NORIEGA'S 'EXTRADITION'

To the Editor:

"12 Years Later, Scars of the U.S. Invasion Remain" (Panama City Journal,
Nov. 3) says the 1989 invasion of Panama ended with Gen. Manuel Antonio
Noriega's "extradition" to the United States, where he was convicted of
drug trafficking in 1992.

Don't confuse kidnapping with extradition. Extradition is the treaty-based
process by which one nation, at the formal request of another, surrenders
an individual who stands accused or convicted of a crime.

The arrest of the Panamanian dictator was a military abduction on foreign
soil. Although our courts accept jurisdiction over defendants who are
hauled in by such means, unauthorized abductions by the United States
abroad are affronts to foreign sovereignty and have nothing to do with
extradition procedures.

BRADFORD TREBACH

New York, Nov. 5, 2001

The writer is a lawyer concentrating in international affairs.