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I'll split the difference: we keep the Canal, and we should have let them keep Noriega. Any good will we received was more than lost by going in and seizing the head of state on drug charges. That little act can be used as a pretext for all kinds of mischief by many a state.

What's done is done, and I'm glad there have been no serious flare-ups, but I would typically favor Reagan's judgment over Carter's and Buckley's put together.

Okay, but there is a whale of a lot more to that story than is published. Noriega had to go and it got to the point that he was simply asking for it. A lot, and I do mean a lot, of stuff never hit the press.

Especially in the last few months before the invasion.

Frankly, I think it isn't all that bad that we gave it to them. It seems to have cemented the relationship between us quite nicely and given the neighbors around here, that's a good thing.

I don't give Carter any credit for that as I think his motives were in a different direction. It just happened to work out pretty well. Panama is firmly locked in our tent. They really know who their friends are.