Jump to content

United States invasion of Panama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 68.192.211.221 (talk) at 21:24, 3 January 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Invasion of Panama

Rangers from Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment prepare to take La Comandancia in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City, December 1989.
DateDecember 20, 1989–January 31, 1990
Location
Panama
Result Decisive US victory/Military regime abolition.
Belligerents
Panama
Panama
United States
United States
Commanders and leaders
Panama Manuel Noriega United States Maxwell R. Thurman
Strength
16,000+ 27,684+
Casualties and losses
100-1,000 killed 24 Killed
325 Wounded
300-4,000 civilians killed

The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, was the invasion of Panama by the United States that deposed general, dictator and de facto Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega in December 1989, during the administration of U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Background

Friendly U.S. relations with Noriega spanned decades from 1959 to the early 1980's, when Noriega served as a U.S. intelligence asset and was on the CIA's payroll for much of this time. Noriega's relations with George H. W. Bush began in the 1970s, culminating when Bush was head of the CIA. For his role in advancing U.S. interests in South America, notably, sabotaging the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the revolutionaries in El Salvador, Noriega received upwards of $100,000 in pay.[1].

During the 1980s, President Reagan's foreign policy towards Panama involved negotiating with General Noriega, requesting that the Panamanian leader peacefully step down from power; in exchange, Noriega's involvement with the drug trade would be overlooked. Later negotiations involved dropping the unprecedented drug-trafficking indictment against Noriega. As Vice President, Bush supported the soft foreign policy towards Panama and negotiations with Noriega, which allowed the media to label him as a "wimp"[2]. Meanwhile, relations between the U.S. and Panama continued to disintegrate, and Bush took a radical turn in foreign policy after winning the 1988 Presidential elections. In an attempt to correct his credibility problem and take a unilateral, aggressive stance against Noriega, President Bush declared that the U.S. would not negotiate with a known drug-trafficker and denied having any knowledge of Noreiga's involvment with the drug trade prior to his indictment. [3]

Overall, "Operation Just Cause" was preceded by over a year of diplomatic tension between the United States and Panama, the highlights of which were specific allegations by the United States that Noriega was complicit with money launderers and drug traffickers and a nullified national election in 1989. Several months of U.S. troop buildup followed these events in military bases within the former Panama Canal Zone. The troop buildup was the largest U.S. mobilization since Vietnam.

The official American justification for the invasion was put forward in a short statement issued by President George H. W. Bush on the morning of December 20, a few hours after the start of the operation. Bush listed four reasons for the invasion:[4]

  • Safeguarding the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama. In his statement, Bush claimed that Noriega had declared that a state of war existed between the United States and Panama and that he also threatened the lives of the approximately 35,000 Americans living there. There had been numerous clashes between U.S. and Panamanian forces; one American soldier had been killed a few days earlier and several incidents of harassment of Americans had taken place. However, eye witness accounts reveal that the U.S. soldiers were provoking the incidents to ignite an international incident and give cause to the invasion. "... American lives were not actually in danger, and instead the United States had to work hard to provoke the crisis that made it appear American lives were in danger." [5]
  • Defending democracy and human rights in Panama. Earlier that year the government insisted that they won the presidential election that in theory was won by U.S.-backed candidates from opposition parties.[6]
  • Combating drug trafficking. Panama had become a center for drug money laundering and a transit point for drug trafficking to the United States and Europe. Noriega had been singled out for direct involvement in these drug trafficking operations; although, the U.S. had turned a blind-eye to Noriega's involvement since the 1970s.
  • Protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Members of Congress and others in the U.S. political establishment claimed that Noriega threatened the neutrality of the Panama Canal and that the United States had the right under the treaties to intervene militarily to protect the canal.

In regard to one of the reasons set forth by the United States to justify the invasion, namely the Panamanian legislature's declaration of a state of war between the United States and Panama, Noriega insists[7] that this statement referred to a state of war directed by the U.S. against Panama, in the form of what he claimed were harsh economic sanctions and constant, provocative military maneuvers that were prohibited by the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

In the December 16 incident that led to the killing of American Marine officer Lt. Robert Paz, four U.S. personnel were stopped at a roadblock outside PDF headquarters in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City. The United States Department of Defense claimed that the servicemen were unarmed and in a private vehicle and that they attempted to flee the scene only after their vehicle was surrounded by a crowd of civilians and PDF troops. The PDF claimed the Americans were armed and on a reconnaissance mission.[8] It was also reported by the Los Angeles Times[9] that "according to American military and civilian sources" the officer killed was a member of the "Hard Chargers", a group whose goal was to agitate members of the PDF. It was also reported that the group's "tactics were well known by ranking U.S. officers" who were frustrated by "Panamanian provocations committed under dictator Manuel A. Noriega", although the group was not officially sanctioned by the military. The Pentagon later denied that such a group ever existed.[10] According to an official U. S. military report "witnesses to the incident, a U.S. naval officer and his wife were assaulted by Panamanian Defense Force soldiers while in police custody".[11]

Invasion

U.S. Army forces supported by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, participated in Operation Just Cause. Ground forces consisted of combat elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 7th Infantry Division (Light), the 75th Ranger Regiment, a Joint Special Operations Task Force, elements of the 5th Infantry Division, 1138th Military Police Company of the Missouri Army National Guard, and the U.S. Marines.

The military incursion into Panama began on December 20, 1989, at 0100 local time. The operation involved 57,684 U.S. troops and over 300 aircraft —including the AC-130 Spectre gunship, OA-37B Dragonfly observation and attack aircraft, and the F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft and AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The invasion of Panama was the first combat deployment for the AH-64 and the F-117A. These were deployed against the 46,000 members of the Panama Defense Force (PDF).[12]

The operation began with an assault of strategic installations such as the civilian Punta Paitilla Airport in Panama City, a PDF garrison and airfield at Rio Hato, where Noriega also maintained a residence, and other military command centers throughout the country. The attack on the central headquarters of the PDF (referred to as La Comandancia) touched off several fires, one of which destroyed most of the adjoining and heavily populated El Chorrillo neighborhood in downtown Panama City.[13] According to eyewitnesses,[14] the houses in this neighborhood were purposefully set on fire by American soldiers in order to arrest PDF soldiers hiding in the area. During the firefight at the Comandancia, the PDF downed two special operations helicopters and forced one AH-6 Little Bird to crash land in the Panama Canal.[15]

A few hours after the invasion began, Guillermo Endara was sworn in at Rodman Naval Base. It is generally agreed that Endara would have been the victor in the presidential election which had been scheduled earlier that year.[16] The 1138th Military Police Company of the Missouri Army National Guard set up a detainee camp at Empire Range to handle the mass of civilian and military detainees. This unit made history by being the first Guard unit called into active service since the Vietnam War. This would not be the last time the unit would be called, as Operation Desert Shield/Storm was looming on the horizon.

Military operations continued for several weeks, mainly against military units of the Panama Army. Noriega remained at large for several days, but realizing he had few options in the face of a massive manhunt, with a one million dollar reward for his capture, he obtained refuge in the Vatican diplomatic mission in Panama City. The American military's psychological pressure on him and diplomatic pressure on the Vatican mission, however, was relentless, including the playing of loud rock-and-roll music on boomboxes[17] day and night in a densely populated area. As a result, Noriega finally surrendered to the U.S. military on January 3, 1990. He was immediately put on a military transport plane and extradited to the United States.

Corps elements began returning on January 12, 1990, while units of the 16th Military Police Brigade continued police patrols throughout the Panama City area to attempt to restore law and order and support the newly installed government (under the moniker Operation Promote Liberty).

Casualties

The Americans lost 23 troops,[18] and 325 were wounded (WIA). The U.S. Southern Command, at that time based on Quarry Heights in Panama, estimated the number of Panamanian military dead at 205, lower than its original estimate of 314. There has been considerable controversy over the number of Panamanian civilian casualties resulting from the invasion. At the low end, the Southern Command estimated that number at two hundred (200). A U.S.-based independent Commission of Inquiry, headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, estimated more than three thousand (3,000) Panamanian civilian casualties. There is no known accounting as to how many civilian deaths were directly attributable to military actions on either side.

Physicians for Human Rights[19] in a report issued one year after the invasion,[20] estimated that "at least 300 Panamanian civilians died due to the invasion". The report also concluded that "neither Panamanian nor U.S. governments provided a careful accounting of non-lethal injuries" and that "relief efforts were inadequate to meet the basic needs of thousands of civilians made homeless by the invasion". The report estimated the number of displaced civilians to be over 15,000, whereas the U.S. military provided support for only 3,000 of these.

Aftermath of urban warfare during the United States invasion of Panama

According to official Pentagon figures 516 Panamanians were killed during the invasion; an internal Army memo estimated the number at 1,000[21] and an Independent Commission of Inquiry on the U.S. Invasion of Panama estimated Panamanian deaths at 1,000-4,000.[22] According to the documentary The Panama Deception, some researchers put the death toll between 3,000 and 4,000 civilians.[23]

Origin of the name "Operation Just Cause"

Operation plans directed against Panama evolved from plans designed to defend the Canal. They became more aggressive as the situation between the two nations deteriorated. The Prayer Book series of plans included rehearsals for a possible clash (Operation Purple Storm) and missions to secure American sites (Operation Bushmaster). Eventually these plans became Operation Blue Spoon, which was renamed by President Bush as Just Cause.

The name "Just Cause" has been used primarily by the United States military for planning and historical purposes and by other U.S. entities such as the State Department. The Panamanian name for the Operation is "The Invasion" (La Invasión).

In recent years, the naming of U.S. military operations has been the source of some controversy, both internationally and domestically (see Operation Enduring Freedom). At the time operations to depose Noriega were being planned, U.S. military operations were given meaningless names. Just Cause was planned under the name Blue Spoon, and the invasion itself incorporated elements of the Operation Nifty Package and Operation Acid Gambit plans. The name Blue Spoon was later changed to Just Cause for aesthetic and public relations reasons. The post-invasion occupation and reconstruction was titled Operation Promote Liberty.

International reaction

On December 22 the Organization of American States passed a resolution deploring the invasion and calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops.[24] The OAS Charter, to which the US is a signatory and party, prohibits members from invading other members for any reason. The United States ratified the Charter of the Organization of American States in 1948.[25] Chapter II, Article 3(f) of the Charter of the Organization of American States provides, in relevant part, that: "Every State has the right to choose, without external interference, its political, economic, and social system and to organize itself in the way best suited to it, and has the duty to abstain from intervening in the affairs of another State."[26]Under the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, treaties ratified by the U.S. are among the supreme law of the land of the U.S.[27]

After discussing the issue over several days, a draft resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of United States forces from Panama[28] was vetoed on 23 December by three of the permanent members of the Security Council,[29] France, United Kingdom, and the United States who cited its right of self-defence of 35,000 Americans present on the Panama Canal.[30]

On 29 December, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 75–20 with 40 abstentions to condemn the invasion as a "flagrant violation of international law."[31]

The Washington Post reported four secret-but-leaked rulings of the Office of Legal Counsel, issued shortly before the invasion. One ruling limited "posse comitatus", which prohibits the Federal government from using the military as police to the territorial boundaries of the US — in effect saying, the military could be used as police abroad, for example, in Panama, to enforce a federal court warrant against Noriega. Another leaked ruling modified the anti-assassination of foreign leaders Executive Order to say that "accidental" killings of foreign leaders were okay; this put a more sinister meaning to the U.S. military's phrase, common then, of "get Noriega".

After the invasion, governments throughout Latin America — including the government of Chile under outgoing dictator Augusto Pinochet, which was generally supportive of United States policies — issued statements condemning the invasion and calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. One of the reasons Bush gave for the invasion, the reestablishment of democracy in Panama, was widely viewed[citation needed] with suspicion, since the United States was perceived throughout Latin America as serving its own strategic or economic interests, often at the expense of democratic principles. Noriega himself, who was employed by the CIA from the mid-1970s until late June 1987[32] was a former collaborator of the United States[33] who had cooperated with American efforts to destabilize the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua for which the United States was convicted at the International Court of Justice (cf. Nicaragua vs. United States). It had also been noted that during that time the United States did nothing to curtail his involvement in drug trafficking.[34][35] Senator Patrick Leahy had said years before that the Ronald Reagan Administration, of which George H. W. Bush had been Vice President of the United States, was willfully blind to any wrong doing on the part of Noriega, this being due to Regan's obsession with carrying out a one sided region wide Central American war by proxy against the Nicaraguan Sandanista government.

The various reasons supplied by the United States to justify the invasion were widely regarded in Latin America as a thin veneer to disguise other intentions, such as the reestablishment of military bases in Panama or even the overturning of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties themselves. According to the timetable stipulated by the Torrijos-Carter treaties, the United States was scheduled to hand over the administration of the canal to Panama on December 31, 1999. The Panamanian government under Noriega had said it intended to appoint Tomás Altamirano Duque, widely known as a Noriega loyalist to the top administrator post. This choice was unacceptable to the United States, which had expressed fears he would excessively politicize canal operation.

Despite opposition within the United States Congress to handing the Panama Canal over to Panama by the year 2000, the United States fulfilled its treaty obligations and turned over the canal and military bases to Panama in 1999.

Aftermath

Since Noriega's oust, Panama has had three presidential elections, with candidates from opposing parties succeeding each other in the Palacio de las Garzas. Panama's press, however, is still subject to numerous restrictions.[36] On 10 February 1990, the Endara government abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces. In 1994, a constitutional amendment permanently abolished the military of Panama, and in 1991, the U.S. created a law to reopen the Torrijos-Carter Treaties to allow the U.S. military to become the sole power enforcing the neutrality and providing security for the canal. These events lead some to theorize that the underlying motive of the invasion was to further U.S. interests by maintaining a hold on the canal after the turnover on December 31, 1999[37].

Economically, while Panama's GDP recovered by 1993, very high unemployment remained a serious problem. This could be attributed to numerous other causes unrelated to its political environment post-Noriega, including the debt crisis of Mexico in 1994–1995, severe recession in Latin America throughout the 1990s, and the Asian financial crisis.

The government of Guillermo Endara designated the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion a "national day of reflection". On that day hundreds of Panamanians marked the day with a "black march" through the streets of this capital to denounce the U.S. invasion and Endara's economic policies. Protestors echoed claims that 3,000 people were killed as a result of U.S. military action.

One notorious after-effect of the invasion was nearly two weeks of widespread looting and lawlessness, a contingency which the United States military indicated it had not anticipated.[citation needed] This looting inflicted catastrophic losses on many Panamanian businesses, some of which took several years to recover. On July 19, 1990, a group of 60 companies based in Panama filed a lawsuit against the United States Government in Federal District Court in New York City alleging that the U.S. action against Panama was "done in a tortious, careless and negligent manner with disregard for the property of innocent Panamanian residents". Most of the businesses had insurance, but the insurers either went bankrupt or refused to pay, claiming acts of war are not covered.[38]

About 20,000 people lost their homes and became refugees from the invasion. About 2,700 families that were displaced by the Chorrillo fire were each given $6,500 by the United States to build a new house or apartment in selected areas in or near the city. However, numerous problems were reported with the new constructions just two years after the invasion.[39]

U.S. units involved in the operation

  • 27th Infantry Regiment
  • 4th Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment
  • 6th Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment
  • B Battery, 7th Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment
  • B Battery, 2-62d ADA
  • 1st Battalion, 123rd Aviation Regiment
  • 9th Infantry Regiment

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Frederick Kempe, Divorcing the Dictator (New York, Putnam, 1990), ppg 26-30, 162
  2. ^ American Heritage Magazine, "THE WIMP FACTOR", November 1989. http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1989/7/1989_7_40.shtml
  3. ^ "The Noriega Challenge to George Bush’s Credibility and the 1989 Invasion of Panama". 2000.
  4. ^ New York Times, December 21, 1989, "A Transcript of President Bush's Address on the Decision to Use Force".
  5. ^ "The Elusive Diversionary Theory of War and Panama, 1989". September 2004.
  6. ^ a report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that numerous human rights violations occurred in Panama during Noriega's government ''Report on the situation of human rights in Panama''. November 9, 1989.
  7. ^ Noriega, Manuel and Eisner, Peter. America's Prisoner — The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega. Random House, 1997.
  8. ^ Facts On File World News Digest, December 22, 1989, "U.S. Forces Invade Panama, Seize Wide Control; Noriega Eludes Capture." FACTS.com [1].
  9. ^ Los Angeles Times, 'December 22, 1990, "Some Blame Rogue Band of Marines for Picking Fight, Spurring Panama Invasion", Kenneth Freed.
  10. ^ "www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thepanamadeceptionnrhinson_a0a7bd.htm".
  11. ^ www.globalsecurity.org, Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Operation Just Cause, p 2, Retrieved on 10 February 2007
  12. ^ Estados Unidos invade Panamá Crónica de una invasión anunciada, Patricia Pizzurno and Celestino Andrés Araúz. According to this piece, the PDF had 46,000 troops of which all were trained for combat. "Para entonces las Fuerzas de Defensa poseían 16.000 efectivos, de los cuales apenas 3.000 estaban entrenados para el combate."
  13. ^ The New York Times, December 21 1989, "Fires and Helicopters Transforming Panama City". From the article: "Residents said that many of the wooden houses near the headquarters had been hit by gunfire and artillery fire"
  14. ^ See the documentary "The Panama Deception"
  15. ^ Cole, Ronald H. United States. Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Operation Just Cause: the planning and execution of joint operations in Panama, February 1988-1990. Washington, DC: Joint History Office, Government Printing Office, 1995. P40
  16. ^ Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1989, "Combat in Panama, Operation Just Cause".
  17. ^ Baker, Russell (January 3, 1990). "OBSERVER; Is This Justice Necessary?". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2007-11-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); line feed character in |title= at position 10 (help)
  18. ^ "www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/panamaus1989.htm".
  19. ^ "www.phrusa.org/about/index.html".
  20. ^ "www.phrusa.org/research/health_effects/humojc.html".
  21. ^ John Lindsay-Poland (2003). Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3098-9, p. 118.
  22. ^ Craige, Betty Jean (1996). American Patriotism in a Global Society. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-2959-8, p. 187
  23. ^ [2] The film tells the experiences of several Panamanians who were personally affected by the invasion, many of whom said that the U.S. acted in an overly aggressively way towards civilians.
  24. ^ New York Times, December 21, 1989, "U.S.Denounced by Nations Touchy About Intervention", James Brooke.
  25. ^ Organization of American States, Department of International Legal Affairs, http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Sigs/a-41.html
  26. ^ Organization of American States, Department of International Legal Affairs, http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/charter.html
  27. ^ U.S. Constitution, Article VI, http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html
  28. ^ United Nations Security Council Draft Resolution S/21048 22 December 1989. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  29. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report 2902. S/PV/2902 page 15. 23 December 1989. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  30. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report 2902. S/PV/2902 page 10. 22 December 1989. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  31. ^ International Development Research Centre, "The Responsibility to Protect", December 2001, http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/963-1/
  32. ^ Gilboa, Eytan (1995). "The Panama Invasion Revisited: Lessons for the Use of Force in the Post Cold War Era". Political Science Quarterly. 110 (4). The Academy of Political Science: 539–562. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
  33. ^ The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations. Documents from the National Security Archives at George Washington University. According to this source "North's notebook lists details of his meeting with Noriega, which took place in a London hotel on September 22. According to the notes, the two discussed developing a commando training program in Panama, with Israeli support, for the contras and Afghani rebels. They also spoke of sabotaging major economic targets in the Managua area, including an airport, an oil refinery, and electric and telephone systems. (These plans were apparently aborted when the Iran-Contra scandal broke in November 1986.)"
  34. ^ Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1992, "Noriega Transcripts Cite Campaign Ties Trial: Judge and lawyers secretly discussed CIA, Medellin cartel funding in the 1984 Panamanian presidential race." The article states that transcripts released during the trial show that "The CIA and the Medellin cocaine cartel helped finance the successful 1984 campaign of a former Panamanian president."
  35. ^ Newsday, February 4, 1992, "Noriega Portrayed as Loyal U.S. Ally," Peter Eisner. According to the article, Noriega's lawyer claimed that "Noriega participated in periodic CIA briefings on Fidel Castro in the 1980s and routinely reported on his meetings with the Cuban leader to U.S. authorities"
  36. ^ "www.cpj.org/attacks01/americas01/panama.html".
  37. ^ >"The Panamanian Deception", by the Empowerment Project, 1993. http://www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html
  38. ^ New York Times, July 21, 1990, "Panama Companies Sue U.S. for Damages".
  39. ^ Christian Science Monitor, December 20, 1991, "El Chorrillo Two years after the U.S. invaded Panama, those displaced by the war have new homes."

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_invasion_of_Panama&oldid=181956854"