The first military operations were launched by Task Force Atlantic,
charged with securing the canal itself.   Special Forces seized control of
the main dams on the canal, and prepared landing grounds for the
helicopter-borne troops who came in to block the roads and defend the
canal against guerrilla attacks from the pro-Noriega armed militia, the
Dignity Battalions. 
<p no=1>
Simultaneously, Task Force Semper Fidelis, composed of US marines and
military police, seized the main road across the canal, the Bridge of the
Americas, and secured the approaches to Howard Air Force Base, which was
always under US military control. 
<p no=2>
Almost immediately afterwards, Task Force Bayonet, the armoured force,
headed into the centre of Panama City.   A mechanised battalion from the
5th Division based at Fort Polk, Louisiana, they had been deployed in
Panama since Gen Noriega's suppression of the elections in May. 
<p no=3>
Task Force Bayonet launched its platoon of light tanks and its companies
of armoured personnel carriers against the HQ of the Panamanian Defence
Forces (PDF).   Some of the heaviest fighting took place here, and
witnesses reported severe damage to some of the civilian areas in the
tight-packed streets around the headquarters.   Most of the civilian
casualties were incurred here. 
<p no=4 segment_break>
Legal experts give mixed opinions on Washington's justification of action. 
<p no=5>
The Bush Administration stressed four legal justifications on Wednesday
for its invasion of Panama: the protection of American lives, the defence
of the Panama Canal, the backing of the country's " democratically
elected" officials, and the pursuit of an indicted US drug criminal -
namely, General Noriega. 
<p no=6>
International law experts say the first reason is the strongest and the
last the weakest. 
<p no=7>
"I think they can make a much more plausible case for this than the
invasion of Grenada [in 1983] or the Dominican Republic in the Sixties,"
said an American university law professor, Mr Robert Goldman. 
<p no=8>
President Bush had reason to use military force to protect Americans
because thousands were scattered around Panama and Gen Noriega's troops
had shown a willingness to harass and even kill them, Mr Goldman said. 
<p no=9 segment_break>
In order to recognize the different characteristics of individual fabrics it
is helpful to know a little about the raw materials used (i.e., fibre content)
and the weave and various finishes which may be applied to it, as it is the
combination of these factors that affect its appearance, how it handles and
its performance.  Time spent examining and handling fabric for yourself is
time well spent as there is no substitute for experience.
<p no=10>
Yarns are made from either natural or man-made fibres, and the quality of
fabric will ultimately depend upon the type of raw materials used and how the
yarn was manufactured into cloth.
<p no=11>
Natural fibres are derived from vegetable or animal sources and provide
cotton, linen, silk and wool.
<p no=12>
 Cotton is strong, hard-wearing, easy to handle and relatively inexpensive.
It is prone to shrinking and should be pre-shrunk during the manufacture to
make it a good buy.  It creases easily in its natural form but often has a
crease-resistant finish applied to it.
<p no=13 segment_break>
Defended by well-armed troops, the US assault forces had to use heavy
weapons, including anti-tank rockets and mortars, to blast their way into
the building, which was largely destroyed in the fighting and the fires. 
<p no=14>
TF Bayonet was also charged with protection of US bases and sent two
assault companies of helicopter-borne troops from the 87th Infantry to
block the PDF base at Fort Amador.   The 5th company of the PDF,
apparently surprised by the American move, slowly organised a
counter-attack and gunfire was still being heard from this area yesterday
morning. 
<p no=15>
The paratroops, known as Task Force Red, dropped in two waves from C-141
cargo planes.   The first wave landed at about 1.55am and the second some
four hours later, at about 5.15am. 
<p no=16>
They were dropped around the Rio Jara base, where two Panamanian companies
were "neutralised" by a parachute battalion of 600 US Rangers.   Some of
the Panamanians managed to escape with their weapons and spasmodic
fighting continued in the area yesterday.   A second battalion, dropped
onto the International Airport, was also charged with neutralising the
elite Battalion 2000, the most formidable of the Panamanian forces. 
<p no=17 segment_break>
An American visitor to Panama who had the rare chance of meeting General
Manuel Antonio Noriega said the dictator bore "that look of doom on his
face". 
<p no=18>
Plucked from obscurity by US intelligence and groomed into a CIA asset
over three decades, the general took no chances.   He never slept in the
same place, and his meals were prepared mostly by women he trusted - his
partner, Vicky Amado and her mother.   But the strain took its toll.
"Noriega looked like a man who had n't slept for 20 days," said Mr Larry
Birns of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 
<p no=19>
There could be further strain for Gen Noriega.   Wanted on drug charges,
he may end up at the centre of an extraordinary trial in Miami. 
<p no=20>
US authorities allege that Gen Noriega made millions in illegal profits by
allowing drug trafficking to go on freely in Panama.   They also accuse
the general of permitting banks in Panama to launder billions of drug
money made by the Colombian drug cartels. 
<p no=21>
Such a trial, however, could well prove to be a double-edged sword for the
administration, since the general once boasted that he possessed
information that would prove highly embarrassing to President Bush.   That
claim may have been sheer bravado, but given his long association with US
intelligence, the general undoubtedly has enough mud to splatter many of
his erstwhile US friends. 
<p no=22>
Of all the dictators the US has befriended and turned against, Gen Noriega
has proven the most resilient and ruthless - partly out of necessity.
One Colombian drug boss, upon hearing in 1987 that Gen Noriega was
negotiating with the US to abandon his command for a comfortable exile,
sent him a hand-sized mahogany coffin engraved with his name. 
<p no=23 segment_break>
Mr Kenneth Baker, the Conservative Party chairman, yesterday named Mr
Andrew Lansley as the new director of the party's research department,
writes Alan Travis. 
<p no=24>
The post has been vacant for months and the lack of suitable candidates
puzzled officials as the job proved the starting point for such
politicians as Mr Chris Patten, Mr Iain Macleod and Mr Reginald Maudling. 
<p no=25>
Mr Lansley, who is at present policy director of the Association of
British Chambers of Commerce, was Mr Norman Tebbit's private secretary
when he was party chairman. 
<p no=26>
Mr Baker also said three MPs would act as campaign co-ordinators in
London, Birmingham and Leeds for next May's council elections. 
<p no=27 segment_break>
In 1976, US intelligence discovered that the rent-a-colonel was buying
recordings of taped conversations from Military Intelligence.   He was
taken off the CIA payroll.
<p no=28>
But all was forgiven when the Reagan Administration came to power.   Gen
Noriega ingratiated himself by offering his services to a White House bent
on making the Sandinistas " cry uncle", although his help for the contra
cause was limited. 
<p no=29>
The downfall of Gen Noriega can be traced to the brutal killing of the
opposition leader, Hugo Spadafora, found beheaded in 1985.   Public
opinion in Panama turned against him. 
<p no=30>
While in the past, US officials blocked investigations into Gen Noriega's
drug links; this time they let justice take its course.   In February last
year, lawyers in Miami indicted him on drug charges.   If Gen Noriega goes
to trial, it could well be dubbed "trial of the century". 
<p no=31 segment_break>
The Hungarian Parliament yesterday endorsed Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth's
austerity budget aimed at hastening the transition from a centrally
planned to a market economy and clearing the way for economic aid from the
West.
<p no=32>
The budget had been the topic of fierce argument, but in the end it was
passed by a huge majority, satisfying the Prime Minister, who proclaimed
himself a happy man after having threatened to resign if he did not get
his way. 
<p no=33>
The package of fiscal policies aimed to cut the budget deficit from its
current level of about 50 billion forints (GBP500 million) to 10 billion
forints. 
<p no=34>
"The measures are very, very tough," said the Finance Minister, Mr Laszlo
Bekesi.   But he insisted that there was no alternative if Hungary was to
gain the confidence of the international credit institutions and seek to
heal the economic crisis. 
<p no=35>
In order to release $350 million in stand-by credits and clear the way for
the injection of $1 billion in European Community funds, the International
Monetary Fund originally demanded that the budget deficit be wiped out
altogether and that public spending be subjected to even more stringent
cuts than are planned.   The result was the compromise accepted yesterday. 
<p no=36>
Mr Bekesi said that unless the government moved swiftly on economic
reform, the outcome would be a flourishing black market, widespread
shortages, inflation much higher than its current level of about 20 per
cent, and high unemployment. 
<p no=37>
"There is no alternative to our programme.   What is at stake is the
complete collapse of the economy." 
<p no=38>
But the public remains ambivalent about the Prime Minister's free-market
policies and there are rumblings of union discontent and sporadic strikes.
As the country seeks to manage the transition from Communist state to
parliamentary democracy, complaints are growing that the "proletarian
dictatorship" is being replaced by the "neo-monetarist dictatorship". 
<p no=39 segment_break>
"If Noriega gets into the northern redoubts, there are caches of arms and
ammunition and he will have access to his bank accounts.   If the Cubans
and Nicaraguans become his primary support groups, it will be a very bad
situation," Mr Andy Messing, a former US Special Forces officer who
trained in Panama, said yesterday. 
<p no=40>
Despite declarations that there would be no deal, officials yesterday
grudgingly confirmed a Washington Post account of negotiations between Gen
Noriega's lawyers and the State Department, begun before and continued
after the abortive coup in October. 
<p no=41>
Mr Frank Rubino, a Miami lawyer, negotiated with Mr Michael Kozak, the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, and with
Mr Robert Muller, described as a senior staff adviser in the office of the
Attorney-General.   After demanding that Gen Noriega simply step down, the
US officials then relaxed their terms and suggested he relinquish
positions of power in return for a US promise not to proceed with attempts
to extradite him. 
<p no=42>
"They just wanted him out," Mr Rubino said yesterday.   "I told Noriega
they were hot for an agreement." 
<p no=43 segment_break>
Czechoslovakia's Communist Party, in its latest round of musical chairs,
has appointed Mr Ladislav Adamec, the man who so angrily relinquished the
prime ministership two weeks ago, as its new leader. 
<p no=44>
He replaces Mr Karel Urbanek, the former railway worker, appointed last
month and discredited almost before he had started.   Mr Urbanek said the
party was "in a deep crisis" and that he himself was partly responsible. 
<p no=45>
Mr Vasil Mohorita, still in his 30s and the youngest member of the
reshuffled politburo, becomes first secretary of the party.   He will have
the onerous task of reviving low morale. 
<p no=46>
Mr Adamec failed to form a consensus government after the November
revolution, and conceded after being elected that he did not have an easy
task.   "I can not be suspected by anyone of seeking prestige," he said. 
<p no=47>
The party appointments came after the leadership had authorised a
statement formally apologising to the Czechoslovak people for leading the
country into its latest crisis, before they were hustled out of the
building because the cleaners wanted to go home.   Television workers
refused to broadcast conference proceedings live. 
<p no=48 segment_break>
Stunned by the loyalty General Noriega has been able to inspire among his
troops and fearful for the fate of US hostages, the Bush Administration is
under growing pressure to reach a deal with the former dictator of Panama. 
<p no=49>
Although President Bush has been opposed to any such deal, Miami lawyers
acting for Gen Noriega and leading US senators have been exploring the
possibility of an agreement that could lead to a ceasefire and freedom for
the American hostages. 
<p no=50>
The million-dollar bounty placed on Gen Noriega's head testifies to the
growing American frustration at his ability to evade the US's clutches.
Gen Noriega was able to broadcast to the people and organise resistance
over the main national radio network, until a special US assault team blew
up the transmitters late on Wednesday. 
<p no=51>
US Intelligence was surprised by the readiness of some Panamanians to
fight and die for their leader, forcing the US troops besieging barracks
at Fort Amador to bring in 105mm howitzers to blast away pockets of mortar
and sniper fire. 
<p no=52>
There are now fears that unless he is persuaded to surrender with
guarantees of safe conduct, Gen Noriega could organise a prolonged
resistance, and seek assistance from Nicaragua and Cuba. 
<p no=53>
Up to 400 Cuban military advisers are reported to be at fortified bases in
northern Panama, where they have been training the the militia of the
Dignity Battalions, the Washington Times said yesterday. 
<p no=54 segment_break>
Crude energy controls cut deep everywhere.   Urban Romanians are burdened
with freezing flats and murky streets.   The state does not spare even
essential services; it is disconcerting for the Western traveller
disembarking at Otopeni international airport to see technicians servicing
a Tupolev by torchlight. 
<p no=55>
The cities are desperately short of food.   Policemen marshall grumbling
queues whenever a load of bread or chickens jolts in from the country.
The people vaguely understand that the bulk of their country's
agricultural output goes abroad to pay Romania's external bills. 
<p no=56>
They do not see the antiquated Gloria combine harvesters or the
Transylvanian wheat fields bloodshot with poppies: charming to the eye,
but evidence of faltering investment in machinery and decent fertilisers. 
<p no=57>
Agriculture is crippled, too, by the miserable conditions on the
collective farms.   A herdsman from Sibiu, just north of the great
Carpathian sickle, estimated that he earned half the urban worker's
monthly wage of 1,500 lei.   "So when we can, we go to the factories." The
factories, in turn, are obliged to dispatch a resentful proletariat to
help ( clumsily) with the harvest.   Neither group will ever be well-off
in Western terms: a video recorder costs 40,000 lei, a Dacia banger 70,000
lei. 
<p no=58>
Troublemakers higher up the salary structure are brought to heel with an
invitation to contribute 500 lei to the national debt.   No receipt from
the national debt office, no salary.   Failure to turn out for major party
festivals (May 1, August 23) can bring harsher sanctions. 
<p no=59>
Many Romanians are subsidised by Western currencies brought into the
country by relatives on holiday from jobs abroad.   On a back street, just
off Bucharest's Bulevardul General Magheru, a spiral stone staircase winds
up to the cramped first floor offices of Comturist. 
<p no=60>
Here, in an aquarium light, men and women crouch in rows of wooden tip-up
seats, peering at half a dozen shuttered doorways.   One of these is
labelled "Iran (Irak)". 
<p no=61>
Every ten minutes an austere blouse steps into the gloom and calls a
croucher forward to the cashier's hatch.   Credit notes bought with
francs, marks and dollars win relatives access to government caches of
whisky, butter, chocolate and ground coffee.   Otherwise, rationing
restricts Romanians to one kilo of meat a month and half a loaf of bread a
day.
<p no=62>
Protest is countered abroad by the Departamentul de Informatii Externe,
smothered at home by the Securitate.   Ion Pacepa, the defecting boss of
Securitate, has claimed (vaingloriously?) that 10 million state
microphones are embedded in Romanian walls, television sets and ashtrays,
enabling the Great Conductor, alias President Nicholae Ceausescu, to
eavesdrop on most of his 21 million subjects. 
<p no=63 segment_break>
"That was his biggest blunder," Mr Goldman said.   "He badly overplayed
his hand." 
<p no=64>
Department of Justice officials made it clear that they still see the
pursuit of Gen Noriega as a criminal case. 
<p no=65>
Last month, Department of Justice lawyers said that US military personnel
could track down and apprehend drug traffickers abroad.   In the past, US
law was understood to restrict the military from engaging in criminal law
enforcement.   But administration lawyers said that limitation now applied
only within the US and not beyond its borders. 
<p no=66>
International law experts scoffed at that justification for the invasion. 
<p no=67>
In a February 1988 indictment, Gen Noriega and 16 of his associates were
charged with violating the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt
Organisations Act and laws barring the manufacture, importation and
distribution of cocaine, along with interstate and foreign travel in aid
of racketeering activities and conspiracy. 
<p no=68 segment_break>
Herbert Hartwell was appointed a judge of the Berlin Kammergericht, the
Prussian Supreme Court, at the age of 33, in spite of interrupted legal
studies during war service in 1914-18 ( including the Iron Cross).   A
different kind of courage, coupled with staunch Christianity, marked his
opposition to the Nazi regime during the 1930s. 
<p no=69>
In 1934 he joined the Confessing Church, the wing of the national
(Lutheran) Church which refused to compromise with the Hitler government.
The next year he was dismissed under the Nuremberg Regulations.   A friend
of Probst, H. Gruber and Pastor Martin Niemoller, Hartwell worked to aid
the escape of Jews from Germany.   This brought him into touch with George
Bell, then Bishop of Chichester, and with John Marsh, the Congregational
theologian, who invited him to Oxford. 
<p no=70>
In August 1939 he escaped with his family on the last but one ship to
leave Hamburg.   He took up the invitation, only to be interned on the
outbreak of war.   George Bell secured his early release.   Within months
he determined to be ordained, believing that the Congregationalists most
closely represented the standpoint and theology of the Confessing Church. 
<p no=71>
Dr Nathaniel Micklem, who himself had been deeply involved with the
Christian opposition in Germany, accepted him for training at Mansfield
College, Oxford, for the ministry.   He and his children were always
grateful to "Nat" (whose successor as Principal was Dr Marsh) for many
kindnesses over the years.   At Oxford he took a D.Phil. on Barth, to set
alongside his Erlangen law doctorate. 
<p no=72>
After ordination he worked as a chaplain with German prisoners of war for
the YMCA and from 1948 as secretary for German affairs with the British
Council of Churches Inter Church Aid and Refugee Service, the forerunner
of Christian Aid.   The West German Government honoured him for his
notable work in promoting friendship between the two countries. 
<p no=73>
Robert Courtney Edwin Robertson writes: Whenever I answered the telephone
in the fifties and sixties and heard the anxious voice at the other end
saying " Here is Hartvell" (he never quite managed that English " W"), I
knew that either my deadline for an article was passed or he had some
exciting new book for me to review.   Hartwell devoted his brilliant mind
and untiring energy in those years after the second world war to forging
links between Christians in his adopted country and that of his birth.
He did this at an intellectual level, and one of his chief instruments was
the German-British Fellowship. 
<p no=74>
Herbert Hartwell born April 20, 1894; died December 11, 1989.   above is
p23 international PAGE 
<p no=75 segment_break>
Had this apparently contradictory programme been worked out over a long
period, it might have seemed more logical.   But it contains the hallmarks
of a last-minute compromise with conservative critics of the market
system.
<p no=76>
The signs of retreat in the Ryzhkov formula are only too apparent compared
with the plan put forward by his deputy, Mr Leonid Abalkin, only a month
ago.   The "hybrid" looks less like a controlled experiment than a hasty
effort to balance political opposites.
<p no=77>
Parliament is united on what is wrong with the Soviet economy.   Growth
has been slowing; inflation is up.   The government has been spending
beyond its means, with a budget deficit last year of 120 billion roubles
(GBP120 billion at the official rate), or 10 per cent of GNP.
<p no=78>
Some form of short-term stabilisation programme is needed to eliminate
shortages of goods, and soak up people's cash.   There is also agreement
that a switch to market incentives is necessary after that.   The argument
centres on what kind of stabilisation plan to introduce, the pace of
reforms, and whether the two programmes can be combined.   Can you deal
with inflation while bringing in the market, or should you deal with the
first problem first?
<p no=79>
The government's solution relies on a sharp switch from long-term capital
investment and the defence sector towards food and consumer goods
production and improving social services.
<p no=80>
Many construction projects are already being stopped.   Over the next two
to three years, between 89 and 90 per cent of national income will be
allocated for current consumption to cut the budget deficit to 92 billion
roubles this year, and 60 billion roubles in 1990.
<p no=81>
The government has also drafted a set of measures to restrain the growth
of individual cash incomes so as to reduce demand for goods.   It also
intends to tax enterprises which increase wages by more than 3 per cent.
The Prime Minister told parliament that he was against freezing savings
accounts or monetary reform which would devalue the internal rouble and
cut the value of individuals' savings.
<p no=82>
Mr Yeltsin has supported such reforms while trade unions have suggested
that all savings accounts above a certain level should be wiped out.
<p no=83>
Mr Ryzhkov also ruled out rationing of food and basic goods with other
products available on the free market, saying rationing was a return to
centralised administration, and contradicted the notion of reform.
<p no=84>
"It would be difficult to introduce a rationing system but even more
difficult to get rid of it.   It would be a major step backwards with
great adverse effects," Mr Ryzhkov said.   However, his own plans rely on
strengthening the central system.   Mr Abalkin, outlined three possible
reform variants.
<p no=85 segment_break>
Food is short but surveillance ample in the frozen domain of Zero One.
Erlend Clouston explores the nightmare world of Ceausescu's Romania, where
even the ashtrays are thought to have ears. 
<p no=86>
To enter Romania is to sink into a bad dream.   At Brasov the vast potato
fields are protected by the binoculars and semi-automatic machine-guns of
soldiers perched in 15ft watchtowers.   In Bucharest, gangs of crawling
labourers comb weeds from the cobbled forecourts of Socialist ministries. 
<p no=87>
In Sapinta, three miles south of the Russian border, a chambermaid begs
for a packet of ground coffee to meet a doctor's bill; when the doctor
arrives, he complains wearily that there is no anaesthetic in the
hospitals.   Such indiscretions are rare; Decree 23 stipulates that it is
an offence to communicate with foreigners without reporting the
conversation to the police. 
<p no=88>
Romanians queue for hours, sometimes days, for their monthly allowance of
30 litres of petrol.   At the state-run Peco garages, blue-jeaned secret
policemen saunter along the lines of Dacias, checking who is playing
truant from work.   Motorists are only permitted two Sunday outings a
month. 
<p no=89>
It is not easy to cheat; liberty is licensed by the last figure (odd or
even) of your number plate.   The engineers at Dacia, cossetted perhaps by
a 99 per cent share of the local market, offer no relief.  Fifteen years
ago the Renault 12 lookalike needed just over six litres to cover 60 miles
the current model drinks seven. 
<p no=90 segment_break>
By contrast, the Reagan Administration justified its invasion of Grenada
by pointing to the danger faced by a small group of American medical
students, a rationale that was rebutted by international law bodies.
Critics noted that the students could have been evacuated without US
troops overthrowing Grenada's government. 
<p no=91>
Under the norms of international law, countries are justified in using
military force abroad to defend their citizens from hostile military
action.   But the response must be limited to the amount of force
necessary to protect them. 
<p no=92>
The classic example of such a military move, law experts said, was the
1976 Israel raid on Entebbe.   Israeli commandos landed at the Ugandan air
base, rescued the hostages and left, without attacking the Ugandan
dictator, Idi Amin. 
<p no=93>
Several law experts, while agreeing on the need to defend American lives
in Panama, questioned whether a full-scale invasion was justified under
international law. 
<p no=94>
"When you have the killing of a Marine and the beating of the navy man,
some response was certainly called for," said Mr Edwin Smith, a University
of Southern California law professor.   "Whether it rises to the level of
a threat to US sovereign interests is another question." 
<p no=95>
A Columbia University professor, Mr Oscar Schachter, said US officials
must show that the attacks on Americans were more than isolated incidents. 
<p no=96>
"I think they need to make a much stronger factual case than they have
made so far," Professor Schachter said.   "If you have one man killed, you
are not justified in bombing cities or killing lots of others.   But if
you can show a pattern of attacks, then you have a much stronger case.   I
do n't think we know enough at this point to make a judgment." 
<p no=97>
Gen Noriega and his few remaining allies would be hard-pressed to argue
against the US invasion in an international legal body such as the UN, the
experts said, because he declared last weekend that his forces were in " a
state of war" with the US. 
<p no=98 segment_break>
Parliament yesterday confounded widespread predictions that it would wind
itself up ahead of the Warsaw Pact's first free elections scheduled for
the spring. 
<p no=99>
The favourite date for the poll is March 25, but a note of confusion was
sown when parliament decided it would continue sitting until March 16. 
<p no=100>
The timing of the elections is entirely at the discretion of interim
president, Mr Matyas Szueros.   He is expected to announce a March poll
soon, but the elections could be delayed until June. 
<p no=101>
Under the current electoral law, parliament could have dissolved itself
immediately and carried on until the election in a caretaker role. 
<p no=102>
However, Mr Jeno Horvath, a member of parliament and legal expert, said
parliament had a lot of unfinished business and had decided the public
might be confused to see it dissolved but continuing to function. 
<p no=103>
It will be the first completely free election in East Europe in more than
40 years. 
<p no=104 segment_break>
Another of Gen Noriega's legal team, Mr Raymond Takiff, said that US
reports about Gen Noriega's habits and personal life were "deeply flawed".
Senior White House aides and CIA officials have been telling members of
the Congressional Intelligence Committees this week that Gen Noriega is
drinking heavily, taking drugs, and is so nervous that he moves addresses
four and five times a night. 
<p no=105>
"I have been 30 hours and more with him this year so far, and I have never
seen him take a drink.  Not once.   Noriega does not drink.   He does not
take drugs.   The most he ever offered me was an aspirin," Mr Takiff said. 
<p no=106>
The prospect of Gen Noriega being brought to the US to face trial on drugs
charges, one purported object of the US invasion, was causing some alarm
among US Intelligence officials yesterday, who feared that Gen Noriega's
former links with the CIA could prove embarrassing in open court. 
<p no=107>
"Do we really want him on trial and talking about his past secret
relationships?" Admiral Stansfield Turner, the former CIA director, asked
yesterday. 
<p no=108>
The charges include accepting bribes from the Colombian cocaine cartel -
the legal basis for attempts to freeze Gen Noriega's bank accounts.   But
Admiral Turner pointed out that any mention in court of money would enable
the dictator to cite in his defence secret payments from the CIA and the
Drug Enforcement Agency.
<p no=109>
But Gen Noriega's capacity to inspire personal loyalty, as well as the
power of his purse, is well known to US Intelligence.   According to the
CIA report on the October 3 coup bid, when the dictator was imprisoned in
his bedroom, he phoned his mistress, who passed on to loyal troops his
message that the uprising could be thwarted. 
<p no=110 segment_break>
Surveillance is not entirely electronic.   Pre-printed Romanian envelopes
break the citizen's whereabouts down into ten components: Strada, Nr.,
Blocul, Scara, Etajul, Apart., Sectorul, Judetul, Codul and Localitatea.
The cult of precision reaches its apotheosis in the presidential code
name: Zero One. 
<p no=111>
Up to now Romanians have rationalised their predicament in different ways.
Some have turned to religion, some to aesthetics. 
<p no=112>
In his comfortable living room a Transylvanian poet scoffed at the idea of
protest: "On a barricade you burn like a flame in seconds.   It is more
important to preserve the culture." Some have preferred to close their
eyes. 
<p no=113>
"Well, you know, the secret police have to hear what is going on,"
shrugged a Bucharest physicist.   "Maybe some people with political ideas
have problems.   Not me." 
<p no=114>
But if an informer heard him denouncing the President as an idiot, what
then?  "It would just go on my record that maybe I talked too much.   No
prison, no shooting." He laughed.   He had just been given permission to
take a post in West Germany. 
<p no=115>
The physicist is lucky.   Few of Zero One's subjects have access to
independent information on Western Europe, let alone a passport. 
