What must be most galling to him is the fact that the CRIMES he was CONVICTED of were when he was WORKING for the CIA! When Noriega told them he didn't want to be used as a base against Nicaragua then all the bad drug guy charges started appearing in the papers before Panama needed to be invaded.
Of course, most Americans would have forgotten that by now -- if they ever knew it at all. Sure aren't going to read it in the AmeriKan newspapers.
FLASHBACK:
"Noriega makes last-ditch appeal to block extradition from US to France" by Associated Press | July 8, 2009
MIAMI - Panama’s former dictator Manuel Noriega asked the US Supreme Court yesterday to block his extradition to France to face money-laundering charges, contending that as a prisoner of war he must be allowed to return home.
Noriega has lost four previous attempts to persuade federal courts to stop the French extradition, making this his last legal stand. The Supreme Court is in recess and probably will consider whether to take Noriega’s case in the fall. The former general’s argument focuses on the Geneva Conventions treaties regarding repatriation of POWs after wars end. Noriega lawyers Jonathan May and Frank Rubino contend that the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and lower courts were wrong in ruling that Noriega could not use the treaties to block extradition to a third country such as France.
The appeals court’s decision “leads to a wholesale repudiation of the Geneva Convention itself,’’ the lawyers wrote in their brief. “Its interpretation . . . undermines protections that apply not only to prisoners of war in the United States but to our own men and women who find themselves prisoners of war of other nations.’’
Yeah, that's been going on for a long time over here, what with the secret site torture and all.
Noriega was granted POW status by US District Judge William Hoeveler in 1992, shortly after his conviction on drug trafficking and related charges. Noriega was ousted as Panama’s leader and brought to Miami to stand trial following a 1989 US invasion that drove him from power.
Don't you love the scrubbed-clean background paragraph?
That drug sentence ended on Sept. 9, 2007. A few weeks before, the United States filed papers backing France’s request that Noriega be extradited to stand trial on drug money- laundering charges there. Noriega was convicted in absentia of laundering some $3 million in drug proceeds, but France has agreed to give him a new trial. While the legal battle rages, Noriega remains at the same Miami prison where he served his drug sentence. US officials have promised not to move him while his appeal continues.
The crux of the 11th Circuit’s decision was that changes made by Congress in 2006 to the Military Commissions Act meant that no person - enemy combatant, US citizen, or otherwise - could invoke the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights before federal courts. That meant Noriega could not rely on the treaties to win his battle against extradition.
Nice going, s***heads!
--more--"
Got what was expected:
"Court won’t halt US plans for Noriega; US to send ex-dictator to France for trial" by Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press | January 26, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court yesterday decided not to stop the US government from sending former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France to face money laundering charges.
The high court refused to hear an appeal from Noriega, who wanted to be sent back to his native country after finishing his drug sentence in the United States. The court’s majority turned away Noriega’s appeal without comment. Justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said they would have heard the appeal, however, to help decide what the law is for prisoners of war being held by the United States....
Noriega is the only person being detained by the United States as a prisoner of war, government officials said.
???????????
Noriega was ousted as Panama’s leader and brought to Miami to stand trial following a 1989 US invasion that drove him from power. He was convicted of drug racketeering and related charges in 1992 and declared a prisoner of war by US District Judge William Hoeveler.
Scrubbed.
That drug sentence ended on Sept. 9, 2007, but Noriega remains at the Miami prison where he served that sentence. A few weeks before his sentence ended, the United States filed papers backing France’s request that Noriega be extradited to stand trial on drug money-laundering charges there. Noriega was convicted in absentia of laundering some $3 million in drug proceeds, but France has agreed to give him a new trial.
Federal judges have turned away Noriega’s claims that the Geneva Conventions treaties regarding prisoners of war require him to be returned to Panama. Noriega’s argument focused on the Geneva Conventions treaties regarding repatriation of POWs after wars end. Noriega’s lawyers argued that the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals and lower courts were wrong in ruling that Noriega could not use the treaties to block extradition to a third country such as France.
--more--"
Not much "new" there, huh?
Did they just cut and paste, then mix it up a bit to make it look new? Stuff is almost verbatim.
