Most Congress Members Back Bush : Bipartisan Support Emerges Despite Some Criticism

WASHINGTON —  Most members of Congress in both parties today supported President Bush’s assault against Panama’s Manuel Antonio Noriega, although one Democrat said Bush should have consulted with allies in advance and another called him “trigger-happy.”

“I support the President’s decision,” Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) said in a brief statement from Mexico City, where he was meeting with government officials. “It was made necessary by the reckless actions of Gen. Noriega.”

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) also offered his support. “I think under the circumstances, the decision is justified,” he said. Bush asked him for his support in a telephone call about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

“My immediate reaction is: At last,” said Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “After the failed coup of October, the Administration faced two choices--stow its anti-Noriega rhetoric and leave itself to the whims of events, or take the initiative and intervene. The latter was the better choice.”

And Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he hoped that the rest of the world would take note of “the unique circumstances” that faced Bush. “It is unfortunate that the United States has been required to take these steps in Panama” when it is asking for restraint on the part of the Soviet Union and China, he said.

“I called to tell the President, ‘My compliments to the chef,’ ” said Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, in a phone call he placed to the Associated Press.

However, Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Bush should not have sent U.S. soldiers into action in Panama without the support and aid of other Central American nations.

“Personally, unless very clear evidence emerges of a direct threat against the Panama Canal or against American people or installations, I would not have engaged in such unilateral or such go-it-alone action,” Pell said.

Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose) issued a harshly critical statement, calling Bush’s action “a trigger-happy act of gunboat diplomacy that continues our mindless 100-year abuse of small Central American nations.”

And Rep. Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.), interviewed on Cable News Network, said: “It seems to me that what the President is doing is trying to correct for his failure to back up the insurgent forces in the Panamanian Defense Forces back in October. And I think he was wrong on both occasions. He didn’t provide sufficient support last time and he’s doing overkill this time.”