MORE WILD CHARGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360017-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: February 3, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

0
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R00010
T~Si^~~TTT~ J
I? 65,399
S? 75,23]
FEB 3 1956
not stand so tall as formerly.
re Wild Charges
THE Ben Barka: kidnapping case in France
bids fair to become the greatest French:
political scandal since the Dreyfuss case of,
70 years ago. And the charges grow wilder'
? with each week that passes.
The, case, in a nutshell, Is that Ben Barka,!
a left-wing Moroccan politician hostile to Kingi
Hassan II, was kidnapped in broad daylight
off a Paris street last fall.
The kidnappers were French police agents
PH the kidnap vehicle was an official police
rar, The kidnappers took Ben Barka to a villa .
nutside Paris and left him there, where it'
was presumed until this week that he was
murdered.
This much was known by knowledgeable;
Frenchmen within a week of the October kid-
napping. But the French presidential elections.
la' v just ahead. General DeGaulle was making
a tot out of the fact that his administration,
unliks others, hadn't been and wouldn't be
touched by scandals.
Gaullist newspapers played down the story
so as not to embarrass the candidate.
But now "l'affaire Ben Barka" has become
"1? scandale Ben Barka," with a cast of
characters right out of Ian Fleming-a king,
generals, cabinet ministers, gangsters, stool
pigeons, and crooked cops. The latest tune being sung by the Gaullist
press is that the,,,~An rican Central Intellia-
ence Agency,-off. r CIA, en arka
anT'killed' him Ir d der to rid the world of
a dangerous leftist and at the same time emi
barrass?the difficult-to-deal-with French presi-
dent.
Parisians are even beginning to have sec-
ond thoughts about whether the murder took
place. After all, no corpse has turned up.
It is a corking good mystery story, and
Paris is understandably titillated by it. But it
is a little bit sad to see the French people
travel the last mile In disillusionment about
their government and their great men. Be
cause of the almost certain involveme t of
several of his top assistants, DeGaulle's epu-
will
tation will surely suffer a tarnishing.
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360017-7