Can someone please explain to me why Noriega was in a US jail [View All]

[Matariki]

How is it the George H.W. Bush could order the invasion of a soverign nation and capture and jail the elected leader on DRUG charges? Where was the international community on this? I have never, never understood this.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a1urO_hecwac&refer=latin_america

edit <snip>

U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered an invasion of Panama on Dec. 19, 1989, citing an ``imminent danger'' to 35,000 U.S. citizens living in the country. As part of the invasion, Bush authorized U.S. forces to arrest Noriega on federal drug- trafficking indictments brought in 1988.

Noriega, who fled to the Vatican's embassy, surrendered on January 3, 1990. He was then flown from Panama to Homestead Air Force Base near Miami. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug trafficking, according to a 2006 report from the U.S. Department of State.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons says on its Web site that Noriega, locked up (in Miami) for more than 16 years on drug charges, is slated for release on Sept. 9.