PANAMA CANAL

Press, Volume C, Issue 29498, 27 April 1961, Page 8

PANAMA CANAL

“Defence No Problem” (N.Z.P A.-Reuter) BALBOA The Panama Canal can be defended by "good determined defenders using sound common-sense measures." according to Lieutenant-Gen-eral A. P. O’Meara, Commander in Chief, Caribbean Command. the man at present entrusted personally with the defence of the canal. The Caribbean Command is a tri-service United States military headquarters on the canal zone. Under it come the various units of the United States Army, Air Force and Navy in this area.

Many amateur and professional strategists have said that in the age of the nuclear bomb, the locks on the canal here would be indefensible. They have gone so far as to suggest that, tn view of this, operation o* the canal should be removed from the responsibility of the United States Army, and handed over to the United States Department of Commerce. While Lieutenant-General O’Meara agrees that one atomic bomb could certainly put the canal out of action for some time, he says, that the same goes for one precisely-placed high-explo-sive bomb.

He urges those who are pessimistic regarding the defensibility of the waterway to consider how much effort any enemy could afford to deploy against the CanaL By contrast a United States-based striking force of jet fighters and paratroopers could be in action at the canal within a very short time of leaving their home bases.