198. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Nance) to President Reagan1
SUBJECT
- Secretary Weinberger’s Stop in Morocco
Secretary Weinberger has sent you the following report on his meeting with King Hassan of Morocco.
Begin Text:
For our refueling stop on my way to Turkey I chose Fez, Morocco, so that I could meet with King Hassan. I had an excellent ninety minute discussion with Hassan in which he put forward his strategic views and proposals for our security relationship. He is under the multiple threat of the Polisario attacks, economic difficulties and a drought at home, and Soviet efforts of subversion. He clearly wants a closer defense relationship with us.
In particular, he would like us to set up a joint military commission, and he reaffirmed his offer for air transit facilities. On the joint military [Page 429] commission, I told the King that I would recommend to you that we start such a forum, so as to provide a framework for our ongoing relations and to strengthen them. Hassan asked that our Ambassador Reed convey to him a description of such a joint military commission, prior to the visit of Al Haig, and that we get other materials on the subject to him that we agreed.
On air transit bases for us, King Hassan indicated the locations they prefer, which do not quite coincide with our preferred locations. However, the more important issue is the about $150 million in congressionally approved funding that we would require to prepare the air facilities for our use. Air bases in Morocco could complement our bases in Spain or Portugal for refueling on the way to the Middle East. At a minimum, having the offer from Morocco may help us get a better deal in our ongoing negotiations with Spain and Portugal. [7½ lines not declassified]
[1 paragraph (2 lines) not declassified]
Hassan emphasized he would prefer to have a Moroccan-Spanish defense agreement if he granted us transit facilities. Perhaps he wants to protect the interests of his close friend, the King of Spain, in his base negotiation with us. I had the impression Hassan was telling us in effect that we should not assume that, if we cannot reach agreement with the Spanish on bases, we could automatically get what we need in Morocco.
Hassan discussed his plans for a follow-up to the recent Arab summit in Fez, which failed to produce any agreement. On a strictly confidential basis, he mentioned he intended to host another Arab summit next April—after the completion of Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai. His hopes are that Egypt will join the Arab consensus.
Hassan also revealed his plans for negotiation with Algeria. He has some hopes that in a meeting a few weeks hence be can induce Algeria to cooperate with him by shifting Algerian support to the Polisario in exchange for economic cooperation, such as gas pipelines from Algerian fields to Moroccan ports.
At my departure, the King provided me a study for transmittal to you. This study, occasioned by the visit earlier this year of the Secretary of Energy,2 was prepared by competent technicians and concerns means of assuring free movement of petroleum from the Arabian Gulf region.
The King remarked to me that his visit to the U.S., probably in January, should be a working visit. Hassan’s aim is to get to know you well, including spending some time alone with you. We gave him a [Page 430] rather historic McClellan cavalry saddle, and he said that, as a horseman of forty years’ standing, he would like to go riding with you, and you would be the recipient of a special saddle designed and used by the King—you would get the second one.
End Text
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, Job 83M00035R: Box 16, C–379, Morocco. Secret. Copies were sent to Bush, Meese, Baker, and Deaver. A detailed record of the Weinberger-Hassan conversation is in telegram 9008 from Rabat, December 5. (Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Country File, Africa, Morocco (11/22/1981–12/22/1981))↩
- Not found.↩