State Crime, the Media, and the Invasion of Panama

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, 1994 - Political Science - 157 pages
Johns and Johnson analyze the invasion of Panama in order to explore the ways in which the War on Drugs has been used as an ideological justification for a projection of U.S. state power into Latin America. They characterize the Bush Administration's reasons for the invasion as cynical ideological rhetoric which covered up strategic interests the United States had in deposing Noriega and replacing him with a more cooperative regime. The authors particularly discuss the role of media coverage, including the demonization of Noriega and the immediate adoption by the corporate media of the name Operation Just Cause, in legitimating the invasion and transforming it in popular ideology as a law enforcement operation. Finally, they examine the aftermath of the invasion in the United States--Bush's popularity ratings, the distortion of civilian casualty information, the macho celebration of the war--and in Panama--the destruction of the labor and independence movements, the puppet Endara government, and the increased drug trafficking through Panama.

From inside the book

Contents

Panama and Rollback
1
Reasons for the Shift in Policy on Noriega
17
Reasons for the Invasion Lies to the Nation
43
Copyright

5 other sections not shown

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1994)

CHRISTINA JACQUELINE JOHNS is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. She has worked for the Criminal Conspiracies Division of the Justice Department and taught seminars in Colombia and Puerto Rico. She is the author of Power, Ideology, and the War on Drugs (Praeger, 1991).

P. WARD JOHNSON has more than 25 years experience as a freelance researcher. She is Executive Secretary and Chapter Manager for the Chattachoee Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Bibliographic information