George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

Later, Bush henchman Don Gregg was obliged to testify under oath about Bush's
relations with Noriega in the context of the civil lawsuit brought by the Christic Institute
of Washington, DC against members of the Bush-Shackley-Clines Enterprise. Gregg
specified that Ambassador Briggs was himself a friend of Bush. Gregg said that at the
December, 1983 meeting, Panamanian President Ricardo de la Espriella had denied US
press reports alleging Panamanian government complicity in drug trafficking.
But while Noriega kept close relations with the United States, he also dealt with Cuba
and other countries in the region. Noriega was increasingly motivated by Panamanian
nationalism, and a desire to preserve a margin of independence for his country. The
hostility of the US government against Noriega was occasioned first of all by Noriega's
refusal to be subservient to the US policy of waging war against the Sandinista regime.
This was explained by Noriega in an interview with CBS journalist Mike Wallace on
February 4, 1988, in which Noriega described the US campaign against him as a
"political conspiracy of the Department of Justice." Noriega described a visit to Panama
on December 17, 1985 by Admiral John Poindexter, then the chief of the US National
Security Council, who demanded that Noriega join in acts of war against Nicaragua, and
then threatened Panama with economic warfare and political destabilization when
Noriega refused to go along with Poindexter's plans:
Noriega: Poindexter said he came in the name of President Reagan. He said that Panama and
Mexico were acting against US policy in Central America because we were saying that the
Nicaragua conflict must be settled peacefully. And that wasn't good enough for the plans of the
Reagan administration. The single thing that will protect us from being economically and
politically attacked by the United States is that we allow the contras to be trained in Panama for
the fight against Nicaragua.
Wallace: He told you that you would be economically attacked if you didn't do that?
Noriega: It was stated, Panama must expect economic consequences. Your interest was that we
should aid the contras, and we said 'no' to that.
Poindexter outlined plans for a US invasion of Nicaragua that would require the fig-leaf
of participation of troops from other countries in the region:
Noriega: Yes, they wanted to attack Nicaragua and the only reason it hadn't already happened was
that Panama was in the way, and all they wanted was that Panama would open the way and make
it possible for them to continue their plans.
According to Noriega's advisor, Panamanian Defense Forces Captain Cortiso,
"[the US] wanted that Panamanian forces attack first. Then we would receive support from US
troops." [fn 36]
It was in this same December, 1985 period that Bush and Don Gregg met with
Ambassador Briggs to discuss the Noriega's refusal to follow dictation from Washington.
According to Gregg in his deposition in the Christic Institute lawsuit, "I think we [i.e.,
Bush and Gregg] came away from the meeting with Ambassador Brggs with the sense
that Noriega was a growing problem, politically, militarily, and possibly in the drug