Former
President Bush Fears for His Life if Noriega Freed
By Catherine Wilson
Associated Press Write
Mar 21, 2000 - 05:00 PM
MIAMI (AP) - Former President Bush lives
in great fear for his life if imprisoned former
Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega were to be released
from federal prison, a parole examiner was told Tuesday.
Bush does not feel the Secret Service
could adequately protect him from Noriega, who is
seeking parole for the first time on a 30-year drug
sentence, defense attorney Frank Rubino said after the
hearing.
Noriega's prosecutor, Michael
"Pat" Sullivan, who represented the government
at the closed-door hearing, said the proceedings are
confidential and had no other comment.
Calls to Bush's office in Texas were
not immediately returned.
Asked for Noriega's reaction to
Sullivan's comments, Rubino said: "He was
flabbergasted and so was I. He said, 'I'm not going to
kill anybody.'"
Sullivan told the examiner that he had
met with Bush and relayed comments at Bush's request,
Rubino said.
Noriega was not allowed to call
witnesses, and Rubino offered letters favoring release
from a former U.S. ambassador to Panama, a former CIA
station chief in Panama and a former U.S. Southern
Command official.
The examiner said he would recommend
against Noriega's early release to the U.S. Parole
Commission.
Noriega dealt with Bush when Bush was
CIA director and the Panamanian military officer was a
CIA source, and then became the target of the U.S.
invasion ordered by President Bush in 1989.
Rubino wondered whether Bush was
"hiding in his closet, quaking in his cowboy
boots" over Noriega. Rubino plans to write Bush to
ask whether the former president has a well-founded fear
of violence from Noriega.
Noriega, 64, has been mystified by
Bush's position since the invasion, Rubino said. Rubino
said that Noriega has told Rubino: "He's always
been such a good friend to me. Why is (Bush) doing
this?"
Noriega can apply for parole again in
two years. Without early release, he will be freed at
the completion of his sentence at age 71 on Dec. 10,
2007.
Noriega was convicted in federal court
in Miami in 1992 of money laundering and drug
trafficking charges. Deemed a prisoner of war by his
trial judge, Noriega is allowed to wear his military
uniform in prison.
He has been held at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center southwest of Miami for most of the
time since he was whisked out of Panama and flown to
Miami in 1990.
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