191. Letter From Secretary of Defense Weinberger to Secretary of State Haig1
(S) As you know, the USG has engaged in an effort to obtain or enhance access to several key air facilities in countries along the Atlantic route to Southwest Asia.
(S) Facilities in Morocco, with some improvements, could satisfy a significant portion of these requirements, and overcome some of our present enroute difficulties. They would also be useful in certain African contingencies.
(S) We are aware of the concern that King Hassan might use such a proposal to seek a “quid” from the United States, but recent U.S. actions have provided Morocco much of the materiel it sought (i.e., approval last summer of the $248 million aircraft sale, the beginning of OV–10 deliveries in late January and the sale of M60 tanks). Moreover, your willingness to meet with King Hassan’s emissaries during the first few days of this Administration2 and the visit of a major U.S. naval vessel to Agadir have put us in a good position vis-a-vis the Moroccans.
(S) To be sure, King Hassan is unlikely to change his position on the Western Sahara, and we will give him an opportunity to raise that issue in access negotiations. This is a real problem, but we cannot hope to provide adequate logistic support to U.S. forces engaged in a conflict in the Persian Gulf area without sufficient enroute facilities. Accordingly, I strongly recommend that discussions be initiated with the Government of Morocco as soon as feasible.
Sincerely,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, OSD Files, FRC 330–83–0104, 1981 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Secretary to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Box 13, Morocco (Jan–Jun). Secret.↩
- See Document 187.↩