A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ce , who the White House said would be reassigned , and by the Camp David comman

der . In his letter of resignation to Presdient Cliton , Watkins defended his ac

tions as `` in fulfillment of the responsibilities of my position , '' which inc

ludes oversight for Camp David . He said `` there simply was no effort on my par

t to use White House or military equipment for personal or recreational purposes

 '' and that his `` sole motivation was determining how you ( Clinton ) could ut

ilize Camp David more frequently . ''

 WASHINGTON The Federal Aviation Administration has expressed concern about a ra

sh of accidents and incidents involving China Airlines , the official airline of

 Taiwan , and `` invited '' the company to discuss how the United States can hel

p improve it , an official said Tuesday . `` We expect very shortly that they wi

ll be able to sit down with us and discuss specific assistance we can give them 

, '' said Anthony J. Broderick , the FAA 's associate administrator for regulati

on and certification . While it couched the message in polite language , the FAA

 effectively put China Airlines on notice it expects the company to take action 

on safety-related issues . The airline , stunned by a series of incidents that a

ppear to be related to poor training or unprofessional behavior , has instituted

 a retraining program for all its pilots . The Transport Ministry of Taiwan has 

also warned the airline which flies dozens of international routes including to 

and from the United States and owns at least 30 wide-bodied airliners to enforce

 Taiwanese aviation law . Tests show that drinking may have been a contributing 

factor in the latest crash , April 26 at Nagoya Airport in Japan , in which 264 

people were killed and seven survived . The Japan Times , in Tuesday 's editions

 , said the head of the National Public Safety Commission has confirmed widespre

ad reports that both pilots had been drinking . Commission chairman Hajima Ishii

 said tests showed the pilot had a blood alcohol content of .013 and the copilot

 , who was flying the wide-body Airbus A300-622R , .055 . If the crew did all th

eir drinking on the ground before the more than three-hour flight , the copilot 

would have had a blood alcohol content nearing 0.1 , considered legally drunk in

 many countries . A preliminary report on the accident by the government of Fran

ce , where the Airbus is manufactured , said the crew lost control of the airpla

ne on the landing approach as the copilot attempted to descend by pushing forwar

d on the control yoke , apparently unaware that he was in effect fighting the au

topilot . The plane stalled twice and fell . This was the most serious of a numb

er of China Airlines incidents , including the crash landing of a Boeing 747-400

 in Hong Kong and an in-flight incident involving the autopilot on another 747 .

 `` That seems to be a number ( of incidents ) higher than one would expect from

 an airline this size , '' Broderick said in an interview . Broderick said the a

irline seems to be taking the problem seriously , but the FAA wants to be `` hel

pful '' because many Americans fly the airline and its jets fly in U.S. airspace

 . The FAA move is part of a growing tendency to become directly involved in wor

ld aviation matters . The agency has opened new offices in several Asian countri

es , and is actively involved in helping Russia deal with its mounting aviation 

problems . `` We place a fairly high priority on that , '' Broderick said . Alth

ough the agency usually speaks softly , its suggestions carry weight because it 

could ban any carrier from landing in the United States on safety grounds . Coun

tries often ask for U.S. help with aviation safety from the FAA and the National

 Transportation Safety Board . China , for example , recently requested U.S. adv

ice after its newly independent regional airlines developed major safety problem

s .

 JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a parliamentary panel Tuesd

ay that he was disappointed with recent contacts between Israel and Syria and th

at the United States ' effort at mediation through Secretary of State Warren Chr

istopher has `` exhausted itself . '' Rabin , reiterating Israel 's offer for a 

phased withdrawal from the Golan Heights , which Israel captured from Syria in t

he 1967 Middle East war , complained that Damascus is `` playing for time , '' a

nd added , `` We can't say right now that Syria is serious about peace . '' Rabi

n 's comments to the closed-door meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Comm

ittee were relayed to reporters by an official . They follow a recent visit to t

he region by Christopher , who carried messages back and forth between Damascus 

and Jerusalem and said the two sides had begun a new phase of substantive negoti

ations . However , Rabin has pressed for direct , secret talks with Syria , whic

h President Hafez Assad has firmly rejected . Rabin has also pressed for a phase

d withdrawal in which Israel would exchange some land for a series of normalizat

ion steps from Syria . But Assad has insisted on a total withdrawal in exchange 

for peace . Rabin said that so far Syria has not agreed to return to the peace t

alks in Washington , which were interrupted after the massacre in Hebron on Feb.

 25 of 29 Muslims by a Jewish settler . But he said he did not think much was be

ing accomplished there . `` The Washington talks are an exercise in treading wat

er , '' he said . While Israel would like Christopher to be involved , Rabin sai

d , `` in fact Washington has exhausted itself '' with the shuttle missions . Ra

bin 's comments seemed to run counter to statements from the Clinton administrat

ion suggesting that Christopher was making progress . On Friday , the Los Angele

s Times quoted President Clinton as saying in an interview that `` we 've got de

licate negotiations in the Middle East right now '' and `` the secretary of stat

e is involved and . . . the last thing in the world I need to be doing is consid

ering changing my team . '' Privately , Israeli officials have faulted Christoph

er for what they describe as episodic involvement in the Israeli-Syrian negotiat

ions . Some officials would like to see a greater American involvement , althoug

h Rabin has made clear he wants to get the Gaza-Jericho agreement with the Pales

tinians implemented before pressing ahead with territorial concessions on the Go

lan Heights . Rabin was asked about a comment made by Egyptian President Hosni M

ubarak to American newspaper editors this week . Mubarak reportedly said Rabin h

ad told him Israel `` doesn't intend on keeping one centimeter of the territory 

which was occupied from Syria in 1967 but is demanding in exchange from Syria fu

ll peace with all its components . '' Rabin said there was `` no way '' he had s

aid this , and he reiterated his proposals for a phased pullout , saying the fir

st stage would not involve removing any Jewish settlements .

 MOSCOW A delegation of U.S. senators on Tuesday sought to defuse anti-American 

sentiment by proposing that joint military exercises , which were to be conducte

d in Russia , take place instead on American soil . The United States and Russia

 agreed to the maneuvers in September , with both governments categorizing the e

xercise as a dry run for possible future peacekeeping operations . The drill was

 to take place in July at the Totsk testing ground in the Ural Mountains . Its s

ignificance was to be more symbolic than military , as the entire operation was 

to involve only 250 soldiers from each side , no heavy equipment and no live fir

e . Still , communists and nationalists here seized on the notion of `` Yankee '

' soldiers on Russian territory as further evidence of what they see as a contin

ued attempt by the United States to impose its will on a weakened Russia . `` Ru

ssia cannot be made a training ground for the American Army , '' lawmaker Pyotr 

P. Shirshov , an army officer from Bryansk , said in a heated debate last month 

. Faced with stiff opposition in Parliament and in the Urals , the Russian gover

nment on Friday quietly asked the United States to postpone the exercises . On S

unday , a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee ar

rived to learn that the maneuvers , meant to showcase the new cooperation betwee

n the old adversaries , had instead fallen victim to resurgent Russian nationali

sm . Some conservative Russians interpreted the American push for the exercises 

as , ` ` ` We won the Cold War and now we 're going to show you our stuff ' whic

h is not at all what it was meant to be , '' said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison , R-

Texas . Given the `` sensitivity '' of the issue , Armed Services Committee Chai

rman Sen. Sam Nunn , D.-Ga. , said the seven senators visiting here will recomme

nd to President Clinton and Defense Secretary William J. Perry that the planned 

U.S.-Russian maneuvers be held in the United States . Nunn suggested that the Na

tional Training Center at Fort Irwin , Calif. or several bases in his home state

 of Georgia might be just right for the job . Hutchison said she is sure Texas w

ould be pleased to host the exercises . Russian politicians welcomed the America

n proposal . `` All these hysterics about the exercises in the Totsk firing rang

e are simply comical , '' said liberal economist Yegor T. Gaidar , complaining t

hat hard-liners have told people that American troops would use the opportunity 

to seize Moscow . `` Nevertheless , the opposition managed to use this as a pret

ext for violent anti-Western propaganda . '' Ironically , the United States and 

Russia first agreed to hold the maneuvers in Germany . But officials had neglect

ed to consult the German government , which nixed the idea . Next , the United S

tates proposed hosting the exercises , but Russia balked at their $ 2 million co

st . ( Optional Add End ) Sergei N . Yushenkov , chairman of the Defense Committ

ee of the Duma , or lower house of the Russian parliament , said the maneuvers '

 cost could still be a problem . And he said that members of the far-right party

 , led by Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky who had at first insisted that the exercises n

ot be held in Russia were already finding new excuses Tuesday to oppose holding 

them in America . Zhirinovsky supporters have formed an alliance with other nati

onalists , Communists and conservative Agrarian lawmakers . They often command a

 majority in the Duma . `` They do not want equal partnership ( with the West ) 

and they are not really interested in promoting a stable , firm and reliable int

ernational security system , '' Yushenkov said of the hard-line opposition .

 High grades go to two segments from Wednesday night 's latest news-magazine pre

miere , CBS News ' `` America Tonight , '' anchored by Deborah Norville and Dana

 King . One is Norville 's on-scene report of a commando raid by a mother to ret

rieve her American-born son from a Tunisian father who kidnapped the child to Tu

nisia . The other is Bob McKeown 's frightening look at how unconscionable mail-

order munitions dealers sell lethal arms to anybody whose check is good . Not av

ailable for preview : a commentary by Susan Estrich on date rape , stories by Pe

ter Van Sant on the Filene 's Basement annual bridal gown sale in Boston and by 

Bill Geist on the `` fingernail industry . '' `` America Tonight 's '' big mista

ke is a planned weekly , unscientific telephone `` poll '' ( the 900-number call

s cost 50 cents each ) that CBS News President Joe Peyronnin Tuesday defended as

 a way to `` empower '' audiences to be part of the show . -0- Peter Jennings ' 

excellent blending of the military 's D-Day decisions and tactics with survivors

 ' personal recollections airs as a 90-minute `` Turning Point at Normandy : The

 Soldiers ' Story '' on ABC Wednesday night. .. . At a special time Wednesday , 

NBC 's `` Now With Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric '' has an emotional reunion of tw

o vets who had not seen each other for 50 years after having become friends duri

ng battle in World War II . -0- Dan Rather 's `` 48 Hours '' Wednesday night giv

es us a spirited overview of Scotland Yard , with its tradition of the unarmed b

obby appearing to be on the wane as violence increasingly overtakes British soci

ety . Among the segments is one about how British royalty simply refuse to have 

strict security that will keep its members from being close to the people . -0- 

So much of the original programming on cable 's Comedy Central isn't funny . Suc

h as Wednesday night 's five-minute `` Briefs Encounter : Jones v. Clinton , '' 

a dramatization from `` Comedy Central News '' of the sexual-harassment complain

t by Paula Jones against President Clinton . The complaint is read verbatim by c

ivil right attorney William Kunstler , who , whatever his other qualities , has 

never shown himself on TV as a barrel of laughs . The segment is part of the cha

nnel 's special `` Battle of the Sexes '' edition of the `` Short Attention Span

 Theater . ''

 WASHINGTON An institution already bruised from a succession of scandals got ano

ther black eye Tuesday with the indictment of Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , a

nd Republicans got a campaign issue for this year 's midterm elections . The 17-

count indictment against the powerful Chicago Democrat embodies the contempt man

y Americans long have made against Congress , that its members enjoy perks and p

rivleges not available to ordinary citizens and have used their positions for pe

rsonal enrichment rather than the public good . Rostenkowski proclaimed his inno

cence and vowed to fight the charges . But many Americans already have found the

 Congress guilty , and the case outlined by U.S. attorney Eric Holder Tuesday li

kely will feed public cynicism regardless of how the legal battle turns out . ``

 People are going to sit back and watch this trial and say , `` I always thought

 that politicians used public office for private gain and now I know it 's true 

, ' ' ' said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman . `` If you multiplied the $ 600,0

00 allegedly embezzled ( by Rostenkowski ) by 435 members of Congress , you woul

d get an idea of how big this is in the eyes of the taxpayers , '' said Rep. Ern

est J. Istook Jr. , R-Okla. , who won his seat two years ago by defeating a scan

dal-ridden Republican in the primary . `` Rightly or wrongly , it gives fuel to 

people who believe that everybody in Congress is a crook . '' That cynicism has 

put incumbents on the defensive , spawned the term limits movement in America an

d helped to give rise to Ross Perot and his followers . Even before Tuesday 's i

ndictment , incumbents were nervous about the voters ' mood this year . The assa

ult on Congress 's image has come in many forms over the past five years : the s

candals over the House bank and post office ; the resignation under a cloud by f

ormer speaker James C. Wright , D-Texas ; a stream of television reports on the 

junkets and goodies enjoyed by those in office . Polls continue to show an overw

helmingly negative view of Congress as an institution . Four in five voters say 

members of Congress quickly lose touch with people back home and three in five d

isapprove of the job Congress does . The fallout of declining public confidence 

in Congress and of demands for ever-stricter ethics laws and tigher regulations 

on public behavior also have led to a record number of resignations by House inc

umbents over the past two election cycles , and Republicans signaled Tuesday the

y would try to make Rostenkowski part of their arsenal of attack against Democra

ts this fall . `` It 's more than an indictment of a man , it 's an indictment o

f a system of political boss control of Congress for 40 years , '' said Rep . Bi

ll Paxon , R-N.Y. , chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee 

. `` Nothing 's going to change in Congress until the public changes the party i

n control . '' Paxon said Rostenskowski `` absolutely '' will be an issue in the

 fall campaigns . `` It already is a key part of the fall message , '' he said .

 But freshman Rep. Peter Deutsch , D-Fla. , a former state legislator , said tha

t voters are not likely to hold any one party responsible for political corrupti

on when members from both parties have had their problems . `` This fall , I thi

nk the attitude will be `` a plague on both your houses , '' ' said Deutsch . ``

 This indictment is a personal tragedy for Rostenkowski and it 's not good for A

mericans to have this kind of cynicism ( about their government ) . But just as 

I think the impact of the indictment on health care reform will be zero , the im

pact on other races around the country will also be zero . '' But the indictment

 put Democratic leaders in a particularly difficult position because of their co

nflicting desires to show loyalty to a man who is both enormously powerful and h

ighly popular on Capitol Hill and to protect the image of the institution . Hous

e Speaker Thomas S. Foley , D-Wash. , and House Majority Leader Richard A . Geph

ardt , D-Mo. , issued cautious statements underscoring their respect for the Hou

se Ways and Means Committee chairman and reminding the public that he is innocen

t until proven guilty . But their statements were more telling for their brevity

 , as if the less they said the less likely the public would try to connect Rost

enkowski to other Democrats . Other Democrats tried to show sympathy for Rostenk

owski : `` It hurts in the legislative sense and it hurts in the personal sense 

, '' said Rep. Charles Schumer , D-N.Y. . `` This is not just an ordinary member

 getting into trouble , but one who was very respected . '' But privately some D

emocrats were gloomy about the fallout and candid about the demoralizing effect 

of the indictment . `` Everyone 's going to run away from him like crazy , '' on

e House Democrat said . `` This is a no-winner . '' Gephardt tried to draw a par

allel with the indictment of Rep. Joseph McDade , R-Pa. , as evidence that the R

ostenkowski damage will be limited . `` The ( Republican ) minority has had a ra

nking member of the Appropriations Committee under indictment and it hasn't impa

ired their ability to say anything , '' Gephardt said . But Frank Luntz , who po

lls for Republicans , said the indictment itself will `` allow Republicans to po

int the finger at another major Democrat '' and make it easier for Republicans t

o make `` the case for change '' this fall . With more incumbents running for re

election , Democrats may pay a higher price for the perceived sins of the instit

ution , but even some Republicans acknowledged that the public may not make much

 a distinction between the two parties . `` As a Republican , I don't take any j

oy in this because I think it will reflect badly on the whole institution , '' s

aid freshman Rep. Michael Castle , R-Del . `` My impression is that Congress 's 

image had begun to improve in the last year or so , and then this happens .. . .

 This reflects on everybody to some degree . ''

 ROME Launching a nostalgic pilgrimage to salute the World War II victory over f

ascism , President Clinton flies Wednesday into a swirling , bitter European con

troversy with echoes from those desperate days half a century ago : Are the poli

tical heirs of Benito Mussolini trustworthy partners in a new Italian government

 ? Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , a billionaire businessman on the defensive

 over the inclusion of neo-fascists in his two-week-old government , pledged ane

w on Tuesday that there was no threat to democracy . In a 50-minute meeting , Be

rlusconi reassured a delegation from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles 

that he would support their call for the extradition from Argentina of Nazi war 

criminal Erich Priebke . `` Berlusconi said he was personally committed to see P

riebke brought to trial in Rome , '' said Rabbi Abraham Cooper , associate dean 

of the center who headed the delegation . `` I spoke directly about concerns ove

r neo-fascists in government , and I was very satisfied with Berlusconi 's respo

nses . '' Clinton arrives around midnight for his first visit to Rome , a planne

d-to-the-minute extravaganza that will include talks Thursday with Berlusconi an

d a meeting with Pope John Paul II . On Friday , the president delivers a major 

address at the American military cemetery in Nettuno , south of Rome . Clinton w

ill honor soldiers who died in fighting after the 1944 amphibious landing at Anz

io , one of the savage battles that marked the beginning of the end of World War

 II . On Saturday , the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Rome , Clinton fli

es to England , and continues to France for D-Day ceremonies on Normandy beaches

 Monday . In assaying the new-look government of one of its closest allies , the

 United States has proved more sanguine about the five neo-fascist members of Be

rlusconi 's Cabinet than Italy 's partners in the European Union . `` Berlusconi

 has been elected . Let 's see if he knows how to do his job . Let 's give him a

 chance and support him , '' Clinton told Italian reporters in Washington in an 

interview televised over the weekend . The 57-year-old self-made tycoon , one of

 Europe 's richest men , entered politics in January , led a right-wing electora

l alliance to victory in March and won confirmation by Parliament in mid-May . S

ince then , however , Berlusconi has been repeatedly rebuffed by European partne

rs for the neo-fascist elements in his coalition , and discomfited by allies at 

home in his efforts to effectively launch Italy 's first right-wing government s

ince the war . On Tuesday , in the latest of a long line of incidents , Socialis

t Party members of the European Parliament asked conservative colleagues to help

 bar neo-fascists from joining the assembly after European elections later this 

month . Returned to office after more than four decades as pariahs on the extrem

e right-wing of the many-splendored Italian political universe , extremists amon