European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 28 a a the stars and stripes tuesday november 6,1990diplomat Bloch fired As Security risk Washington up1 a Secretary of state James Baker monday fired Felix Bloch a High ranking Diplomat suspected of illegal contacts with soviet espionage agents. It marked the first time the . Government has used National Security reasons As the grounds for removing a state department employee. The ruling by Baker based on a hearing and a review by a High ranking Board of appeals Means that Bloch s administrative remedies arc now exhausted and he must turn to the courts for any possible reversal. But Bloch who had been Deputy chief of Mission at the . Embassy in Austria has refused to testify formally about his contacts with soviet agents. If he were to take an Appeal to the courts he would have to open himself to examination under oath by government prosecutors. No formal charges have Ever been raised against Bloch but widespread leaks from . Government investigators said he had been in Contact with a soviet agent in Paris and in Vienna Austria and that he had been photographed handing Over a briefcase to the soviet citizen. According to the leaks Bloch was taped telling his wife that he had received Money from the soviets but the surreptitious tape recording would not have been admissible in any american court. Bloch As a member of the foreign service was protected from dismissal from his $80,000-a-year Job under Normal conditions. But the state department used the Little known National Security provision and Baker in signing the order found Bloch a removal a necessary Iraq from Page 1 minister Yasuhiro Nakasone urged Saddam to release japanese hostages. Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was expected in Baghdad later monday in a controversial attempt to win the release of More hostages. Appeals by individual nations for the Freedom of their nationals prompted Belgium a foreign minister to complain that inc individual efforts were eroding Unity against Iraq. Quot Saddam is creating this Royal court of All sorts of Western pilgrims who visit him to obtain the release of hostages the minister Mark Eyskens said. At the request of Belgium and other nations Italy scheduled a meeting of european Community foreign ministers in Rome later monday to discuss cracks in their stand against negotiating the release of hostages. Military activity picked up on both sides of the conflict. Iraq said it was recalling an unspecified number of retired army officers to Active duty. More than 300,000 troops in the .-dominated multinational Force have gathered in saudi Arabia to counter an estimated 430,000 iraqi soldiers in Kuwait and Southern Iraq the United states on monday sent another aircraft Carrier into the persian Gulf. The presence of the Midway in Gulf Waters described by a spokesman As part of a routine flight operations Quot was an apparent show of Force against Saddam. In another development about 2,500 syrian troops arrived in saudi Arabia on sunday joining an estimated 4,000 syrians Arcady deployed As part of the multinational Effort. They brought with them about 150 tanks the first Armor Syria has sent. Mohammed Salman syrians information minister told reporters in Damascus Syria on sunday that his country is committed to the defense of saudi Arabia. Quot should saudi Arabia or any other Gulf state ask us for More troops we will not hesitate to respond to the request Quot he said. Later monday Baker planned to move to the red sea port City of Liddah saudi Arabia for talks with King fahd the Linchpin of the Arab Alliance against Saddam. The top . Foreign official is on the second Day of a we Klong trip to the Middle East and Europe to sound out allies on strategy. Baker is on a fast paced trip to seven countries in which he said he would Lay the foundations for stronger economic and political measures against Iraq or even military action. The ousted Emir of Kuwait Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Crown Prince Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah who also was prime minister and their government have been in exile in taif since the invasion. And advisable in the interest of National Security because of his deliberate false statements to the Fri m the course of a National Security the dismissal order also cited his a a behaviour activities and associations Quot but those allegations were not made specific in the final order. Bloch has been suspended from his Job since the investigation began last year but he remained on the payroll until earner this year when the National Security charges were raised. His dismissal and termination of salary became effective at the close of business monday. His pension which would eventually be More than $50,000 a year is not directly affected by the dismissal. While he was suspended and under investigation he was followed by teams of Fri agents and occasionally television camera Crews. Periodically without exchanging any words with them he would Lead them on a death marches a rapid paced hikes that would be As Long As 22 Miles. The state department and the Fri have never revealed what information Bloch is accused of turning Over to the soviets but As a High ranking official in the . Embassy he would have had Access to the highest Levels of top secret documents including arms control negotiating position papers. He would also have been aware of the names of any intelligence agents working under cover in the . Embassy. Bloch 55, was born in Austria and had served in Ber i Lin and Vienna As a political and economics officer. In Vienna he had served under two Reagan administration political appointees Helene von Damm and Ron Aid Lauder both widely regarded As inexperienced amateurs. Bloch had occasionally expressed his scorn for them and his frustration of being passed Over for higher posts by such political from Page 1 Counselor at the Berlin Branch of the soviet embassy. Overnight the massive soviet army Here has become a White elephant. Sometimes confined to Barracks strictly limited in their exercises hungry in a land of expanding appetites the soviets Are suddenly at the mercy of a country they had dominated since 1945. Under a Deal struck by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev last summer the soviet Union has until 1994 to withdraw its forces from former East German territories. In the meantime Germany is paying for the soviets food and supplies. Germany will pay to train soviet soldiers in new careers transport them Home and build them apartments there. That will take Money a at least $10 billion according to the estimates. For now the soviets Are still omnipresent with 1,000 installations still heavily armed. But they Are inside a Western nation on the land of a nato member and surrounded by their former enemy the German army. In Runsdorf a German town of 3,000 just South of Berlin the soviet forces have their sprawling Headquarters a dilapidated walled compound that houses 70,000 soldiers and civilians. The soviets closed the main Highway to germans requiring residents to take a circuitous route around the base. Soviet officers once filled the restaurants and the rental boats on the towns Lake. With the Power positions now reversed the germans pent up resentment is bubbling Over. Someone has scrawled Quot russians out a on the 6-foot-High Concrete Wall that surrounds the compound. An angry delegation of town Council members last week got their first meeting with the base commander and presented a Long list of demands a property rights the reopening of the Highway fewer training flights and quieter exercises. A in my opinion they could leave immediately a Klaus Otto a 35-year-old restaurant owner said of the soviets. A who Are they supposed to protect now but it wont be easy to get them out of Here. Life be better for them now. This is Paradise for them. They re getting Rich a just outside the bases main Gate communism and capitalism meet in a bizarre Bazaar. Soviets throng outside a makeshift a Chi i video Market stocking up on Boom boxes and Vars. A few Steps away German entrepreneurs preside Over tables overflowing with jeans and other Western clothing. Soldiers inspect a Row of used West German cars for Sale a no rubles accepted since july soviet soldiers have received their pay Ini hard currency Courtesy of the Bonn government. Most Young conscripts get 25 Marks a month about $17, hardly enough to get Rich on but plenty to get an intoxicating taste of the Western life. A supermarket Chain from the West called plus has opened a Branch in a ramshackle warehouse. The aisles Are packed with soviet families stocking up on toilet j paper chocolate Yogurt and eggs a scarce items on the base. The tension is so palpable the potential for disaster so great that both the germans and the soviets Are trying to Speed up the troop withdrawal. A the presence of our troops on German soil has lost All sense a Kremlin foreign policy adviser Vyacheslav Dashi Chev said in a German television interview. A foot dragging is the Root of All a i think the soviets will withdraw sooner than scheduled if they can solve their housing problem a said Lutz Stavenhagen a top aide to Kohl. Quot two years would he optimal. In the meantime they will try to keep a veiy1 Low profile. We will watch them and they will watch us. Kohls government is trying to help the soviets leave As quickly As possible but the problem is that they simply have nowhere to put these people a Stavenhagen said. Meanwhile the strains Are Likely to intensify. Kohl recently received a letter signed by about 400 wives of soviet soldiers in Potsdam imploring him to save them from being sent Back to a Village about 100 Miles from the site of the chernobyl nuclear disaster. A no one will listen or help a said the letter. Asked about it a soviet spokesman said Quot these women were misinformed things Arentt As bad As they but Logvinov said he has heard of soldiers who returned to the soviet Union from Hungary or Czechoslovakia could not find apartments and so were forced to move in with relatives in the chernobyl area. Quot the reality is that the living conditions in the soviet Union and Here Are very very different a Logvinov said. A when a Young Soldier from Central Asia or a Small town in Siberia suddenly experiences everything Here honestly its a psychological Burden. Quot we have to rethink everything a exercises Contact with the population. Emotions Are running pretty High a Soldier from Page 1 lawyers had argued that the Federal government never should be barred from applying a valid regulation such As the army a ban on homosexuals. Watkins was drafted during the Vietnam War in 1967. He was 19. In filling out a pre induction medical form he marked yes m answering a question that asked whether he had homosexual tendencies. He was inducted anyway and subsequently was allowed to re enlist three times _ after two Tours of duty in Korea Watkins was stationed at fort Lewis near Tacoma from 1967 through 1980. He was the subject of three army investigations. Each one was sparked by Watkins telling some Superior about his homosexuality but after each investigation he was allowed to re enlist in 1981, the army adopted a new regulation requiring the discharge of All homosexuals. A review Board in 1982 voted to discharge Watkins. But before the discharge orders were issued a Federal judge barred the army from taking such years of court mane vering and conflicting rulings followed before the 11-judge panels ruling last year. But Watkins was forced to accept an honorable discharge in 1984 after a three judge appeals court panel voted against him. His lawsuit against the army sought reinstatement with Back pay. He would be eligible for a full army pension with four More years of service. The 1989 ruling in favor of Watkins did not say he was entitled to Back pay and implied the army could try to discharge him for any future homosexual acts a but the ruling said the army a May not attempt to discharge Watkins for any alleged homosexual acts that were the subject of past discharge proceedings or for his
