Office of the Historian

28. Telegram From Vice President Bush to President Reagan1

281.
Belgrade, September 17, 1983, 1635Z

Copies only to: Judge Clark and Sec State. Positively no other distribution. Subject: Herewith My Capsulized Personal Impressions on Magreb Countries.

1.
Morocco. King Hassan showed me unprecedented hospitality. The foremost symbol of this was very small dinner at which his wife and four children were in attendance.2
2.
His main problem is—Morocco, quite simply, is broke. His Majesty could not bring himself to discuss the gory details. His Finance Minister had prepared a letter, but the King’s pride and his innate belief that friends will help friends kept him from passing the letter to me.
3.
Morocco has given us access to bases for rapid deployment. Others would have traded hard and exacted a price—not Hassan.
4.
It seems imperative to me that we help Morocco now in their hour of critical need.
5.
Algeria. I had a very long one-on-one with President Bendjedid followed by a family lunch at which we were joined by just Barbara and the seldom seen Mrs. Bendjedid.3
6.
I was impressed—Bendjedid is much more moderate and reasonable than I had expected. He is far different than Boumédiènne, a judgement confirmed by the Moroccans and Tunisians. All subjects were discussed in a very realistic non-polemical way.
7.
I left Algeria feeling it is well worth the effort at high levels to work with them. Someday I would love to see Bendjedid come to meet you. I guarantee you will like him and find him sensible.
8.
He has some big problems steering Algeria away from its more radical past, but I believe he wants to do just that.
9.
Tunisia. Our friend Bourguiba is out of it. He was pleasant and emotional but he kind of comes and goes.4
10.
Example: Right in the middle of my somewhat boring toast given at a lunch for his top people, Bourguiba yelled out “What about Israel? They ought to do what’s right in the Middle East.” All his top [Page 56] people and his wife tried to calm him down and shut him up. My heart ached for the poor guy.
11.
I saw a good deal of his designated successor Mzali, who sends his regards to you. Mrs. Bourguiba, a very warm and engaging woman, came unexpectedly to Mzali’s dinner for us. She clearly overshadows them all—they all defer to her, even Mzali.
12.
Our relationship with Tunisia is excellent. They have huge financial problems.
13.
All three countries worry about the Polisario problem, but Algeria and Morocco are still pretty far apart.
14.
They all detest Khadafi, though all have contacts with him.
15.
Except for their actions in the various multilateral organizations which often go against us, our relations with Tunisia and Morocco are excellent and the relationship with Algeria has great potential.
16.
One side note—I survived, barely, a challenging press conference in Tunisia. It was like every questioner was representing Arafat in philosophy and acting like Sam Donaldson5 in performance.
17.
They blamed us for the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla.6 I just lucked out by being questioned on the anniversary of the massacre.
18.
They all stated that Habib had made an agreement that we would protect the Palestinians when their fighters pulled out.7 They were emotional and unreasonable. Come to think of it though, I’d rather have done that, than call John Loeb.8
19.
Oh yes, Yassir Arafat, in Tunisia, called Mzali, Tunisia’s Prime Minister, offering to drop by to see me.
20.
This concludes my report from the Magreb. May all your dates be free of dromedary dung. May your fruits be devoid of sand. May the finger of peace be aimed in the right direction.
George al-Bush
  1. Source: George H.W. Bush Library, Vice Presidential Records, Vice Presidential Daily Files, OA/ID 20652. Secret; Via Privacy Channels. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the White House Situation Room.↩
  2. See Document 26.↩
  3. See Document 27.↩
  4. See Document 27.↩
  5. Reference is to the White House Correspondent for ABC News.↩
  6. Reference is to the September 16–19, 1982, massacre of Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp by a Lebanese Christian Phalange militia allied with the Israeli military. Documentation on the incident is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. XVIII, Part 2, Lebanon, September 1982–March 1984.↩
  7. See footnote 2, Document 17.↩
  8. Reference is to John L. Loeb Sr., a wealthy financier, philanthropist, and strong supporter of Israel.↩