"I don't have any independent evidence about Noriega," he said. "I don't think he was dealing drugs. I don't know that he killed Spadafora. I doubt very much the National Security Agency was monitoring him or even had the capacity to do it. It didn't matter at the time. It was all a machination, a manipulation of the system."
Armando contended that the conspiracy against Noriega was strictly about Panamanian internal politics, and while this aspect cannot be entirely discarded, we believe that it obfuscates larger matters. To think that the tail was wagging the dog is utterly retarded, and further supports our contention that Armando was a CIA asset working for Bush.
Nevertheless, Armando mounted a vicious whisper campaign against his government with the help of the Panamanian consul, Jose Blandon, whom Noriega had recently fired in 1987. This rumor attack resulted in indictment of the Panamanian leader in Miami in 1988.
We probably should stop to consider the implication - namely that a foreign, allegedly sovereign nation is subject to US law. The only logical explanation is that Panama is a US possession, something which the US government fails to admit.
Eisner discovered that 2 of the major witnesses against Noriega, Floyd Carlton Caceres, and Jose Blandon, both instrumental in the indictments, lied under oath. At that point, the US government turned to its paid convicted felons for testimony. Nothing which Caceres or Blandon stated under oath held up under subsequent investigation, and in fact created considerable difficulties for the prosecution as just noted.
Even more ironic and infuriating is that the US government was doing business with the very drug cartels with which a grand jury indicted Noriega for doing business. Hoeveler had no concern for the hypocrisy. One cannot help but recall the lyrics from The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia:
In summation, Eisner concluded,
Since my first visit with Judge Hoeveler, I've spoken to at least four dozen other sources, both in Panama and the United States. They include former DEA officials, CIA agents, U.S. military officers, an official at the Defense Intelligence Agency, even a member of Mossad who monitored the Israeli spy agency's operations in Panama. "We do not believe Noriega did any of this drug-dealing," the Israeli source said.
Given the fraudulent and criminal nature of the case against Noriega, what was its real motivation? We have already noted Panamanian politics which was certainly an issue, but our view is that it was a tool used by the Bush administration to justify the president's removal of Noriega which seemed to be to protect the former from information known by the latter.
One could argue that the invasion was a dress rehearsal for the upcoming invasion of Kuwait, and a way for Bush to impress upon the Central Americans that the US was still the imperator. Some even say that Noriega was currying Soviet support against US intrigue, and thus Bush needed to reassert the Monroe Doctrine to prevent another Cuba. I don't buy any of it - plausible as these arguments may sound. The USSR was in its death throes and had no stomach for a new conflict thousands of miles away.
Other theories hold that Noriega was providing intelligence to other nations or intelligence agencies in contravention to agreements made between CIA and Noriega's government. To assert that spooks have a code of ethics is laughable on its face.
Is it possible that Noriega knew about Mossad and Michael Harari's activities in Panama preceding the Kennedy murder, of which Bush was very much a part? Whatever the General knew, it threatened Bush down to his skull and bones. The theory that Bush invaded Panama to counteract the wimp reputation he was burnishing is malarkey. Bush was a consummate killer - he didn't need to rescue his reputation.
Reference
Peter Eisner, Uncertain Justice, Miami New Times, March 23, 1998, source(Uncertain Justice (miaminewtimes.com), accessed 5/17/2021)
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