122
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
"And your view of conditions in other Moslem lands such
as Spanish Morocco?" I asked.
"Franco is a beast and a bastard," Slim was carrying the ball
now while Miss Pope listened approvingly. "Franco rules with
an iron hand in a Fascist regime,"
Slim had a perfect right to hate colonial exploitation. What
I resented was the hypocrisy in whitewashing British colonial
policy. General Clayton's name2 was brought into the picture: "He is sometimes asked by the Arab States for advice.
Most of the Arab League members are his friends," Slim said.
Clayton was in charge of a special division in the Middle East
Office "to maintain liaison with Arabs and give economic aid
and advice."
A British writer aptly described the Maghreb Office as the
"North African Nationalists' No. 10 Downing Street." It was
used as a center of agitation against rival Spanish and French
interests. As I saw it, once the Moslems had achieved their
independence, England would slip in by the back door under
the guise of "advising" the puppet regime it had helped create. Toward this end leaders of the Maghreb countries not
only received propaganda training by the British, but also subsidies in money and other aid. Under veiled British direction
Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan "Committees of Liberation" were formed. With imperialist England hated and reviled throughout the Middle East and Asia, England's only
area of future exploitation lay in Africa. Toward this end the
Maghreb Office, and similar bodies, worked overtime.
THE GROWLING LION OF MOROCCO
BEFORE leaving I had won from Miss Pope and Slim the
promise that in a day or two I could meet Emir Abd el Krim,
2
Brig.-Gen. Iltid Nicholl Clayton, then in charge of His Majesty's
Middle East Office. An influential policy-maker, he directed intrigue among
the Arab States, and served as chief of Middle East intelligence.