Office of the Historian

299. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Colby to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, September 26, 1975.

SUBJECT

  • Mulla Mustafa Barzani’s Request to Meet with a Policy Level American Official

REFERENCE

  • Memorandum dated 6 September 1975; Subject: Mulla Mustafa Barzani Diagnosed as Suffering from Terminal Cancer2

1. In referenced memorandum, I noted that Barzani wanted to meet with a senior American official and that I planned to have an appropriate Agency official see him. Since that memorandum was written, officers with Barzani state that he wants to meet an official at the policy making level and will not be satisfied with a senior intelligence officer. Barzani feels very strongly that he must present his people’s case to such an official before he dies (estimated at six to eight months) and has indicated that it would be inappropriate for him to leave the United States until he has done so.

[Page 807]

2. Because the program of U.S. assistance to Barzani has been tightly held, I request your permission to discuss Barzani’s desires with Under Secretary Sisco.3

W.E. Colby4
  1. Source: National Security Council, Ford Intelligence Files, Subject Files A–L, IO 11, Box 12, GRF, Iraq/Kurds, 4 June 1975–26 September 1975. Secret; [handling restriction not declassified].↩
  2. Attached but not printed.↩
  3. Scowcroft wrote “OK” in the margin and initialed.↩
  4. Colby signed “Bill” above this typed signature.↩