The American Invasion

French Morocco is the site of the latest American invasion, peaceful but hectic, bringing airmen and planes and contractors with millions of dollars to spend.

The five big air bases which the U.S. is building in the northwest corner of Africa will handle anything that S.A.C. (the U.S. Strategic Air Command) now has or will have for years to come, including the jet-powered B-47 and the experimental XB-52. From Morocco, S.A.C. will be in easy range of Soviet targets in the Ukraine, the Caucasus oilfields--in fact, any targets in European Russia, from Moscow to the southern frontier. Yet the Moroccan bases are almost unreachable from the U.S.S.R. by land. To take them, short of an airborne assault, the Red Army would have to skirt the eastern Mediterranean and cross the whole of North Africa. "European bases may give us 10% more hitting power," says one Air Force officer, "but Morocco gives us 90% more staying power."

The Crash Program. There was good reason for hurrying into Morocco. But, largely because of the hurry, the whole Morocco air base program last week was in trouble, both actual and potential. The actual trouble--which can be cured--is due to waste and inefficiency in the construction job itself. The potential trouble, which may be harder to deal with, is a whole complex of problems arising from French-Arab-U.S. relations.

The U.S.-French agreement for the bases was made in December 1950, at a time when the U.S. was threatened with defeat in Korea, and when Eisenhower had not yet arrived in Europe to help shore up its defenses. Base construction in Morocco got under way as what the Pentagon calls a "crash" program, in which speed is all-important and waste must be borne. The first estimate of total cost, $300 million, has now soared to $455 million.

The Army Corps of Engineers sent out white-mustached Colonel George T. Derby, a veteran of the Pacific war, to do the job. Derby let the contracts to a pool of five U.S. companies, operating together as "Atlas Constructors," on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis (the fee being something over $5,000,000).

Alarmed by the costs, the Air Force twice lowered the time priority on finishing the bases. Still the costs stayed high, and Senator Lyndon Johnson's Preparedness ("Watchdog") subcommittee got curious. Army Secretary Frank Pace also got busy. Last week he notified Senator Johnson that he had relieved Colonel Derby, that efforts would be made to recover any money "improperly spent"; and that Atlas Constructors had been ordered to mend their ways or go.

The Unfinished Three. Some of the blame belongs to the Air Force, and its costly indecision in choosing a site for the largest of the five bases. First it was persuaded by the French to settle on Ben Guerir, in the rocky flatlands at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. Then the Air Force switched the site to a place called Mechra Bel Ksiri, where $120,000 was spent before it was learned that Mechra Bel Ksiri is flooded for part of each year. Now the work is going forward again at Ben Guerir.

Two other bases, at Sidi Slimane and Nouasseur are already "operational," though not yet equipped with the amenities of life. The remaining three are supposed to be finished by July, but won't be.

The Generous Americans. So far the American invasion numbers 4,000 construction workers and 3,000 blue-uniformed airmen. Thirty-ton earth loaders, compactors and asphalt layers are changing the landscape, within sight of Arab and Berber shepherds who tend their flocks and think their own thoughts. The French administration welcomes the advent of U.S. capital and enterprise, but insists on keeping local wages down to check inflation. Many French bureaucrats, businessmen, speculators and colons (plantation owners) grumble that the generous, kindly Americans will spoil the inhabitants.

French Morocco, rich in minerals and water power, is one of the handsomest and, in the north, one of the most fertile territories in all Islam. In the spring, parts of the country are as green as England. It is a land with three capitals: Rabat, the seat of government; Casablanca, the main seaport and business center; Fez, the religious and cultural capital. The population of 9,000,000 includes 4,500,000 Moorish Arabs, 4,000,000 Berbers, 350,000 French. The Berbers, bigger and blonder than the Arabs, are Moslems but they have their own language, and their religion permits them to eat wild pigs and drink alcoholic beverages. Headed by the foxy old Pasha of Marrakech, the Berbers are much more friendly to the French than are the Arabs. The French count heavily on them in case of trouble.

Since 1912, French Morocco has been a "protectorate" (a colony in everything but name). The nominal ruler is the Sultan, a descendant of the Prophet, who has fluorescent lights in his palace at Rabat. Actually, however, the French administrator (who is tactfully called the Resident General and not the governor) dictates Morocco's laws and handles its foreign policy.

The man who sits in the Residence Generale at Rabat today is General Augustin Leon Guillaume, 56, a forthright and plain-spoken man with a brilliant military record in two world wars. A doctor's son from the Alps, Guillaume speaks Italian, German, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Moorish Arabic, Berber; he was a close friend of the late Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny, hero of Indo-China.

Big Profits, Low Taxes. In 40 years, French enterprise and enthusiasm have done a great deal to improve and modernize Morocco. Hydroelectric plants are already irrigating a million acres. The French have crisscrossed the land with 27,000 miles of roads. In, brawling Casablanca, where dozens of new hotels, office buildings and apartments went up last year, the skyline changes almost daily. Four decades ago, Casablanca was a squalid Oriental port of 20,000 people. Today the population is 600,000. Last year ships spent a total of 4,000 days waiting for berths at Casa's crowded docks.

Casablanca is a fine place for freewheeling French businessmen: profits are big, taxes low. No one there seriously considers the need or desirability of turning the country over to the Moroccans, or giving them autonomy. Even the late Marshal Lyautey, who had a wonderful knack for getting along with Moors, seemed to think that Morocco would stay peaceably in French hands forever. Belatedly, a school for native administrators has been started, but turns out only 60 men a year.

The Stirring Peoples. The leaders of Istiglal, the independence movement, are on the whole moderate men who prefer pressure to violence. Yet the ferment of Moslem nationalism is reaching west toward Morocco. Last autumn there were election riots. Last week the Sultan, Sidi Mohammed Ben Youssef, who was once mistakenly thought to be a safe man for France, dispatched a letter to President Vincent Auriol demanding more local rule.

General Guillaume believes firmly that Morocco is not ready for independence, and he expects the U.S., with five important air bases at stake, to back him up. Whatever the merits and demerits of French colonialism, the U.S. finds itself doing just that. After some misgivings, Americans on the scene have now pretty well convinced themselves that to be distracted by colonial problems in the present emergency would be like a fire engine's crew noticing that the streets are dirty, and stopping to clean up the litter.

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