3. U.S. Airborne drop during Operation Just Cause - December 1989 [2008x2626]

U.S. Airborne drop during Operation Just Cause - December 1989 [2008x2626]

For all of those wondering WHY we went to war, I think we need some good background on Noriega and Central America. Here’s my time to shine.

Noriega took power in Panama after the head of state, a military junta (Strongman), Omar Torrijos died in a mysterious plane crash. Latin America was accustomed to juntas being in power just as a culture, military strongmen were governing bodies all over Latin America.

Noriega was the next ‘dictator’ of Panama, being that he was the head of state and not democratically elected, he was next in line in the military. He didn’t have a lot of governing experience and wasn’t well-liked by his constituents or his people. In fact, there was a failed military coup on him that most of the Panamanian public supported. He was nicknamed Old Pineapple Face because he had a face like Edward James Olmos.

Now you might say, hey, why don’t we take him out? He’s a dictator, we do that all the time. Wrong. The US supported many dictators:

Nicaraguan Somoza dynasty (FDR Called Somoza “He’s a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch”).

Saddam Iraq during the Iraq-Iran War.

Batista in Cuba before the revolution (You get the idea).

The reason he wasn’t taken out immediately is because he was our go-to guy to Communist Cuba. If we needed to talk to Cuba, we went to him. We also controlled the canal until 1999 Due to the agreement between Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos and it’s a huge jump-off point. We could take him out at any time. He was also on the CIA Payroll (our tax dollars at work).

Now, the Somozas of Nicaragua (FDR’s our son of a bitch) were overthrown during the Sandanista Revolution in the 70-80s after the Somozas bought up a bunch of land and stole all of the relief funds after a huge earthquake. Tipping point was reached, Somoza’s overthrown. The Sandanistas created a socialist government.

Former CIA Director George H. W. Bush (Now VP) and President Ronald Reagan didn’t like this new socialist government. Using illegal arms sales in Iran through the CIA Operative Oliver North (now on Fox News), the US funded a civil war with the group called the Contras to overthrow the Sandinistas, causing more bloodshed in Nicaragua for the better part of the early 1980s. This is known as the Iran-Contra Affair

Oliver North (still on Fox News), demanded that Noriega send military aid to Nicaragua.  Noriega refused, and this caused some tension.  Noriega was on the CIA’s pay-roll, but he still was playing Neutral.  Óscar Arias, president in Costa Rica (with no military), still let the US use their airstrips for sending aid to Nicaragua.  [He later got the Nobel Prize for Peace]( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Arias). … …yeah.

The US needed a way to get rid of Noriega.  He wasn’t playing our lapdog and he knew too much.  The US started using the media as a weapon.  They painted Noriega as a drug runner stating that he was housing then-Colombian drug lord and leader of the Medellín Cartel, [Pablo Escobar]( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar).  Noriega helped run funds to kill socialists that had overthrown their dictator, but housing drug leaders was a no-no.  Noriega still claims he never harbored them.  Roberto Escobar (his brother and accountant) claims he *did* hide with Noriega during the DEA and Cali Cartel crackdown on his brother Pablo.

Operation Just Cause was the result, and on December 20th, 1989, the US invaded Panama.  Noriega hid inside the Vatican Embassy.  US tropped blasted Slayer and Metallica songs on huge speakers outside the building for days.  Eventually he ran out of food and was forced out. He served time in Miami, France, and is now back in jail in Panama… forgotten.

Now, not all of this is ancient history to Latin Americans of Central America.  To many, the scars of the contra war and the US-backing of dictatorships leave a sour taste in their mouth. IMO, the same Republicans who held office back then led to the Neo-Cons of today who have shifted their warring animosity to the Middle East.  Socialism isn’t the real enemy anymore, it’s Terrorism.  Ya gotta feed that military industrial complex.

Sources:

Noriega: America’s Prisoner

When the AK-47s Fall Silent

The Accountant’s Story

/r/HistoryPorn Thread Link - imgur.com
Previous
Next

Recently removed from /r/HistoryPorn

All are workers in Knoxville Knitting Mills. Knoxville, Tennessee, 1910. photo by Lewis Wickes Hine [3000 x 2133] Lizzie van Zyl was a 7-year-old Boer girl and an inmate at a British concentration camp. After her father refused to surrender, Lizzie was labeled an "undesirable" and deliberately starved. She died of typhoid fever shortly after this photo was taken, South Africa, 1901 [2412 x 1644]. A photo of Abdul Wali, an Afghan farmer. In 2003, he was falsely accused of being a terrorist. Hoping to clear his name, he turned turned himself in to the Americans. A CIA contractor would brutally torture Wali to death over the course of 3 days, beating him until he begged for death [596 x 420]. A large white mob, many of them hoping to participate or watch a lynching, stands outside the courthouse as a black man stands trial for murdering a white girl, Kentucky, 1920 [740 × 435]. A balloon apron is suspended to defend London from air attacks, 1915 [1600x1351] A photo of Charles McArther Emmanuel, the American-born son of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, taken somewhere in Liberia, where he moved in 1994. During his time there, Emmanuel was the head of an "anti-terrorist unit". He tortured and murdered dissidents and civilians [500 x 703]. U.S. Marine Michael Schwarz (left) walks with his lawyer during his court-martial. He was part of a small group which massacred 16 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, including 9 children. They went from hut to hut, shooting every Vietnamese person they saw, South Vietnam, 1970 [894 x 579]. A Russian volunteer who came to fight for Serbs in the Bosnian War sits at the grave of deceased friend. He will be buried nearby a month later. June, 1994 (1057x834) Babies left to sleep outside, enforcing immune sistem, Moscow 1958 [750 x 768] The only surviving depiction of a Western POW being executed by the Japanese during WWII ca. 1943 [1514 x 1024] US medic gives first aid to a wounded German SS soldier, France 1944 [736x557] Visiting quarantined family and friends at Ullevål Hospital, Oslo - Photo by Anders Beer Wilse - 1905 [729 x 960] Anne Frank's father; Otto Frank served as a lieutenant during WW1. by his merits he earned two iron crosses from both clases. Circa 1914 [500 × 713] A Nationalist Chinese soldier of the 29th Route Army taunting Imperial Japanese soldiers, he was gunned down moments later. Northern China, 1937. [750 x 914] A young North Vietnamese soldiers lightning a smoke for a elderly man on a graveyard, Both have lost a leg, the text on the sign near them say "graveyard of 45 students that were massacred by an American bomb on March 16, 1965", Hanoi 1970 [1024 x 1023]

More Random Comments

Trillionaires should not exist Looking for a nice space RPG Which president in history had the best economic policy? Rewatching for the 5th time, and realized Kenny started unpacking his boxes at the station, BECAUSE he wanted to get fired so he could go somewhere new, I never quite caught that, I always assumed he was.. comfortable where he was or something, so he finally began unpacking. But now I get it. Bernie Sanders Says U.S. Has No Science-Based Reopening Policy: '50 States Going it Alone' I should not have to repeat myself. [Event] Playing Catch Up Cliché topic but I was going to propose today, we broke up on the 12th. It's unjust to leave the game on 50% when its the best first person shooter of the year just because of a mistake [COVID-19 PSA] 50 masks for $30, no need to support price-gouging hardware stores non-korean fans need to stay in their lane I think i’m not the only one Tech Support and Question Megathread - Week of May 17, 2020 GIVE HEALTHY GAMER SUGGESTIONS for May Should I (17M) stand up to my parents?