10. Memorandum From Robert W. Komer of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Military Aide (Clifton) for President Kennedy 0
Washington,
October 19, 1963, 2:30 p.m.
On allegations US planes helping Moroccans against Algeria,1 we’ve been raising hell on this all week here and in Algiers. After repeated protests we’ve gotten BB regime to accept our denials and clamp down on radio and press, insofar as this gimcrack regime can control them. We’re pressing now to get them to publish our denial.
Unfortunately our Air Attache Rabat just flew down to Ouarzazate (100 miles or so behind front) to pick up intelligence, and was seen by press. We’ve already clamped down hard on any more such nonsense.
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Algeria, 10/63. Secret. A handwritten note on the source text reads: “President saw.”↩
- On October 12, the Christian Science Monitor published a story alleging that USAF training pilots had been ferrying Moroccan troops to staging areas near the Algerian border at the request of the Moroccan Government because of the lack of Moroccan pilots. The U.S. Government subsequently denied this allegation in public and private statements in both Washington and Algiers. On October 22, the newspaper published a correction, stating that the information on which the October 12 report was based had been inaccurate. Documentation on this subject is in Department of State, Central Files, POL 32-1 ALG-MOR.↩