US puts $1m dollar price on Panama strongman's head

[emad]

Martin Walker
Thursday December 21, 1989
The Guardian

General Manuel Noriega remained at large and skirmishing continued last night, as an ugly and protracted guerrilla war and a potential hostage crisis threatened President's Bush's hopes of a brisk Christmas victory in America's back yard. President Bush claimed yesterday that 'key military objectives have been achieved' by the 24,000 US troops, whose Operation Just Cause invasion replaced the dictatorship of Gen Noriega with a constitutionally elected civilian government.

But 12 hours after the US operation began, Gen Noriega's armed militia were still setting up roadblocks and stopping cars in the city's main financial district, while the new civilian government was kept under guard by the US military, which said it was too risky for them to appear in public.

The Soviet Union swiftly condemned the invasion, saying it was a blow to growing warmth in US-Soviet relations. But Mrs Thatcher backed the 'courageous' US action.

While Democrats in Congress gave bipartisan support to the President's decision to launch the biggest US military operation since the Vietnam War, Moscow expressed 'deep concern' for what it dubbed gun-boat diplomacy which violated the UN Charter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1377502,00.html

[progmom]

1. this is breaking news???

:shrug:

[Moderator]

2. locking, article is dated '89