Saturday 16 August
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Troops Try To
Thwart Simulated Panama Canal Attack
Colombia, Strikers Talk
with President
Venezuela: Oil
Prospecting Heads West
Peruvians Demonstrate,
Mourn On Earthquake
Anniversary
Brazil's Navy Seizes
Weapons Of Pirates
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Troops Try To Thwart
Simulated Panama Canal
Attack
ABOARD THE USS TARAWA
(Reuters) - Troops from
countries across the
Americas started a major
military exercise on
Friday to defend the
Panama Canal from an
attack by a fictional
terrorist group bent on
damaging the world
economy.
The U.S.-led exercise
will pit more than 30
ships, dozens of
aircraft and some 7,000
troops over the next
week against the
Liberation Martyrs'
Brigade, an imaginary
group with access to
nonconventional weapons
and perhaps even a
nuclear device,
officials said.
"The mission is nothing
short of protecting the
Panama Canal and the
lines of communication
that go with it," said
Colombian Navy Capt.
Gustavo Camacho, who was
participating in the
maneuvers.
The event, dubbed
Panamax, is part of an
annual exercise at the
Panama Canal, which
handles as much as 5
percent of world trade
each year.
Panamax began in 2003
with Panama, the United
States and Chile
participating, but has
since grown into a major
multinational military
exercise.
Twenty countries sent
military or civilian
contingents to take
part, the U.S. Army said
in a statement. Most of
the forces came from the
Americas.
Echoing real life
concerns in Washington,
this year's imagined
enemy is allied with
rebels in Colombia and
Peru who have supplied
crude submarines of the
type sometimes used by
South American drug
cartels.
The exercise could also
have the Liberation
Martyrs' Brigade try to
use nonconventional
weapons against other
strategic targets in
Central America, Camacho
said.
In an effort to make the
simulation as real as
possible, the maneuvers
include everything from
a phony television news
crew covering the events
to a fictional U.N.
mandate.
On board the USS Tarawa,
about 60 miles south of
Panama City in the
Pacific Ocean, U.S. Navy
Capt. Brian Luther is
one of the exercise's
commanders who will try
to track down and
neutralize the terror
group.
Looking down from the
ship's bridge at Black
Hawk helicopters
assembled on the flight
deck, Luther says the
main goal is to ensure
troops from different
countries' militaries
can coordinate and
exchange intelligence
quickly.
"Any time you get this
many countries together,
it is just about
communication," he said. |
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