Operation JUST CAUSE, one of the shortest armed conflicts in American military history, is also one of the most relevant to irregular missions facing today's soldiers. R. Cody Phillips in trenchant prose discusses the extraordinarily complex U.S. military intervention into Panama in December 1989, covering the strategic setting and salient operational details and concluding with a summary and analysis. On 15 December Panamanian dictator General Manuel Antonio Noriega, already under indictment for international drug trafficking, announced a state of war with the United States. Given the threat not only to U.S. citizens in Panama but also to larger U.S. interests and Canal Zone security, the United States Army took appropriate countermeasures by rapidly deploying thousands of personnel and equipment from distant military installations and then striking with surgical precision and decisive maneuver almost two-dozen objectives within a two-day period. Phillips's compelling story with useful lessons is a tribute to all soldiers, a recognition of the initiative, discipline, training, and esprit de corps they consistently demonstrate while serving their nation in both military and peace operations.