United States Compliance with Humanitarian Law Respectmg Civilians During Operation Just Cause

• Author: Major John Embry Parkerson, Jr
• Pages: 02

UNITED STATES COMPLIANCE WITH

HUMANITARIAN LAW RESPECTING

CIVILIANS DURING OPERATION

JUST CAUSE

by

Mqor

John Embry Parkerson.

Jr'

I.

INTRODUCTION

On

December

20.

1989.

United States military forces invaded Pa-

nama

m

"Operation Just

Cause"'

Altogether, the operation included

about

26,000

soldiers. sailors, airmen, and marines-the largest

United States military combat operation since Vietnam.2The opera-

tion followed two yean of unsuccessful United States effom to oust

General

Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian dictator Economic sanc-

tions

and

diplomatic pressure faled, even

after

Noriega

wa

indicted

in

United States federal court

on

drug trafficking

charge^.^

Batmnal

elections

were

held

m

May

1989,

and Noriega's candidate was de-

feated

The

electoral victon, however, were crushed by

a

brute

cam-

bmatmn of

iron

pipes,

nfle

butts,

imprisonment,

and disappearance

<

In October, members of

honega's

own

military launched an unsuc-

cessful coup attempt to oust the dictator

from

power, reportedly.

as many as seventy-five Fanama Defense Force (PDF) soldiers were

tortured and murdered in respon~e.~

In

mid-December, after Panama

officially named Bonega its

"maximum

leader,'' he declared that

a

'by

Timer.

Dec

20,

1989,

at

.41,

col 6

"Soldlea

hhnomo

Operation

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COWP,

Feb

1990,

at

20

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'Wash

Post. May

8

1888

st

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COI

5

'Wash

Post.

Oct

4,

1989

at

.4I,

cnl

4

bash

Po~r

Oer

5,

1989

at

A1

cnl

4

and

461

COI

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Tb

hoamon

olhnamo

Jan

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1890

at

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31

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REVIEW

[Vd

133

"state of war

'

existed with the United States The

next

day,

De-

cember

16.

PDF

soldiers shot to death an off-dut)

L'mted

States

Marine

Carps officer

beat

a

Xwy

officer, and brutalized the

Sav)

off1cer'r

=lie

President

George

Bush

declared that

Sonegas

'

reckless

threats

and attacks upon Amencans

in

Panama had created

an

imminent

danger

to

the 38.000

American

CL~IZBIIS

in

Panama.

As

President

he

uas

obligated "to safeguard the

lives

of

American

citizens''P The

President.

m

a

relm

ised address to the American public

pro!

ided

four

political

objectives

for

the military intervention

(1)

to

safeguard

American

interests and

rhe

lives of

American

citizens.

(2)

to

defend

democracy in

Panama;

(3)

to

bnng

General

Manuel

Sionega to

justice.

and

(41

to

protect the

integrity

of

the

Panama

Canal treaties1'

As

legaljustifmrmn for the operation, the Admmistrarmn

cited

the

in-

herent nght of self-defense found in Article

51

of the Unired

Sa-

tmns

Charrer and

Article

21

of the Charter of the Orgamzation

of

19911

OPERATION

JUST CAUSE

American States." The Admuustration also cited Article

IV

of

the

Panama Canal Treaty. which allows the United States to "protect

and

defend" the canai.12

The purpose of this

article

IS

not to

examine

the

validity of the

United States intervention in Panama under international

law.

Scholars, pohticians, and othem already have expended conslderabie

effort attempting to address the validity issue. Some

of

the iegai

justifications

advanced by the Bush Administration, such

as

safeguar-

ding the hves of American citizens,

are

contentious sounds for armed

intervention and continue to create much debate.la The purpose of

this article

LS

to

eramine

the difficult issues of "characterization"

that an armed confhct like Operation Just

Cause

presents and, based

upon that characterizatmn, to determine which sets of humanitarian

law

norms

apply to the conflict.

Various definitions help

us

undentand precisely what is meant by

the term "humanitarian law" Jean Pictet, the prominent cornmen.

33