-Caveat Lector- U.S. Army headquarters leaves Panama Several hundred soldiers will remain until canal is handed over at year's end 07/31/99 Associated Press FORT CLAYTON, Panama - The United States' long goodbye to Panama neared an end Friday with the formal departure of the regional U.S. Army headquarters, leaving only a few hundred soldiers until the Panama Canal is handed over at year's end. "Your 88-year mission here is done," Marine Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said at a closing ceremony at Fort Clayton's Soldier's Field parade ground. "You can report with pride - Mission accomplished." The Southern Command, the administrative head for all branches of the U.S. military in the region, moved out of Panama in 1997. But Friday's ceremony marked the exit of the regional headquarters of the U.S. Army, which had the largest presence in Panama. That headquarters moves to Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico. As Panamanian President Ernesto Perez Balladares looked on and a bagpiper played "Auld Lang Syne," a color guard dressed in tan, 1910-style U.S. uniforms and bearing Springfield rifles turned over flags to another color guard dressed in modern camouflage uniforms and carrying M-16 rifles. The modern guard then marched out the gates of Fort Clayton, past U.S. and Panamanian flags. Maj. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., the commander of U.S. Army South, said the troops were saying goodbye to Panama - "and in doing so, holding our heads high with the knowledge that Panama and the region have been better for our presence." Thick gray clouds gathered and rain began to fall soon after the ceremony ended, a reminder of the tropical downpours that helped the Army train millions of soldiers in tropical jungle warfare over the years. On Dec. 31, the United States turns the canal over to Panama, ending a relationship between the two countries that began with Panama's birth as a nation in 1903. The first U.S. soldiers permanently assigned came in 1911 to guard construction efforts of the Panama Canal, which was opened in 1914. Today fewer than 1,000 U.S. military personnel remain in Panama, largely based at Corozal, just south of Clayton, near the Pacific entrance of the canal. They are steadily departing week by week. Until the mid-1990s, more than 10,000 U.S. troops were based in Panama. At the height of the U.S. presence, during World War II, about 65,000 U.S. troops were based in Panama. Since the 1977 treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, the United States has gradually been turning over its 453,000 acres of holdings in the Canal Zone and military bases. U.S. negotiations to maintain an anti-drug base in Panama fell through, but Mr. Perez Balladares told reporters after the ceremony that he expected the United States and Panama to continue cooperating against drug traffickers. "We have many objectives in common to complete," he said. "Especially those that unite us, like the fight against drug trafficking and crime." http://www.dallasnews.com/world/0731int10panama.htm Bard Visit me at: The Center for Exposing Corruption in the Federal Government http://www.xld.com/public/center/center.htm Federal Government defined: ....a benefit/subsidy protection racket! DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
