US military "occupation" and nation building operation since WWII was Panama. As the chief planner for OPORD Blind Logic from 18 May 89 until 16 Dec 89 and later having conducted research (and published - THE FOG OF PEACE, SSI 1992 and CIVIL MILITARY OPERATIONS IN A NEW WORLD, Praeger, 1997 (incorpoating FOG) I followed how we in the USFLG and Military Support Group executed and modified the plan during Operation Promote Liberty. Two points to make: (1) As planners, my predecessors and I used the occupations of Japan and Germany as points of reference; (2) the force ratio during the "occupation" (after Jan 90) was never higher than 5 to 1000 HN civilians.

I am not convinced that force ratios, themselves, have much meaning.The nature of the threat, degree of resistance, and nature of support for the occupiers weigh a lot more heavily. There is also a certain minimum number of forces required to effectively occupy territory regardless of the size of the population.

So, I would suggest that Japan really is not an outlier in the sense that the experience there is supported by the experience in Panama.In both cases, the US as occupier was accorded legitimacy by the population and its leadership. In Japan the Emperor conferred legitimacy on MacArthur's "shogunate" while in Panama the Military Support Group provided the tools that the elected government of President Endara needed to govern,

Nevertheless, US economic development support for Panama was far less than President Bush had promised - even by the USG's own well spun account.Without the loan guarantees - which brought the aid committment w/in $100 million of the promised $1billion, US aid to Panama was less than half that amount.

A look at Panama today shows a vibrant multi-party electoral democracy which has alternated parties in power for 2 decades and has a strong economy even in these troubled times.

Cheers

JohnT