Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Noriega Lawyers See Charges as Revenge

Attorneys for ex-Panamanian leader Manuel A. Noriega alleged in a document that drug smuggling charges against their client were manufactured by the United States as a result of Noriega’s refusal to commit Panamanian soldiers to an invasion of Nicaragua through Costa Rica. Noriega’s lawyers said they want to subpoena key figures in the Iran-Contra scandal, some of whom hold positions in the Bush Administration. They want to subpoena President Bush also. The Miami federal judge in charge of Noriega’s upcoming trial has given the attorneys until today to provide the names of U.S. officials who they allege ordered Noriega to look the other way as shipments of drugs and weapons passed through Panama.