WHY THE ROAD TO MOROCCO IS FULL OF AMERICAN V.I.P.'S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060065-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2006
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: December 20, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/11/11 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000700060065-7
ARTICL, APPEARED
ON PAGE -F5 3 THE 71E.,
20 December 1931
Wh` . ffic-R., oad to'Mord
Is x'? 11 ~ ~-.d~~ie~?ican~.~
By JAMES M. MA 2IfH M
MADRID- If the United States suddenly unlea.
sh_es a cascade of Cabinet members on a friendly
Arab nation, two possibilities suggest themselves.
One is that the country IS extremely important.
r he otherfs that its regime is in trouble.
Strategic- planners have rarely put Morocco at
the top of lists of pivotal. states, but lately King
Hassan 11 has been host to some of the most come.
quential people in Washington. Defense Secretary
Caspar W. Weinberger saw the King on Dec 3. If
the Polish crisis had not intervened, Secretary of
State Alexander M. Haig Jr. would have dropped
_.by to visit him last weep.
Gen. Vernon Walters, a Reagan Administration
security trouble-shooter, has been In.and out. So
has Francis J. West Jr., Assistant Secretary of De.
feose-for- International Security Affairs. He was
foliowedbyAdm.Bobb nIman deputy
the Central In~ en,c env, The Moroccan
press, perk aps Tearful blowing his cover, re-
p)ffe rtne presence o vrlTy"ann ?'Acbn Inman, j
Tlii i are a nunz oirreasons or attention.
King 1 asaen's? regime is, indeed, in trouble. Oneof
vie worstdroughts inhuman memory has-strickets
the economy. In June, an outbreak of rioting in
Casablanca, savagely repressed with the loss of
possibly500 lives, testified to a festering misery.
The leaders of the socialist opposition in a, timid
parliamentary experiment are locked up, and two
weeks ago, universitystwdents Went on Strike. ;
. Worst of all, a sapping six-year-old war in the
Western Sahara sputters-on inconclusively, and
Morocco's guerrilla foes seem to have gotten their
harr3sonsophisticated gt md4aafrmLssilea .
t,,t Hassan, who has been on the throne for ty
dudes, has been in trouble before. It be is in high
fishier in Ronald Reegan's Washington, it~rtiay~
also be because, perhaps- mores thaw any other
he shares the Administration's view of the world.,.:
Like the President, the King believes the Soviet:,
the third world. He feels that the Carter Adminis.
tration wavered in support of proven friends and
thatMoroccodeservesAmericansupport. ~ -
As a test case for demonstrating this Adminis-
tration's policy of helping its friends, Morocco has
an added advantage. With increasing vehemence,
King Hassan has argued that his main opponent in
the-unstable cockpit of North Africa is Libya. The
emphasis-on Libya takes the heat off Algeria,
which provides. the main rear base and diplomatic
support for the Polisario guerrillas who are fight,
ing for control of the Western Sahara. Since oil.
blessed Algeria is also Important to the United
States - America is its largest trading partner-
while Libya is a regarded as dangerous renegade,
the geopolitical title perfect. "The major U.S. con-
tribution to Morocco, and possibly the derisive-
one,"said an American diplomat, "has been to tell
Qaddafi thatwe'vehad it with him.',
A Legacy of Boomedienne -.
The Moroccan thesis is that Algeria's President, I
Chadli Benjedid, would really like to be done with
the Polisario, a legacy of his predecessor, the late,
Houari Boumedlenne, who opposed Morocco's an.'
nexation of the Spanish Sahara in 1976. But, this
argument goes, Libya, with support inside Alge.
ria,.keeps upping Its stake in the Polisario, making
it impossible for him to back out. Libya's alleged
delivery of SAM-6 missiles to the guerrillas, the,
Moroccans argue, was a calculated provocation
when a referendum endorsed by King Hassan and.
the Organization of African Unity seemed a possi.
bility. But some diplomats think the Moroccan-,
analysis underestimates Algeria's Interest in
keeping Hassan bogged down in the desert war: ;
Where the Carter Administration carefully bal-
anced its relations with Algeria and Morocco, the
-Reagan team quickly tilted toward Morocco. One
of its first acts was to approve the sale of 108 M-6G
tanks which President Carter had delayed. The
decision was announced just two days after Alge.:
ria had helped seal the deal that freed the Anserl-
can hostages in Iran. Although the United States:
has not recognized Morocco's annexation of the
Western Sahara, American military attaches and,
important guests now regularly tour the battle,
zone--again, a contrast with the Carter policy.
So far, however, there is perhaps less to this rap.
prochement than meets the eye. The high-powered:
mission of Assistant Defense Secretary West
ended, for example; in a commitment to train:
Moroccan pilots and to supply electronic counter'-.,
measures to help their jets evade missiles that
downed five aircraft In October. "I don't think that
we're rushing into anything," said a State Depart-
ment Middle East expert. "It's high-level mutual'
admiration thatdoesn't go into too manydetails."
One constraint is money. Although Saudi Arabia,
has been footing a large chunk of the Sahara war
bill, Morocco has not been able to take delivery of
the M-60 tanks because it cannot pay for them.
The sudden rush of American diplomatic back-:
Ing has perhaps been most useful in providing a?
smokescreen that permitted the Moroccan Army
last month to abandon Guelta Zemmour and Bir
Enzaran, two Isolated garrisons outside a defense
perimeter in northern part of the territory.
At a time of domestic strains, King Hassan cer
talnly welcomes even diplomatic gestures, and'
will make one of his own by visiting Washington,
possibly next month. France, the other major out.
side force in North Africa, seems to be tilting to.
~
ward Algeria under President Fran,cois Mitter-
rand, who recently completed a historic visit to the
former colony. A cynic might say that the United,
States and France; with no major rivalries in the
area, were counterbalancing each other. The
American policy of diplomacy by visible visitors;.
moreover, doesn't seem to have wrecked relations l
..with Algeria. As.the V.I.P.'s rolled into Morocco, l
VashingtonthesaleofsixLockheed. -130ttana.1
ports for the Algerian Air Force slipped through
Congress withoutcausing a stir.
Approved For Release 2006/11/11: CIA-RDP91-00901?R00070006006577: