Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990 TAG: 9003202435
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
One case involved the killing of a Panamanian civilian after two American soldiers fled from a Panama City brothel without paying. The soldiers are suspected of staging a fake firefight to cover up the loss of an Army-issue pistol inside the establishment. The civilian, a man in his 50s, was hit by a stray bullet in the gunplay, Army officials said.
In a case in which murder charges are expected soon, a senior non-commissioned officer from the 82nd Airborne Division is suspected of shooting and killing one Panamanian taken as a prisoner and severely beating another. The Panamanians had been in a car that attempted to run a U.S. roadblock and from which a grenade was thrown.
The accusations mar an operation that the Pentagon has portrayed as an unqualified success and one marked by unprecedented adherence to tight rules of engagement and strict military discipline.
In all, the Army Criminal Investigation Command is pursuing 21 formal investigations of serious misconduct during and after the Panama invasion, including the eight deaths. The inquiries resulted from more than 60 complaints from Panamanian civilians, U.S. soldiers and U.S. commanders.
The Army is also looking into an incident in which a GI accidentally killed another while mishandling his gun, and into two apparent suicides by American soldiers during the invasion.
The existence of the investigations and some of the details were first reported Monday by the Army Times, a non-government weekly newspaper. The newspaper's account was confirmed independently.
The suspected incident at the brothel, which took place after the fighting between U.S. and Panamanian troops ended, was a "just a case of troops doing stupid things," one senior Army official said. "It had nothing to do with combat at all."
by CNB