America Abroad: Operation Mismatch

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Last week, when planeloads of U.S. soldiers began returning from Panama, Bush and his top aides were clearly relieved. They realized that getting out was every bit as important as going in. The spin from the White House and the State Department was all in the direction of disclaimers. No, the invasion was not a precedent. No, it did not represent a "Bush Doctrine," whereby the President reserves the right to send in a 9,500-member SWAT team to arrest an entire country. Instead, the Panama invasion was a last resort, an exception that will, over time, prove the rule of America's respect for diplomacy and law. That is the best that can be said for the episode, and it is the most that the Administration ought to claim.