Nation IN BRIEF : NORTH CAROLINA : Female Soldier Files Invasion Complaint

A female Army intelligence analyst who is an expert on Panama filed a complaint over being excluded from taking part in the U.S. invasion there, but she said that her problem stems from “confused” policy rather than sexism. “I think that it was not deliberate,” Sgt. Rhonda Maskus, who is a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., said in an interview on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” She has filed the complaint with the Army’s Office of Inspector General. Maskus, a Spanish linguist, said she played a key role in the contingency planning for Panama. About 600 of the 24,500 U.S. military personnel who took part in the invasion were women.