OUR FRIEND, KING HASSAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300200001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 2, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 28, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 200 YR310 G :972 -RDP80' 0,16
HRY : J0 TAYLOR
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? Moroccan King Hassan It's attempted
assassination by jets that strafed his plane,
implicating strongman Defense Minister Gen.
Mohammed Oufkir who committed suicide, was
clearly an internal putsch. This is, the convic-
tion of our Central intelligence Agency. But
'that the King is caught in a vicious internal
crisis is not the whole truth.
More than 200 Moroccans were on trial in
Marrakesh for sedition at the time of last
year's appallingly bloody July 10 attempt on
King Hassan's life in his Skhirit seaside palace.
The CIA now believes the Skhirit horror had
been plotted for at least- 14 months, although it
took the King totally by surprise. And King
Hassan himself has told me that he was then,
and remains, utterly shocked by the size, scope
and depth of the conspiracies. i
PRO-AMERICAN KING H A S S A N also
stated that he does not know to what degree his
troubles are attributed to the U.S.S.R. But the
CIA now finds that the Soviet ' Union is
launching intensified subversion in his country.
And.the wider talget is anti-Communist Spain.
There are two Spanish enclaves on Moroc-
co's northern coast. Coula, opposite Gibraltar,
has been a Spanish possession since 1550?
Melilla, 1$0 miles east, has been Spanish since
1497, the era during which Columbus
diecovered'America. And there is, as well, the
vast Spanish Sahara south of Morocco's border.
The Sahara is larger than India. The
Spanish Sahara covers 102,000 sq. miles. You
travel from nowhere to nowhere through prac-
tically nothing. The searing heat flows across
the sand like liquid tin and you must visit that
place Sometime if only to realize how far into
the future Dante saw.
But the Spanish Sahara has tremendous
phosphate and other valuable raw material
deposits which Spain is currently developing.
IT IS TILE DOMAIN of the crack, colorful,
sun-scorched 6,000-man Spanish Foreign Legion
with its ;immensely picturesque Camel Corp,
straight cut: of Beau Gest by Spanish applica-.
tion. But the CIA has now discoverd that the
Soviet is sending in arms from the U.S:S.R. and
STATINTL
satellite countries, chiefly East "Germany and
Czechoslavakia.
The Soviet Union operates its African
insurrections from Leipzig, East Germany. The
tools are African natives, blacks and Arabs
alike. The CIA 'knows that between 6,000 and
8,000 constantly undergo guerrilla cadre
training in Leipzig-and Bautzen, Eat Germany,
Prague, Czechoslavakia, and in Castro's Cuba.
The new revolutionary organization is called
Morehob. Some desert tribes are known. as
"blue people" because of their indigo robes.
Morehob is a dialect word for these people. The
Leipzig headquarters formed it in July.
Edouardo Moha is the leader. His base is
Rabat, the capital of Morocco. And Morehob is
already making its dangerous thrusts. into
Ceuta and Melilla as well as the Spanish
MOREIIOB'S PROPAGANDA CLAIMS
these Spanish areas should be integrated into
Morocco: It is building anti-Spanish cells inside
Morocco, training guerrillas there under Leih?
zig's direction and terrorizing Spaniards in
Spain's territories.
Following the (often- denied) Soviet ''line,
Morehob is also intensely;. systematically anti-
Semitic.
Morocco has been the largest remaining
Jewish community in the Arab world. I myself,
have heard King Hassan say that he considers
an attack against Arab Jews to be a personal
attack against himself. But Morehob capitalizes
on the fright of all Moroccan Jews
Arab Jews in Morocco totaled an " amazing
300,000. This has dwindled to' less than 30,000.
Many have left for Israel; where they are
known as Sephardim and represent an agoniz-
ing problem there.
Still not appearing in the news we read is,
the fact that the Kremlin is .using Morehob well/
against both pro-American King Hassan and
anti-Communist Spain in an explosive area"
which likewise threatens us.
Except for Israel, Tunisia and Morocco the
entire southern rim of the Mediterranean is
hostile to the United States. Now Morocco has
the added push from Moscow's Morehob.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: ?CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300200001-9