cover image The Case Against the General: Manuel Noriega and the Politics of American Justice

The Case Against the General: Manuel Noriega and the Politics of American Justice

Steve Albert. Scribner Book Company, $25 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-684-19375-5

Whatever nuggets of interest Albert may have unearthed about the prosecution of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega on drug charges are lost in his turgid narrative. While Albert, an editor at the Recorder , a San Francisco legal newspaper, provides useful background on the broad cast of characters involved in the case, he scants analysis in favor of recapping lengthy excerpts from legal motions and trial arguments. For example, Albert reports the views of the judge and both sets of lawyers on the fairness of the prosecution but offers no retrospective reflection or disinterested commentary. After a seven-month trial in Miami during 1991-1992, Noriega was found guilty on eight drug charges and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. He will become eligible for parole in 2000. Other than quoting Noriega's lawyers, Albert offers no further rebuttal to the U.S. government's claim that the case was not politically motivated. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)