A FRIEND IN NEED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505290008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: December 1, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Y
,~ U:1 PAGE December 1982
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505290008-4
ARTICLE, A.~PEARED THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY MAGAZIN)~
MOROCCO
~. FRIEND IN
NEED
Beset by Polisario guerillas and a
faltering econrnny, King Hassan wants
morn U.S. aid, arut offers str+ategie
control of the Straits of Gitnalter
N THE EVE OF a trip to the United
States some months ago, during
which he would meet President Ronald
Reagan for the first time, fifty-three-
year-old King Hassan the Second of Mo-
rocco invited me to interview him at his
sprawling, green~iomed palace in Fez,
as 2ncient town that hugs lush green
hills and houses one of the oldest Islamic
universities in the world. Hassan, a
small, dapper man who spoke in a mix-
ture of exquisite French and cadence-
filled Arabic, seemed enthusiastic about
the forthcoming visit to Washington, and
he talked at some length about his North
African countr-yrs desire to develop a
strong, friendly relationship with the
United States. But the King spoke at
greater length about the threat Morocco
faced from a guerrilla group that calls it-
self the Polisa>o and wants to set up an
independent Saharawi Democratic Arab
Republic in the Western Sahara, a phos-
phate->ch former Spanish possession
that Moroccan forces annexed in stages,
beginning in 19 r6. Hassan believes that
military and political support from the
Reagan administration is crucial if lVio-
rocco is to thwart the Polisa>o, which is
financed mostly by Alge>a, Libya, and
the Soviet ilnion. The King recalled that
various Afi-ican leaders and some senior
U. S. officials close to former President
Jimmy Carter-he did not identify
them-had pressured him to negotiate
directly with the guerrillas.
SOME SENIOR WESTERN and Ame>can
diplomats are, like Hassan, very
hopeful about Morocco's future. Among
them is the man sophisticated Moroccans
wryly call "Mister Ame>ca"~oseph
Verner Reed, Jr., the United States am-
bassador to Morocco. Reed's exuberant ened. "I came to Morocco with aplan-I
style has been seen as a reflection of the was determined that the Ame>can pres-
Reagan administration's enthusiasm for ' ence be seen and felt here," he told me.
Hassan. Reagan appointed Reed, a tall, ~ In one of his most publicized actions,
lan}ty patrician from Connecticut, on the Reed ordered that the rather small
recommendation of David Rockefeller, American flag at the United States Em-
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? whose aide Reed was at Chase Manhat- bas~v be replaced by a larger one (the
tan Bank when Rockefeller served as ~ new banner is bigger than the Moroccan
! chairman. "I am unabashedly aFourth- flag that fries over Hassan's residence in
ofJuly Republican," Reed told me over
lunch one afternoon at his P.abat resi-
den~e, amemento-filled, carpet-strewn
mansion called the "~%illa Ame>ca." "For
me this ambassadorship is being part of
'Forward Ame>ca'-and I am not at all
ashamed or embarrassed to speak up for `
'; Ame>ca. I am also a passionate anti-
Communist American. I feel we must ~
support our true friends, like Morocco,
~?ith all we've got. I keep saying to the
Moroccans: 'Count on us. We are with
you.' I believe we must keep our ward. I
really do believe that the Soviet Union is
the only remaining nineteenth-century
empire, and to me it is obvious that the
next pressure point for the Soviets is go-
ing to be the Ikingdom of Morocco, situ-
ated strategically as it is on the Straits of
Gibraltar."
Ambassador Reed is an open admirer
of Bing Hassan, whom he characterizes
ac an "extraordinarily expe>enced and
enlightened ruler." Reed has easy access
to Hassan, a man other Western envoys
find difficult to see. (Hassan's tardiness
i< legendan: When Queen Elizabeth II
visited Morocco not long ago, the King
kept her waiting for fifteen minutes in
her car. Subsequently, Hassan found
himself the only ruling monarch who was
not invited to the wedding of Prince
Charles.)
Reed'. fondness for Hassan recalls a
similar affection he harbored for the late
Shah Mohammed P.iza Pah1e~Z, of Iran,
whose portrait decorates the walls of the
sumptuous Reed residence in Rabat.
The Ambassador asserts that, no matter
what Hassan's current problems, the
King will not be overthro~?n by Islamic
zealots, as the Shah was. Reed says that
Hassan, unlike the Shah, is in touch with
his own people. He also suggesu that in
the event of an imminent danger to Has-
san, the United States w?fll act more
forthrightly to support the monarch than
it did when the Shah was being threat-
Rabat).
Under Reed's supen?ision, the Central
Intelligence Agency has vastly expand-
ed its staff and activities. Reed recently
became the first American ambassador
to travel to the Western Sahara-a sig-
` nal to Hassan and to neighboring Alge>a
and Libya that the United States backed
Morocco's claims to that territon: Reed
has also several times publicly ?charac-
terized the Libyan Leader, Colonel
?~iuammar Qadda,5. as a "ptrate.' A sen-
ior member of the D~oroccan foreign ser-
vice told me: "Reed is our dream ambas-
sador.... we would never have been
able to create a more perfect Ame>can
ambassador to come to Morocco. The
fact that he has such good access to both
Hassan and Reagan is a very good thing
indeed." Reed's colleagues in the diplo-
matic corps seem less impressed by him.
A European ambassador -hose country
has close ties With the United States said
to me: "W'hat is Mr. Reed running for?
This man's energ