Despite these problems, the explosions caused the desired confusion.
Initial reports spoke of PDF soldiers running around in their underwear, while others threw down their weapons. Several Rangers were killed in the subsequent firefight, but the airfield was taken and U.S. aircraft were landing within two hours.[490] In the confusion the miss was not immediately noticed. Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney was advised both bombs hit their targets. He later spoke of the attack's pinpoint accuracy.
"Operation Just Cause," as the invasion was code-named, was effectively completed by the afternoon of December 20. The following days saw the running down of scattered snipers and a prolonged hunt for Noriega. The controversy over the invasion was more prolonged. Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-New York) said, "I strongly believe the invasion was totally illegal."[491] Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark claimed two thousand to four thousand Panamanians had been killed and secretly buried. His unsubstantiated claims were later repeated on 60 Minutes.[492]
Particularly vitriolic attacks were directed against the use of the F-117A.
Time carried a diatribe titled "Bombing Run on Congress." It claimed the "supersecret" F-117A had only been used "to wage a public relations assault on the U.S. Congress." It quoted a "congressional defense expert" as calling the mission "pure pap — a gimmick." He said the mission "could have been flown with an Aero Commander, or let Mathias Rust [a West German teen-ager who landed a Cessna in Red Square] do it." The article dismissed the plane's accuracy by saying, "Some Air Force pilots consider the plane so unstable in flight that they call it the Wobbly Goblin." It concluded, "The real objective was to save Stealth technology from the congressional budget ax… The Air Force unleashed its F-117As not to scare Manuel Noriega but to build a case that high-tech aircraft have a role even in a low-tech war."[493]
It was not until April 1990 that word was published about the miss.
Headlines such as "Stealth error kept under wraps" and "General didn't report Stealth flaws in Panama" were used.[494] The press had its "cover-up" story, and the usefulness of the F-117A was further questioned.
As the F-117A was coming out of the Black, the world was emerging from another kind of darkness. During 1989, one by one, like dominoes, Eastern European countries cast off their Communist governments. The Soviet Union became a multiparty democracy. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. The world had changed — whatever followed would be far different than the past forty years. Questions arose about what role, if any, the U.S. military would play in this brave new world.
At a press conference, a reporter pointedly asked President Bush, "Who's the enemy?" As in 1919 and 1945, it was assumed that having defeated one enemy, there would be no more.[495] Time asked "Who Needs the Marines?"
Newsweek predicted U.S. military forces would be cut in half by the turn of the century.[496] Academics began to talk about "the End of History." "National security" would be defined in terms of education, cultural enrichment, and environmental enhancement. In parallel with "demilitarization" was "denationalization" — in an "interdependent world" nothing could be achieved along only national lines.100 Mankind had evolved; in the bright future, there would be no need for the use of force. But Communism was only one form […] August 1, 1990 was the thirty fifth anniversary of the U-2's first "hop."
Now its descendant, the F-117A, was being dismissed as a useless relic of an era never to return. At Groom Lake, as the afternoon passed, the shadows from the mountains lengthened toward darkness. In the Mideast, it was now 2:00 A.M. August 2, 1990.
Suddenly, three Iraqi armored divisions, backed up with MiGs and helicopters, attacked Kuwait.
Within hours, resistance had collapsed and Kuwait became Iraq's "19th province." It seemed that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's ambition would not end there. Soon after the invasion, seven more Iraqi divisions took up positions along the Saudi-Arabian border. This was followed by a series of border incursions. The Saudis concluded that an Iraqi invasion was imminent. The Iraqis could take the Eastern Province in six to twelve hours, and the whole country in three days. This would give Saddam effective control of the world's oil supply and the world's economies.[497]
On August 6, King Fahdibn Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into the country. Within two days, F-15s and the first elements had arrived to draw "a line in the sand." The third great conflict of the twentieth century had begun.
On August 17, Alton Whitley, now a colonel, was named commander of the 37th Fighter Wing. Four hours later, he was ordered to deploy the 415th TFS to Saudi Arabia. On August 20, eighteen F-117As were on their way.
They landed at King Khalid Air Base at noon the next day. The brand-new base was located at the southern tip of Saudi Arabia, outside the range of Iraqi Scud missiles. It had state-of-the-art hardened aircraft shelters and even hardened crew quarters. The base was soon dubbed "Tonopah East."[498]
The unit began an intensive training program. Only four of the sixty-five stealth pilots had flown combat, one of them in Panama. The flights exactly simulated the operational missions, right up to the point that the F-117A would head into Iraqi airspace. Three exercises were also held to test the readiness of "Team Stealth," as the unit was now called.[499]
To keep up morale, a longtime tradition was revived — nose art. To remain stealthy, it was applied to the bomb bay doors. There were names such as "Unexpected Guest," "Dark Angel," "The Toxic Avenger," "Habu II," "The Overachiever," "Once Bitten," and "Christine." The Saudis nicknamed the plane Shaba, Arabic for "ghost."[500]
On November 8, 1990, President Bush ordered a major increase in U.S. forces in the Gulf. As part of this, another twenty F-117As from the 416th TFS flew to Tonopah East, arriving on December 4. The unit was redesignated the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional). Both squadrons of combat F-117As had now been deployed. (The 417th TFS was the training unit.)[501]
As the Allied buildup continued in the Gulf, doubts were expressed that the effort would be successful. Since the 1970s, a network of "military critics" had developed; they depicted the U.S. military as incompetent, as building weapons that were not needed and did not work, and as "fighting the last war." A central theme was that airpower was doomed to failure.
Bombing was indiscriminate, they said, hitting civilians, schools, and hospitals, which would only stiffen Iraqi resolve. Dug-in troops could not be dislodged by bombing, nor could airpower cut off supplies to Iraqi troops.
490
John D. Morrocco, "F-117A Fighter Used in Combat for First Time in Panama,
492
Kenneth Freed, "Panama Tries to Bury Rumors of Mass Graves,"
493
"Bombing Run on Congress,"
494
"Stealth error kept under wraps,"
496
Bruce Van Voorst, "Who Needs the Marines? From the Halls of Mon-tezuma to the Shores of Redundancy,"
497
"Three early Iraqi incursions are revealed,"