Why, after being the man the United States could count on, did I become the enemy?

Because I said no.

No to allowing the United States to run a school for dictators any longer in Panamanian territory.

No to the request that Panama be used as a staging base for the Salvadoran death squads in the Nicaraguan Contras.

Lots of nos.

Combined with my defiance was lingering colonialism in the United States from conservatives like Reagan and Bush, who could not bear giving away the Panama Canal, especially to a leader who spurned their authority.

So they conspired against the man they couldn't control.

They made him into a madman, and what's more, a man who dared to consort with communists.

Then, when they found something even worse to call him, they used that too.

They called him a drug dealer, selling drugs in North America to destroy the United States.

Three times, however, they tried to force me into an agreement in which I would get every possible personal assurance, money, protection, and safe passage as long as I would agree to exile and to leave the road clear for their control.

I refused.

How do you deal with such a man who dares defy you?

You destroy him.

Finally, factor in that you are a gutless man of weak character, a hypocrite, a liar, George Bush.

You not only attack the fiend himself and his country, but also pretend that Panama is the enemy, and you kill anybody you want.

No problem with the news media.

You tell them that everybody you killed was the enemy, not unarmed, defenseless men, women, and children.

And you pretend that the Panamanians who did fight had no right to defend their country.

You control the rules of the game.