unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/11/89)
DOD: NEWS CONFERENCE WITH SECRETARY OF DEFENSE RICHARD CHENEY
Posting Date: 10/09/89
UNITEX Network, USA ISSN: 1043-7932
FRIDAY, OCT 6, 1989
Secretary Cheney: We've received a number of questions, of
course, in recent days about various and sundry topics. But out
of respect for our guest we wanted to separate that press
briefing from this press briefing. I'd simply throw the floor
open to questions. I'd be happy to respond.
Q: Mr. Secretary, was there any moment at all during the
proceedings on Tuesday when rebels or their emissaries either
requested or expressed any willingness of any sort to turn
Noriega over to the United States or permit the United States to
obtain custody or control of Noriega under any circumstances?
A: None. If there had been any, I think I would have known
about it, but there was no representation to U.S. officials on
the scene by the officers that we were in touch with, and this
was a contact between one of our senior officials in Panama and
representatives of the rebels, no indication of a willingness to
provide Noriega to us. In fact, it was exactly the opposite.
They indicated to us that they would not turn Noriega over, that
they did not want him extrad or expelled, that they expected him
to retire peacefully in Panama.
Q: What movements, if any movements, did U.S. military units
make in response to requests from the rebel leaders?
A: We had been notified originally on Sunday, the first contact
that I was aware of, with respect to the possible coup. The
request, in effect, was made, would we be willing to block
access from the 5th Infantry Company located at Fort Amador,
which is south of the city, or the 7th Infantry Company located
west of the city, would we be willing to block their access
routes into the center of the city where the Comandancia was,
where the coup was expected to take place.
We did not tell them we would do that. What we did do was on
Tuesday night direct the deployment of forces in a way that they
would be located in positions where they could in fact have
interfered with Panamanian forces movi from those two locations
towards the Comandancia. Now one of those forces, basically the
Marines out to the west of the city, had already been scheduled
to be on an exercise anyway. It's important for people to
remember that we continually run exercises down there. We do it
on a regular basis. We've done it for months. We do it as part
of our rights under the Panama Canal Treaty. So part of the
movement that took place on Tuesday was, in fact, previously
scheduled.
In addition to that, though, we also deployed a mechanized
company on the road from Fort Amador so that they would be in a
position where if we decided we wanted to intervene militarily
in the coup, we could do so. Those were the two basic
movements.
Now you've got aircraft up in the air and other kinds of things
going on, but those were the two basic movements that would have
related to our interven in the coup, had we made such a decision
to intervene.
Q: At the time these were described, and you described them as
previously planned exercises.
A: Part of one of them was. That was the Marine deployment.
The other deployment of the mechanized company was in our mind
related to the possibility that there might be a coup on
Tuesday. We'd been told there was going to be one on Monday
which did not occur. We were deployed, in position, which I've
said repeatedly, deployed in a position so that had a decision
been made to intervene militarily, that we could have done so.
Q: At the time those troops were standing in the road, if the
Noriega loyalists had come down that road, did they in advance
have authority to stand in their way?
A: Again, you're getting into semantical arguments here. Our
forces in Panama, when they travel on these exercises, are
armed. They have ammunition, live ammunition with them. They
are operating under what we call peacetime rules of engagement
which have been sort of thorougly vetted up and down the line,
signed off on by the President when we sent troops to Panama last
summer They are, under those rules of engagement, allowed to
respond with lethal force if they believe they are in fact
threatened. There's never been any doubt about that. We've got
a specific set of procedures that they are instructed to go
through, the officer who commands each one of these units, in
terms of warning the Panamanians, should we get into a
confrontation with them down there during the course of our
exercises. That is if in fact they interfere with our people, that
we are prepared to use force to deal with the situation. They
are, I think, slated then to wait a certain number of minutes and
then to proceed if in fact they are interfered with. That's the
standing operating rule in Panama for our forces.
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