What kind of rebel officers risk their lives to storm the lair of a hated military dictator, capture him at gunpoint, decline either to kill him or to turn him over to U.S. forces standing by to receive him, then let him contact his mistress, who calls loyal troops to his rescue?
That credulity-stretching scenario was among the fresh revelations that spilled out last week in Washington during recriminations over the botched rebellion against Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega. Those most to blame for the coup's collapse seemed to be the brave but muddled men who staged it. But congressional critics...