127. Paper Prepared by the Ambassador at Large (Harriman)1
MOROCCO
At Ambassador Tasca’s urging and to fulfill an old promise to the King, I stopped off at Rabat on my way home. The King is understanding of and has sympathy with our policies in Vietnam. There is not much he can do. He has sent one cargo of phosphate fertilizer and I encouraged him to do more. He was just back from a visit to the Soviet Union and had obtained agreements for economic assistance. Whether these will materialize in actual deliveries is still to be seen. They do involve, however, sending a number of Russian technicians promptly and his Ministers were anxious to get from us our experience with subversive action in other parts of the world. I think it is much to our interest to encourage this.
In spite of his hospitable reception, the King is under no illusions that the Soviets would like to unseat him and supplant him with a leftist government. In fact, he told me they had been frank in telling him that although they wanted to be friendly, he must understand that if he got into difficulties with any of the countries that were in the “socialist family,” the Soviet Union would be on their side. He told me they mentioned the following countries: UAR, Algeria, Mali, Guinea, Congo (Brazzaville), Tanzania, Somalia, Syria and Iraq.
The King is concerned over the extremely heavy shipments of arms to Algeria. They are so large that our own military officers in Rabat are at a loss to understand just what the Russians have in mind. The King shares the Shah’s and the Ethiopian Emperor’s concern over Nasser’s [Page 188] aggressive intentions. They are all worried over what will happen when the British leave Aden. They look upon Nasser as a Soviet tool and watch with concern the military build-up with Russian weapons in UAR, Iraq, Algeria, Somalia, and now Syria.
The King is unhappy that we have refused to sell him ten to fifteen million dollars in tank and anti-tank weapons which he feels is necessary to enable Morocco to hold out against Algerian attack for the few days necessary to take the issue to the Security Council. Without more modern weapons, he feels an Algerian attack might penetrate so deeply in Moroccan territory that he would be unseated.
The King expressed concern about the defense of Saudi Arabia against possible Nasser attack and hopes we will give King Faysal full support.
For my part I have been and am now increasingly concerned about what the Soviets are up to in the Middle East and feel there should be a strategic study of the military, political, and economic implications of the entire area from Morocco to Iran. The threat to the oil resources is as much in Libya as in the Arabian Peninsula. Morocco is on the right flank of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The use of facilities in Morocco are vital to its operation.
I hope by the time the King arrives in February, there can be at least a preliminary estimate which will make possible some decision on his problems.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 US/HARRIMAN. Secret. This paper is part of a larger “Report of Post-Manila Trip,” dated November 22, transmitted by Harriman to the President and Rusk on November 28, following his trip to 10 countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa after the Manila Conference. It included a general report and separate reports on each country he visited. Harriman’s conversation with the King on November 9 was recorded in a memorandum of conversation which is ibid.↩