In My Time - Dick Cheney [94]
BEFORE WE WENT INTO Panama, the air force came to me with plans to use F-117s, our new stealth fighter. I wanted to know why. Surely the Panamanian air defense system wasn’t sophisticated enough to require stealth capability. But the planes had never been used in combat before, and the U.S. Air Force wanted the opportunity to try them out—which seemed reasonable to me. They also recommended using AC-130 Spectre gunships, a very stable platform that has massive firepower and great precision. Because they are vulnerable to ground-to-air defenses and enemy fighter aircraft, we preferred to have air superiority before using AC-130s, but we planned to establish that quickly in Panama, then use these planes to take down Noriega’s headquarters, the Comandancia.
At around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 19, we got word that Guillermo Endara would agree to be sworn in and restored to power by the United States. This was crucial. If he hadn’t agreed, we would have had to rethink our entire operation. Later that night I headed down to the National Military Command Center, where Tom Kelly and the joint staff team presided. Kelly had set up a small conference room where Powell and I could work. We were close enough to monitor what was happening, but we had a quiet space away from everyone else if we needed to talk.
Shortly after midnight, Just Cause was under way. As reports came in, I stepped out of the conference room every half hour or so to use a secure line to the White House. My first call of the evening was to Scowcroft, but the president asked that I call him directly after that. He wanted as much information as we could give him, and as quickly as possible.
Most of the news that first night was good, although I did have to report the loss of four Navy SEALs, killed at Patilla airfield. We also failed to find Noriega. He wasn’t seen until December 24, when he arrived at the Papal Nunciatura, the residence of the pope’s representative in Panama. He stepped out of his car, carrying two AK-47s, strolled into the protected grounds, and requested political asylum. From this point forward, his capture was a certainty, the date of it hurried along by a plan devised by our troops to blast heavy metal music at earsplitting levels toward the Nunciatura. On January 3 Noriega walked out and surrendered to our forces. Operation Just Cause was a success.
CHRISTMAS IS A FAMILY time in the Cheney household. Liz and Mary, in their twenties by the time of Just Cause, would always make it home, and we would get up early on Christmas morning to open presents, eat a big breakfast, and start cooking the turkey—an effort that I customarily led. But Christmas 1989 was different. I flew to Panama on Christmas Eve, landing in blackout conditions for security, while Lynne, Liz, and Mary stayed in McLean under blackout conditions of their own. The power, notoriously fickle in Northern Virginia, went out, inspiring them to try to cook Christmas dinner in the fireplace—an effort that they have never chosen to repeat.
My host in Panama was Lieutenant General Carl Stiner, who had helped develop the plans for Just Cause and as commander on the ground done a superb job of seeing to their execution. On Christmas Day, we traveled from Panama City to Fort Amador, Rio Hato, Colón, and Patilla, and as I met with the troops who had participated in Just Cause, I stressed the importance of their achievement. “Democracy exists in Panama today because Panamanians voted for it,” I said, “and each one of you has stood by them.” I wanted them to know how proud their nation was of them, and I tried to convey my own high personal