AVCHD Lite Files from Panasonic DMC-ZS3 are not viewable

I have the Panasonic DMC-ZS3 and shot a bunch of short AVCHD video clips that I want to add to iMoive 09 (version 8.0.5). Only editing I want to do is shorten clips, don't need cropping, WB adjustments, etc.

The AVCHD folders from the camera's memory card have been moved to the Hard Drive in separate folders for each video. I can see the file structure for the AVCHD folders but can not view or import them into iMovie (I get "You selected a directory to import, but no importable movies were found inside. Please select another directory or file.")

I have looked at other posts that state that iMovie will import and convert the .mts file format in iMovie 09. I have tired to view the .mts files in terminal and get an error message "can not execute binary file").

I didn't read the forum before I started shooting and now will do video in .jpg mode on this camera, that doesn't help me now.

I need to be able to open these files and just pick out the short clips (3-8 seconds each) in iMovie or other Mac program so I can add them to my .mov files I shot with my Canon 5D Mark II that have been successfully imported in to iMovie. Any specific help and process is greatly appreciated.