Office of the Historian

336. Message From Secretary of Defense Weinberger to the Embassy in Tunisia1

Washington, November 15, 1985, 1946Z

SUBJECT

  • SecDef Meeting With Defense Minister Baly (U).
1.
(S) Principals met for thirty minutes after full honors were accorded Minister Baly on 13 November. Meeting was very cordial with main theme being current state of crisis in Tunisia, and how important it is for President Bourguiba to restore Tunisian people’s confidence in his government. Ambassador Sebastian attended.
2.
(S) After SecDef welcome, Minister Baly discoursed on dire situation in Tunisia, stressing that major threat is Libya. He iterated now familiar list of problems Tunisia currently faces, summing up by saying Libya is portraying Tunisia as part of a US/Israeli plot. Qadhafi is not calling for revenge, but calling on Tunisians to overthrow their Western leaning government. MOD stated that Tunisians do not understand position of their government as a friend of the US which supports Israel. Tunisian Government must work very hard to restore the confidence of the people in their leaders. He added that Tunisia needs grant aid at greater than 50 percent rate requested last year to improve its military and make it possible for Tunisia to defend itself, and to allow Tunisia to participate as partner in defense of free world.
3.
(S) SecDef said we would do all we could in the context of our own budget restraints. He continued that he had directed ASD Armitage to work hard in JMC to maximize Tunisia’s benefits from current assistance levels and noted that Congress seems inclined to increase grant aid and concessionality for Tunisia. SecDef pointed out our own lack of an appropriations bill and said some have forecasted upcoming foreign assistance levels as lowest in a long time. He summed up saying that although our resources are constrained, our relationship is extremely important and we will do all we can to strengthen Tunisia’s defense capabilities, including joint contingency planning if Tunisia wishes.
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, OSD Files, FRC 330–83–008, 1985 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 1, Tunisia 1985. Secret; Immediate. Sent for information to the Secretary of State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, USCINCEUR, the Defense Attaché’s Office in Tunisia. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the DOD Message Center.↩