European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 b the stars and stripes Friday november 15, 1991 a debarking for exercise hum vecs with the 22nd Marine expeditionary unit deployed for the joint  exercise eager Wade ashore at Shaikh port in Kuwait on wednes Mace. The 11-Day Man Euver is the first joint operation Day. The unit was part of a 2,300-member . Force Between the two nations since the end of the Gulf War. Stasi files opened to victims while Media Access restricted Bonn Germany apr parliament passed a controversial Law thursday that permits victims of East Germany a Stasi secret police to see the Agency a files but severely limits Media Access to the 6 million documents. Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the Bill which All mainstream parties supported. There was no formal vote count. Legislators stood up to show their support or opposition for the measure. The new Law takes effect Lan. 1. Journalists have sharply criticized the Law As an encroachment on Media Freedom. The Stasi which is the East German ministry for state Security was created in 1949 under the guidance of the communist states soviet occupiers. It was dissolved after the communist government was overturned in 1989. Stasi files now Are kept under guard in former Stasi offices in Eastern Germany. The government says it has former 1 St army div go gets 25 years in assaults Ansbach Germany a amps a a former 1st army div cavalry Soldier has been sentenced to 25 years confinement for abducting and sexually attacking two Young germans a spokesman said wednesday. Spec. Clophus j. Mcneal 27, was convicted of kidnapping and forcing sexual acts on a girl and a Young woman said sgt. Ken Kassens of the division Public affairs office. Mcneal who was tried oct. 28 at the Niernberg Community trial Center was assigned to the 1st so 1st Cav regt in Ansbach where the two incidents occurred. In the first he abducted a 12-year-old girl off of her bicycle dec. 9, 1990. He then carried her into the Woods beat her and forced her to commit sexual acts with him the spokesman said. In the second incident Mcneal picked up a 19-year-old Hitchhiker May 24. He drove her into a wooded area beat her and sexually abused her the spokesman said. The sentence also included a dishonourable discharge forfeiture of All pay and allowances and reduction to lowest enlisted Grade he said. Mcneal is in the Mannheim correctional facility awaiting Transfer to fort Leavenworth kan., for confinement. Received 70,000 requests to see documents and expects 50,000 a month following the Bill a passage. A government appointed committee will oversee the Stasi documents. It can turn Down any Media request to see a file on a Public figure if it believes it would intrude on the persons private life. Journalists could face three years in prison if they publish Stasi documents without the committees permission. The Law permits people whose activities were monitored by the once omnipresent Stasi to now see what the secret police wrote about them. The documents also could be used by East germans to prove they were never Stasi informers or otherwise compromised by the secret police. The legislation also permits Law enforcement officials and intelligence agencies to use the documents in limited cases. Activists from Eastern Germany argue such Access gives police and intelligence services new tools to pry into East germans lives. Washington apr two former employees of the nations largest defense contractor told a House panel thursday they were fired for blowing the whistle on faulty wings going onto a new air Force transport plane. The two former internal investigators for Mcdonnell Douglas corp. Said their efforts to Alert company managers and the air Force about the problem led to physical threats and dismissal. David Barton jr., a former manager at a Mcdonnell Douglas Plant in Long Beach calif., said that when he was tired in june a the reason Given to me was that i had Cost the company a lot of Money and  a i Learned later after applying for unemployment benefits that the company changed their reason for firing me to that of misconduct a Barton said. James Pashley a former investigator with Mcdonnell Douglas said information provided to him by Barton and other employees led him to conclude the wings on the c-17 transport Jet would have a much Shorter life Span than required by the air Force and that they might be prone to catastrophic failure. The testimony was presented to the House committee on government operations an oversight and watchdog panel that looks into the performance of government contractors. Committee chairman John Conyers d-mich., said the testimony was Only the latest in a Long list of prob soviet leaders agree on name for new Union Moscow up a leaders of eight republics agreed in principle thursday to a treaty forming a new More loosely aligned and smaller a Union of Sovereign states to replace the old Union of soviet socialist republics. The soviet news Agency Tass said agreement was reached on the revised treaty in a state Council meeting with soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev at the novo Oga Revo guest House outside Moscow. Tass did no to say if the leaders signed the document. The draft treaty must still be debated and approved by the parliaments of the respective republics where it is Likely to face Strong opposition from nationalists seeking full Independence. It May still be revised at another meeting of the state Council Tass said. Heads of state or government representing Russia byelorussian Kazakhstan Azerbaijan Kirghizia Tajikistan turkmen a and Uzbekistan attended thursdays state Council meeting. The Large economically vital Ukraine did not attend and has scheduled a dec. 1 referendum on full Independence. Also absent were Armenia Georgia and Moldavia which have declared Independence and the three Baltic republics which Are now recognized As separate states. If the republics ultimately agree on a final document it is Likely to Bear Little resemblance to the Gorbachev draft of a Union treaty that was tentatively agreed upon and scheduled to be signed aug. 20. The signing was derailed by the Short lived hard liner coup. Tass said a new Union agreement would replace the current National Constitution but the report offered no specifics on the the Structure of the new confederation of Sovereign republics. The Independent news Agency inter fax indicated that there was much work to be done before the treaty is  . Times expert for military affairs Dies new York apr Hanson Baldwin a former military affairs writer for the new York times and the author of More than a dozen books on military and naval history and policy died wednesday at his Home in Roxbury Conn. He was 88. Baldwin joined the times in 1929 after graduating from the . Naval Academy. He won a pulitzer prize in 1943 for his world War ii reporting from the Pacific. Later he chronicled the strategy tactics and weapons of War in Korea Vietnam the Middle East and other trouble spots becoming a leading authority on military and naval affairs at the Start of the nuclear age. He retired from the times in 1966. Items that have plagued the c-17 and threatened the $35 billion program with cancellation. Conyers and other panel members said the military clearly needs improved Airlift capability As was demonstrated by operation desert shield. But he said the problems with the plane and with Cost overruns Are too sweeping to ignore. The problem first reported by Barton concerns a machine that fastens Wing sections of the huge transport Jet with some 110,000 rivets. Barton found the machine was improperly calibrated and that thousands of rivets were being installed in the wrong location. Barton said in his testimony that Mcdonnell Douglas managers said in private meetings that cancellation of the c-17 contract could Lead to the loss of the company a civilian md-11 passenger Jet line. Months after he came Forward with his concerns Barton said one manager of the riveting operation threatened to kill him in a confrontation on the Plant floor. The hearing also included testimony from a top government auditor who raised questions about Mcdonnell Douglas solvency. Recent government audits concluded that Mcdonnell Douglas a was in an unfavourable financial condition which might adversely affect its ability to perform under government contracts a according to William Reed director of the defense contract audit Agency. Doubts raised Over Jet s wings led to firings workers claim