No Mr. Potato Head

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting
the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free
--Clarence Darrow

Sunshine: Nice cheerful little neighborhood.
My friend got his skull crushed down here last week.
Barney: For what?
Sunshine: For nuthin'!
--All Through the Night (1941)

Don't fuck with me fellas.
This ain't my first time at the rodeo
--Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest (1981)
________

Though General Manuel Noriega, who was captured by U.S. forces following a 1989 invasion of Panama intended to oust him from power, has recently completed his 17-yr prison sentence in Miami, the U.S. government has no intention of releasing him anytime soon (Extradition Fight Halts Noriega's Release From Prison).

The confusion arises over a request from France for his extradition to face trial for "allegedly laundering drug proceeds through French banks." Noreiga's lawyers are fighting for his return to Panama on the basis of Noriega's POW status. (He was designated a POW by a Circuit Court judge in 1992 following his trial and conviction on drug racketeering charges.)

This Noriega gambit clearly outlines the joke that is the Federal Court system. Noriega has served his sentence, but is not being released because his freedom or detention is on the whim of the new apres-Bush U.S. judicial system.

Why not release him? He doesn't have a passport, so he is not much of a flight risk. And his pre-Accutane visage is a bit recognizable. Noriega is not Mr. Potato Head. There is no way he could alter his appearance enough to elude the sniper-efficient FBI. We do not live in the world of Hannibal Lecter, after all.

From a criminology point of view, there is no reason not to release Noriega. The recidivism rate of toppled heads of state is pretty low.

The New America plays fast-and-loose with the concept of blind justice. Noriega should be released or repatriated until his extradition with France can be addressed. He has been incarcerated 17 years -- yet we are only now considering how to extradite him?

If this is a gift to France, hint: Mr. Sarkozy does not like you, GWB. You have no savoir faire, and his wife snubbed your recent hamburger luncheon--that is a hint.

Be done with it already -- declare Noriega an illegal enemy combatant, and throw him in a hole. That would only be right, since he is wearing a uniform. Uncle Sam has proven his point that invasion, regime change and imprisonment await all difficult heads of state. Since Panama we've come a long way, baby. Now we let our flunkies hang problematic strongmen.

Or here's a novel idea: Let Panama decide on the extradition question. This is the concept of sovereignty for which U.S. soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's export some of that there democratic idealism to Panama, at no cost to young military personnel, to boot.