The Panama Deception

Byrnzie

This award winning documentary details how U.S troops deliberately targeted and destroyed residential neighbourhoods, executed civilians, deliberately ran over civilian vehicles with tanks, and buried thousands of these murdered civilians in mass graves.
It also details how America's supposed free and democratic media fed the U.S population a pile of lies in an effort to suppress the truth about the crimes of those in power who were responsible for this massacre.

Sound familiar?

Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2666223710



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Panama_Deception
'The Panama Deception is a documentary film that won the 1992 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film is critical of the actions of the US military during the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States, covering the conflicting reasons for the invasion and the depicting of the US media as biased. It was directed by Barbara Trent of the Empowerment Project and was narrated by actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

One of the many allegations made by the film is that the United States tested some form of laser or energy weapon during the invasion. The film also includes footage of mass graves uncovered after the US troops had withdrawn, and depicts some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the invasion.'



http://www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html
The Panama Deception


1993 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature.

A riveting Academy Award-winning critique of the government's history of militarization, made all the more timely by the current war on terrorism.

The Panama Deception documents the untold story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the events which led to it; the excessive force used; the enormity of the death and destruction; and the devastating aftermath. The Panama Deception uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media and exposes how the U.S. government and the mainstream media suppressed information about this foreign policy disaster.

The Panama Deception includes never before seen footage of the invasion and its aftermath, as well as interviews with both invasion proponents like Gen. Maxwell Thurman, Panamanian President Endara and Pentagon spokesperson Pete Williams, and opponents like U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY.), Panamanian human rights workers Olga Mejia and Isabel Corro and former Panamanian diplomat Humberto Brown. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self-censorship relevant to any news coverage today, particularly during times of war.

Among the film's excellent reviews are: "meticulously researched" (Hal Hinson, Washington Post);"outstanding" (Betsy Sherman, Boston Globe); "tough....provocative....moving....beautifully edited" (Vincent Canby, New York Times); and "lays out simply and forcefully the case against the 'official' version" (Peter Rainer, Los Angeles Times).

The Empowerment Project (EP) worked on this production for two years. EP first came to prominence in 1988 with the release of the equally acclaimed Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair. EP is a non-profit media resource center committed to democratizing the media. Each year, hundreds of independent filmmakers use EP's edit facilities and other services. EP has recently moved its offices out of New York and California. The new headquarters for all operations is now in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Since its August 1992 release, The Panama Deception has played in 80 cities, including an eight-week runin Seattle and a five-week holdover in New York City. The film appeared in video stores in August 1993. It was cablecast on Cinemax in the United States during October of that same year and currently, Bravo-the IndependentFilm Channel retains the rights to cablecast the film. Many local affiliates of PBS have broadcast the film butnational PBS, however, has refused to broadcast the film despite the Congressional mandate explicitly requiringthat both sides of controversial issues be included in PBS's overall programming. Internationally, the film has been broadcast in Australia, Canada, Poland, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Portugal, the U.K., Iran, Israel, Finland,Switzerland, Mexico, Argentina, Japan, Norway, the People's Republic of China, S. Korea, Italy, Turkey, Russia,S. Africa, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Algeria, Malaysia, and Czechoslovakia. A ban on the film originally imposed by the Panamanian government was lifted in March 1993, following strong internal and international pressure...'

Pepe Silvia

indeed, it's a very good documentary and shows how they lied to congress and violated US law repeatedly...and some people think of them as heroes??

also, did you notice the clips of Dick Cheney and Daddy Bush talking about how Noriega was a threat to US security and all that shit and then afterwards when asked how exactly he was a threat to us they changed to "well, he was a bad man and we liberated millions of people!!" talk about deja vu

also, it should be pointed out according to the Pentagon 75% of the casualties were civilians and they admit to....well, not creating mass graves but "placing some number of bodies in the same grave" i wonder how many constitute 'some'?

Commy

I"m still amazed at how they convinced the American public Panama was a threat to anyone.


another war for the stupid americans.

Byrnzie

Black Hole Symphony wrote:

also, it should be pointed out according to the Pentagon 75% of the casualties were civilians and they admit to....well, not creating mass graves but "placing some number of bodies in the same grave" i wonder how many constitute 'some'?

After the Panamanians uncovered 15 mass graves Pete Williams, the Pentagon spokesman, said "there was a report of what would some would call a mass grave , which I think is a term which is imprecise". :?

g under p

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

I"m still amazed at how they convinced the American public Panama was a threat to anyone.


another war for the stupid americans.

If we the US wanted deem The Vatican City a threat to the US we could do through OUR media.

Anybody ever heard of the book Confessions of An Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. A great book how the US under disguise sends economic hit men to 3rd world countries including Panama to overthrow/influence their leaders to comply to what we want or need from those countries. We find ways to steal trillions of dollars from these countries.

Here's a bit more on how it's done from DN: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions

Peace

Byrnzie

g under p wrote:

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

I"m still amazed at how they convinced the American public Panama was a threat to anyone.


another war for the stupid americans.

If we the US wanted deem The Vatican City a threat to the US we could do through OUR media.

Anybody ever heard of the book Confessions of An Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. A great book how the US under disguise sends economic hit men to 3rd world countries including Panama to overthrow/influence their leaders to comply to what we want or need from those countries. We find ways to steal trillions of dollars from these countries.

Here's a bit more on how it's done from DN: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions

Peace

I know that Perkins mentioned how President Torrijos was one of those bumped off by the C.I.A.

Byrnzie

Still, at least in the U.S people are free to access Youtube, therefore, unlike in China, you have a free and independent media, right Jlew & Soulsinging?

jlew24asu

Byrnzie wrote:

Still, at least in the U.S people are free to access Youtube, therefore, unlike in China, you have a free and independent media, right Jlew & Soulsinging?

yes, thats right. we have a free independent media here in the US, total freedom. I thought soul already owned you in this discussion? coming back for more?

hmmm on the first page of this forum you have a thread about shit that happened over 20 years ago and something about Feral kids. you need to get out more buddy. find a girlfriend, have a few beers. something, anything.

Commy

if americans saw half as much of what goes on in war they would be much less willing to support the next one.


Media should show EVERYthing. they show a lot more in europe, are much more honest about the coverage over there, and much of the world is lie that too. We americans have this little bubble around us, "protecting" us from reality. I say show it ALL. every guy with no arms, every body in the street, full affect. guaranteed there would be less support for the next war.

Commy

jlew if you believe we have an honest open media in the United States you couldn't be more wrong. Americans are probably the most indoctrinated people on the planet. right next to north koreans, only a little dumber.

jlew24asu

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

if americans saw half as much of what goes on in war they would be much less willing to support the next one.


Media should show EVERYthing. they show a lot more in europe, are much more honest about the coverage over there, and much of the world is lie that too. We americans have this little bubble around us, "protecting" us from reality. I say show it ALL. every guy with no arms, every body in the street, full affect. guaranteed there would be less support for the next war.

war was brought to our shores. many Americans saw it first hand. thousands of New Yorkers watched 250 people jump to their death from WTC alone. bodies in the street dying. that said, the war in Afghanistan is justified...in Iraq, not so much..and there are very loud anti voices being heard. and thankfully, today we have a withdrawal date set.

no one supports war unless we are attacked. and thats what happened.

jlew24asu

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

jlew if you believe we have an honest open media in the United States you couldn't be more wrong. Americans are probably the most indoctrinated people on the planet. right next to north koreans, only a little dumber.

sorry, but I'm not wrong. we have several major news organizations all trying to expose each other... millions of independent bloggers, journalists, educators, writers, etc etc. EVERY has a voice. no one is denied free speech. I suggest open your eyes a little instead of just bitching about it on a rock band message board.

and the fact the you merely mention putting us in the same class as North Korea shows how stupid you really are. go into North Korea and write an article about how much you dislike the Great Leader. let us know how that goes.

Commy

jlew24asu wrote:

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

if americans saw half as much of what goes on in war they would be much less willing to support the next one.


Media should show EVERYthing. they show a lot more in europe, are much more honest about the coverage over there, and much of the world is lie that too. We americans have this little bubble around us, "protecting" us from reality. I say show it ALL. every guy with no arms, every body in the street, full affect. guaranteed there would be less support for the next war.

war was brought to our shores. many Americans saw it first hand. thousands of New Yorkers watched 250 people jump to their death from WTC alone. bodies in the street dying. that said, the war in Afghanistan is justified...in Iraq, not so much..and there are very loud anti voices being heard. and thankfully, today we have a withdrawal date set.

no one supports war unless we are attacked. and thats what happened.

i never saw a dead "insurgent" on the nightly news. Or a dead American soldier. without internet we would have no idea what war is really like.,


in europe-they show the bodies. they show the arms lying in the street after the suicide blast, or after the cruise missile. they show most of it. we get the G rated version of reality. or nothing at all.

US propaganda is sophisticated, they know what to show us, ,what not to show us, how to tell us, how to spin/...etc;. our version of reality is so fucked up its any wonder we even have access to the internet. they could have us in the dark ages, banging the drums of war.

Commy

jlew24asu wrote:

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

jlew if you believe we have an honest open media in the United States you couldn't be more wrong. Americans are probably the most indoctrinated people on the planet. right next to north koreans, only a little dumber.

sorry, but I'm not wrong. we have several major news organizations all trying to expose each other... millions of independent bloggers, journalists, educators, writers, etc etc. EVERY has a voice. no one is denied free speech. I suggest open your eyes a little instead of just bitching about it on a rock band message board.

and the fact the you merely mention putting us in the same class as North Korea shows how stupid you really are. go into North Korea and write an article about how much you dislike the Great Leader. let us know how that goes.

is that like how FOX, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and every single news television program supports the war in afghanistan? is that your open and honest media? or how they gave Cheney and Bush a platform to SELL the war in Iraq in the first place? they were all about showing us Saddam's crimes, not so open or honest about our own.


Or was it when they ignored the GENOCIDE in East TImor, as a whole, every single news paper, tv show, mainstream blogger, was that open and honest?

Or casualties on Iraqi civilians. not 1 single mainstream news group has even pretended to try to count them. is that open or honest? in your world?





Hiding facts and distorting truth. its not an opinion. I can prove, have proved- propaganda exists in the United States. and because our society is considered so free and open, its that much more important to control our opinions.


The chinese government doenst give a shit what their people think. if they step out of line, they can throw them in jail. the US may be the most free country in that regard, our government does not have that right, theoretically, and so they must control our thought, our opinions. and they do.

US propaganda is so powerful they convinced idiot americans like yourself that Iraq was a threat. that panama was a threat.

i'm sure you'll be first in line to bang the drums of war when its canada's turn.

g under p

jlew24asu wrote:

Kotov Syndrome wrote:

if americans saw half as much of what goes on in war they would be much less willing to support the next one.


Media should show EVERYthing. they show a lot more in europe, are much more honest about the coverage over there, and much of the world is lie that too. We americans have this little bubble around us, "protecting" us from reality. I say show it ALL. every guy with no arms, every body in the street, full affect. guaranteed there would be less support for the next war.

war was brought to our shores. many Americans saw it first hand. thousands of New Yorkers watched 250 people jump to their death from WTC alone. bodies in the street dying. that said, the war in Afghanistan is justified...in Iraq, not so much..and there are very loud anti voices being heard. and thankfully, today we have a withdrawal date set.

no one supports war unless we are attacked. and thats what happened.

I'm not sure what is justified in those wars and what wasn't, that said I find it very interesting that the US didn't invade and occupy Saudi Arabia since that's where a majority of the attackers came from.

Peace

Byrnzie

jlew24asu wrote:

we have a free independent media here in the US, total freedom. I thought soul already owned you in this discussion? coming back for more?

The U.S media has total freedom to lie and deceive. The fact that this particular incident occurred 20 years ago is relevant how? Are you implying that things have improved? Please enlighten us as to when and how this big change in the corporate elites propaganda strategy came about. You may like to reference the build up to the second Iraq war, along with the supposed threat from Iran. Thanks, I'm waiting.

And Soul didn't own me in any discussion. He simply pointed out that it's not illegal to spout racial hatred on the internet in the U.S.

jlew24asu wrote:

hmmm on the first page of this forum you have a thread about shit that happened over 20 years ago and something about Feral kids. you need to get out more buddy. find a girlfriend, have a few beers. something, anything.

I have a girlfriend, thanks. Keep the personal attacks coming. Clearly the mods aren't paying attention to your usual lame tactics.

Commy

Byrnzie wrote:

Keep the personal attacks coming. Clearly the mods aren't paying attention to your usual lame tactics.

i don't think the mods read this board.

Byrnzie

jlew24asu wrote:

war was brought to our shores. many Americans saw it first hand. thousands of New Yorkers watched 250 people jump to their death from WTC alone. bodies in the street dying. that said, the war in Afghanistan is justified...in Iraq, not so much..and there are very loud anti voices being heard. and thankfully, today we have a withdrawal date set.

Because 9/11 was year zero, right? America had done nothing to provoke any attack prior to 9/11?

Byrnzie

jlew24asu wrote:

no one supports war unless we are attacked. and thats what happened.

Were you attacked by the Vietnamese? Were you attacked by the Nicaraguans, and Panamanians, and Somalians, and Haitians, and Sudanese, e.t.c, e.t.c?

Nope.

catefrances

jlew24asu wrote:

war was brought to our shores. many Americans saw it first hand. thousands of New Yorkers watched 250 people jump to their death from WTC alone. bodies in the street dying. that said, the war in Afghanistan is justified...in Iraq, not so much..and there are very loud anti voices being heard. and thankfully, today we have a withdrawal date set.

no one supports war unless we are attacked. and thats what happened.

how about not at all.

you think the events of 9/11 was a war???

Byrnzie

jlew24asu wrote:

no one is denied free speech

Try telling that to all those who have been arrested for criticising George Bush and the Iraq war. Have you ever heard of something called the Patriot act?

Anyway, we're not talking about the denial of free speech here. We're talking about media complicity in spinning lies and deceiving the public. Slightly different things. You clearly have never read anything by Noam Chomsky on this subject.

jlew24asu wrote:

go into North Korea and write an article about how much you dislike the Great Leader. let us know how that goes.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0202-25.htm
'Minutes before the U.S. president would tell Congress how much he appreciates "responsible criticism and counsel," the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was dragged from a gallery overlooking the House chamber, handcuffed and arrested for the "crime" of wearing a T-shirt that read: "2,245 dead. How many more?"...'

http://nakedempire.blogspot.com/2007/04 ... on-no.html
Criticize Bush in a lecture...end up on the "no fly" list
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

http://www.prisonplanet.com/man-arreste ... liani.html
Man Arrested For Criticizing Rudy Giuliani
Raw Story
Monday, May 25, 2009

http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc082007
Protesters Arrested for Anti-Bush T-Shirts Win Settlement
August 20, 2007
'
Nicole and Jeff Rank were arrested on Independence Day, 2004, for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts. They were on the grounds of the capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, where Bush was giving a speech...'

http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/03/ ... ory-rally/
Man Arrested for Wearing McCain/Palin Shirt at Obama Victory Rally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_T-shirt
'A high school junior in Dearborn, Michigan, Bretton Barber, was asked to remove his anti-George W. Bush T-shirt in the lead up to the Iraq War. It featured a picture of Bush with the words "International Terrorist." He was asked to remove it because it supported terrorism.[6] The student sued his school district and his principal in Federal District Court in Detroit, Michigan (Bretton Barber v. Dearborn Public Schools [286 F. Supp. 2d 847]). In a 25-page published opinion, Barber won the lawsuit, and his high school was ordered to allow him to wear the shirt.

"Give Peace a Chance"

In the leadup to the Iraq War, a man was asked to leave a shopping mall by a security guard because of his "Give Peace a Chance" T-shirt. [7]

"Meet the Fuckers"

In October 2005, Lorrie Heasley, of Portland, Oregon, was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno, Nevada for wearing a T-shirt displaying an image of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Michael Chertoff and Michael Brown with the caption "Meet the Fuckers," spoofing the film title Meet the Fockers.[8]..'

http://lippard.blogspot.com/2006/10/man ... heney.html
Man arrested for criticizing Cheney sues Secret Service
Wednesday, October 04, 2006