European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns . Rosenthal . Should be consistent in dealing with despots in the end. The Man turned out Tobe a too just a fool like so Many of his kind. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega fancied himself a Tough swashbuckler roman tic smart ready and Able to take on the giant. He and his followers screamed with pleasure when he waved his Bayonet at the United states from the Rostrum. He began to believe he was As big As the huge posters of himself tacked up around Panama. So he announced that Panama was in a state of War with the United states. It was an invitation to his own oblivion. Lawyers say a declaration by an enemy that a state of War exists is not enough for action which can be taken Only in self defense. Right. But the self defense clock starts the moment an enemy says tee War is on. President Bush knew he would never be forgiven by his countrymen if he let no Riega decide when terrorism should begin against americans in Panama like at tacking american civilian neighbor hoods. Noriega put the president in the Posi Tion of having 10 accept he very next actor violence As the reason and rationalization for moving in self defense. It turned out to be the death of one american Serviceman. Just one his critics say. After Noriega said the War Wason How Many deaths did the president have to wait for squeezing a powerful opponent into a Omer where he must act is a very fool ish thing to do very. Interesting How Many dictators turn out to be fools de luding themselves. Marcos of the Philippines for exam ple listened to his wife when she said that filipinos simply adored seeing her drip with jewels. Yes Imelda. The Shah of Iran believed he ruled not merely by divine right but by divine visitation a Chat face to face with god. Mere divine right monarchies like Tom Wicker  the British he said were simply inherited therefore not on his order of god presented majesty. The people loved him and knew that to oppose a divinely visited emperor Why it was like insulting god the hard military men of South Korea in their brightly polished boots of what fools they were. They did not realize that when they shot and beat up students parents would be angry. Then one Day they looked out the window and saw that the faces of the protesting marchers were Middle aged. The military regime was Over but Only one of the generals realized it. The peo ple elected him president knowing this one was no fool. The communist rulers of Eastern Europe Blue ribbon idiots. They forgot the Only reason they were in Power was thai the soviet army put them there and kept them there. When Mikhail Gorbachev decided the soviet Union could no longer afford to keep Eastern Europe under military control some of these puppets were sur prised that they Only lasted in office about a minute and a Naif. Even the Crafty old men trying to hold Down China Are not All that Crafty any More. They could have talked to the Stu dents. In the beginning talk was All the Young people were asking. But in their fright the old men killed. Bush May forget that but Heyoung of China do not one Day they will Rule China not the men hiding behind Walls and armies. Noriega is cruel and terminally stupid but Why does Ameri can action against him bring no sense of elation for one thing americans Nave a queasy feeling about military moves against a latin american country too much bul lying history. But i think Many americans Are both ered most by a Lack of political and moral consistency. The United states which once chucked the panamanian dictator under the Chin and slipped him a Nice Dollar or two finally took action against him. Fine but at the same time it kisses the hands of the chinese dictators. The president says nobody can get away with killing an american  whatever happened to the men who hanged it. Col. William Higgins Aren t they still walking around still brutalizing the rest of the american hostages the president says his duty is to protect americans abroad. It is one year since pan am 103 was blown up killing27q people most of them americans. Our government has not even pointed Public Finger at the Middle Eastern terrorists responsible or the countries that paid and Harbor the criminals. We do not expect our president to catch every terrorist remove every dicta Tor. But we do have a right to expect Candor and consistency so we can believe there arc no immune killers no favorite fools. Tit. New Rork times a Vic armed intervention is never cause for jubilation those of us who fundamentally oppose . Interventions in other nations particularly in this hemisphere do not have a Clear Case against the inva Sion of Panama. But neither ate president Bush s arguments conclusive and numerous doubts remain to be resolved. Bush claims to have acted under his Legal duties to protect american lives and to assure continued opera Tion of the Panama canal. These assertions Are hard to dispute in View of Manuel Noriega s Strong  re Cord and recent actions. The fortuitous presence and Quick installation of an alternative government whose apparent election no Riega had set aside also ends to legitimize Bush s use of Force against a Sovereign nation. But these factors in justification of the invasion do not dismiss some compelling reservations. Already for the most obvious example other latin nations predictably have condemned the intervention although some of the criticism undoubtedly is More for show than for real. But even the Outter of the outlaw Noriega will not balance among most latin populations this latest show of . Dominance. If moreover the planned Quick strike turns into a drawn out . Occupation of Panama which is entirely possible or worse a protracted guerrilla War hemispheric opposition will be compounded to the detriment of Long term . Interests. One thing needed quickly is convincing evidence that what Bush called an eminent danger to the 35,000 american citizens in Panama really was severe enough to justify invasion. As for the Guillermo Endara government even though it was elected legitimately it was installed by . Forces an american military base in steal hand darkness. In latin America that is a tainted rather than an auspicious beginning nor has Panama in the past been Fertile soil for democratic government. So the democracy Bush claims to have brought to Panama As if that were a legitimate . Function is by no mean assured. Just As . Troops two decades ago failed to find the legendary Cosyn they had invaded Cambodia to capture the invaders of Panama have failed so far to find what Nixon administration phrase makers might have called the big enchilada Manuel no Riega himself. That s ominous. An a captured Noriega with even a few Loyal followers might organize guerrilla warfare or manage to prolong the Urban Street fighting the Pentagon suggests is Likely or with Washington s Price on his head somehow maintain himself As a Power Center in opposition to the Washington sponsored Endara government. If As a result enough . Troops come Back from Panama in body bags what rally round the Flag americans now consider a justified operation might soon backfire against Bush at Home As Well As in the Hemi sphere. On the other hand if Noriega is captured he will retaken to Miami for a . Trial on drug dealing charges. In that event it s possible that even a murder Ous dictator captured at gunpoint and at least figuratively in chains might become a son of Martyr among the Many latins who fear and or hate the colossus of the  perhaps it was Little noticed among the headlines about Panama but it s also relevant that on the Day of the invasion the lithuanian communist party declared its Independence from the National party leadership in Moscow. The lithuanian party s forthright goal is an Independent democratic lithuanian  however illegally Lithuania is now a Republic with in the soviet Union. If it declares its Independence and gets away with it other soviet republics Latvia Estonia Armenia Georgia might Well try to secede too. Fear of such disintegration around the Periphery of his rickety nation could Lead Mikhail Gorbachev forcibly to quell the lithuanian Independence movement As a lesson to the others. Such a use of soviet Force is All the More Likely because Gorbachev probably would seem to the world More justified in preventing the secession of what is now a soviet Republic than the United states was in invading a Sovereign nation and imposing a govern ment on it. Gorbachev after All has refrained from such intervention in the breakaway nations of Eastern Europe. So Bush May have seen no alternative to invasion and Manuel Noriega May have forced the president to act. But a new Gringo intervention in latin am Ricafor whatever reasons As House speaker Tom Foley has observed a not a cause for  new Yolk to Kim 8vm