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Born in the United States, Kurt Muse grew up in Panama after his parents relocated there in the 1950s. In 1989, he was a manager in his father's Panama City business, a married man with a 12-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. He was also a member of a group bent on overthrowing the regime of Panamanian dictator General Manuel Noriega. Noriega's rise to fame was financed by the Reagan administration on the premise that the general would help the United States in its battle against South American drug cartels. Plied with money by the CIA, Noriega turned informant for the US. At the same time, he used his protected position to amass a fortune through bribery, fraud, and illicit drug running. Backed by the goon squads of the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega tortured and killed opposition leaders, sometimes sending them to the infamous Modelo Prison on trumped-up charges, sometimes assassinating them where they lived. Noriega appeared unstoppable. But he made a grievous mistake concerning the United States: he became contemptuous of the hand that fed him, lashing out at the US in bullying tones and encouraging PDF harassment of US soldiers and civilians. By 1989 a new President was in control in Washington, and this one was no fan of the Panamanian dictator. George H Bush was Director of the CIA from 1975 to 1977 and had an intimate knowledge of CIA operations. Bush understood that Noriega was no longer controllable and thus appointed former President Jimmy Carter as the US representative to an international group converging on Panama to observe the 1989 presidential elections. Kurt Muse and his friends knew that fair elections were out of the question, so they set up a clandestine radio station to broadcast messages of support for Noriega's opposition. The broadcasts drew Noriega's ire, and the PDF scoured the country for clues as to the identities of the men behind them. It was a friend's wife who betrayed Muse to the PDF. Blackmailed because of gambling debts, she listed Muse as the man behind Radio La Voz de la Libertad, The Voice of Liberty. Muses was arrested in Panama City's Omar Torrijos International Airport in April, 1989, one month prior to the elections, after a trip to Maryland where he'd met with Richard Dotson of the US State Department. When word of Muse's arrest reached his co-conspirators, they fled with their families to the Canal Zone where they received sanctuary at the US Army's Ft Howard. Muse's wife Annie, a teacher in a Department of Defense school in Panama City, was in the States tending to a dying aunt at the time. His daughter Kimberly and son Erik managed to escape after PDF forces invaded the Muse home. Along with Muse's parents and his sister's family, the children also fled to Ft. Howard. There, CIA operative 'Father Frank' engineered the removal of all 23 people to Miami. Muse was sent to Modelo Prison where he remained under tight security for nine months. Because Annie had worked for the DOD, Kurt fell under the protection of the US government and was thus saved from the torture normally inflicted on prisoners. Information gleaned by Treaty Affairs officer Robert Perry, Army lawyer Marcos Ostrander, and Army doctor Jim Ruffer during visits to Muse was used in December 1989, when Noriega declared war on the US after PDF troops killed a US Marine and savagely beat a Navy officer and his wife. US forces invaded Panama City at midnight, December 19. During the invasion, an elite Delta Force team landed on the roof of Modelo Prison. Six minutes later the team was leading Kurt Muse to a helicopter and a ride to freedom. John Gilstrap is a suspense writer of unparalleled ability. I read this book in two sessions, his words keeping me awake long into the night. Based on Kurt Muse's memories and the recollections of many of the people involved in the events, the book is both a true-life adventure story and an expose of the horrors inflicted on the people of Panama by General Noriega. It left this reviewer, though, with many uncomfortable thoughts. First and foremost, one must admire the dedication of the Delta Force team who, when ordered to do so, risked their lives in a well-planned and well-executed rescue attempt. These are the true heroes of the story, men whose bravery defies description. Several of them sustained wounds in the battle to free Muse, but none of them seemed to regret their actions. All deserve the highest praise and respect. Robert Perry, Marcos Ostrander, and Jim Ruffer also deserve to be listed as heroes for their commitment and courage to the cause of freeing Muse. My feelings for Kurt Muse are mixed, though. He obviously played a large role in the creation of this book and therefore approved the story as told. But Gilstrap's words paint him as a man who disregarded the danger in which he placed his entire family, especially his children. Although he knew that family members were often tortured in order to make prisoners confess, he kept his children in Panama rather then send them to safety when he joined the anti-Noriega ranks. It was as if this was almost a game to him and he took delight in playing a James Bond-like role in Panama's future. That role proved highly amateurish and was often childish, as when he used the electronic capabilities of his group to taunt PDF soldiers in his neighborhood, thus risking exposure not only for himself, but also the entire group. He kept code books in his car where they could easily be discovered. He kept records on his computer where they also could be found. Amazingly, when discovered, these items proved unfathomable to the PDF, who instead relied on Cub Scout records to prove Muse was a CIA spy. Because he was saved from the tortures described by Gilstrap, we'll never know if he would have betrayed his companions. We also don't know if he ever would have been rescued if it hadn't been for Noriega's outrageous behavior toward the United States. Having placed him in power and supported him for years, would the US have invaded Panama if not for the rigged elections, the criminal complaints against Noriega in the US courts, and the willingness of the general to declare war against this country? There's no doubt that this book is worth reading. It is an amazing story ably told by a great writer. But don't think for one moment that it makes Muse the hero of the day. He was one small cog in a wheel of events that might have spun on without him. What makes him different from other people is that, to date, he is the only American citizen ever rescued by the elite Delta Force.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, July 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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