My great-grandfather, Jose Augustin Arango, was the principal architect of Panama's independence from Colombia. My step-father, Phillip Raymond Harman, spent some ten years of his life doing the research upon which this book is based. He has since died. He was married to my mother, Graziella Arango Harman, don Jose Augustin's granddaughter. As you see, I have strong ancestral ties to the Republic of Panama. For 6 years, I worked closely with Phil going over the stacks of material he was compiling. Among these were several letters from attornies, all recognized international law scholars, in which they expressed their opinions on the legalities of the Panama Canal Treaties. All came to the same conclusion. The treaties are not valid. Quite a bit of the material in this book is unique to the manuscript which makes me the one person in the world who had access to these documents. A distinction which also makes me uniquely qualified to have written it. The U.S. Panama Canal Treaties were signed on September 7, 1977, so what's the purpose of a book at this late date making it clear that those treaties are not valid? Phil was passionate in his feelings that the overwhelming majority of Americans, 71%, so strongly opposed to the treaties, had the right to know what went on behind the scenes. Learn the names of the principal players so determined to give the canal to Panama, and why.