hand over the Panama Canal to the Panamanian Government on New Years Eve 1999. Something that the new incoming Reagan Administration was dead against and determined to overturn. After Panamanian strong man Omar Torrijos was killed in a mysterious plane crash on July 31, 1981 CIA sponsored Manny Noriaga was was put in charge hoping that he would do as he's told by his handlers back in the USA. Manny who was canned or kicked off the CIA payroll by President Jimmy Carter's CIA Director Mansfield Turner back in 1978 was immediately put back on the CIA payroll by the Reagan Adminstration at double his salary. It's then that Manny started to organize both drug trafficking and supporting the Sandinista contras for his employers the CIA.

It was later when Manny didn't go along with what he was told that the US now run by President George Bush the First made plans to dump him in him becoming too independent for his own good. After a number of failed attempts to ouster Manny it became obvious to the Bush Administration that it had to use use force but at the same time demonize Manny in order to get the American public to support a military invasion and take over of his country. Planting stories about Manny Noriaga being a sexual degenerate and drug user and pusher, which he was for the CIA, as well as Hitler lover it didn't take long for Bush in the excuse of restoring democracy in Panama, which in fact never had it, let loose the "Dogs of War" on that country from which it has never recovered since now over 20 years after it was invaded.

What turned out to be the real reason for the invasion of Panama was not just to scudded the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Teaty but destroy and disarm the Panamanian Army! With the Panamnian Army needed in protecting the canal the aforementioned treaty became invaded which Bush made sure it would be! And thus have the US military, which in fact destroyed it, replace the Panamanian Army when the treaty came into effect some ten years later!It was also the invasion of Panama that opened the door to a new and aggressive form of US foreign policy that was implemented in countries like Iraq, in 1991 & 2003, Kosovo and Afganistan that with no Soviet Union to worry about no one not even the UN being able to challenge it.

P.S Even though the documentary "The Panama Deception" was released in 1992 it in fact accurately predicted the course of US foreign policy for the next 20 or so years! Something that Jean Dixon or even the great seer Nostradamus couldn't do and it didn't even need a crystal ball to do it!

The Panama Deception (1992)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning documentary takes a look at the American invasion of Panama in 1989. Through archival footage from all the major networks, we see that the majority of Americans and all of the media were behind this invasion even though overtime it became clear that they were mislead about the real reasons. People were told that it was for American safety but this documentary tries to show a more malicious reason, which resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of Panama citizens being killed. When viewing this film today I think many people will connect it to events that are going on within the last few years. Overall this is a pretty impressive documentary and you can tell that the director really has a passion and anger over what happened. There's some pretty graphic material here and especially towards the end when we're told about all the mass graves and we see some brutal footage of them being dug up where we see many of the bodies that were thrown in there. We also get some photographs of dead civilians who were shot and just left on the streets. Throughout all of this we get footage from the major news broadcasts and we see how they were all behind the invasion and not too many questions were asked and not much detail was given to anything except showing the Americans who were killed. As impressed as I was with the film, the one thing I'd hold against it (and many documentaries) is that they only show one side of the story. It's really too bad someone who supported what happened wasn't interviewed to give their opinions on why this invasion was needed. Many sources here are Panama newspapers and I'm really not sure if we can trust them any more than we can trust American newspapers. With that said, THE PANAMA DECPTION does a very good job at getting its point across and history buffs will certainly want to check this out.

First it must be stated that it is quite apparent that those involved in the production of this documentary have an agenda and that makes the documentary somewhat obviously biased. It also must be noted that, no matter what the reasons were for the invasion, the people of Panama are certainly no better (or worse) for the change in government and worse off because of the invasion. Whether Noriega was involved in drug-trafficking or not (I would tend to think most governments with large-scale drug production areas within their borders probably are, and Noriega is no exception), getting rid of Noriega was like shhoting a flea with a Howitzer: noisy, messy, expensive and ultimately futile overkill. A good piece of work so long as you understand that there is an agenda here. I suspect that if you put the governmental story on one side and this on the other, the truth would be somewhere between them, but closer to the documentary than the government.

The "Panama Deception" refers to acts and events that are classically typical in the history of this and other powerful governments throughout history. The U.S. administration in power during the period is known by informed people of all economic and political strata to be particularly cynical.

I notice a highly critical review of this film on this site is by a "19 year veteran of the army." While what this person says has some merit, I put little stock in the opinion of someone who is naive enough to join the army and is in such deep denial over the sins of government.

I applaud this film. Heck, it even won an Academy award - a stunning turn of events considering it's radical nature - that is, in your face truth.