Evening star., 1925-11-09
KR|M UNDEFEATED,
SWEENEY ASSERTS
Leader Untouched-Either
+. He or French Eventually
Must Go, He Says.
BY COL. CHARLES SWEENEY.

BY COL. CHARLES SWEENEY.
Commander OF the American Escadrtlle in
Morocco.
By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News
OUEZZAN, November 5, Via Paris,
November 9.-Now that the Moroccan
campaign is ended and our campaign
with French army operations is draw
ing toward its end, it may be inter
esting to take retrospective view of
the general results.
Last April Abd-el-Krim in spite of
the friendly relations he had always
had with the French. attacked sud
denly French outposts guarding the
plains about FeZ and the coast cities
against incursions by mountain tribes.
At that time he had a well trained,
well supplied veteran army of $4,000
regulars, elated by their victory over
the Spaniards.
Tribes Rallied to Krim.
AS they advanced in the French
zone, tribes as yet unsubdued or
those just lately subdued, rallied to
his standard. attracted by the pros
poets of rich booty. / shall not at
tempt to describe the ferocity of that
first attack. nor the desperate situa-
ton of the French forces, which We're
outnumbered and almost over
Whelmed.
Arrival of reinforcements enabled
Marshal Lyautey to stem the flood
and finally to re-establish a defensive
line behind which a counter offensive
could be organized.
Now Gen. Petain has carried out
that offensive, and the French line has
been re-established approximately as
it was before Abd-el-krim's raid.
Krim Still Untouched.
But what is the situation now? The
Riffian Pancho Villa, who has been
driven back over the Moroccan Rio
Grande, unfortunately makes the an
swer only too clear. He has not been
touched as yet. Up to the present the
French have been fighting only
against warriors drawn from tribes
which revolted under the influence of
the bandit leader. The Riffian army
itself furnished only the necessary
number of trained soldiers to stiffen
the mass of irregulars. But the Ber-
ber troops have not yet encountered
the enemy.
Abd-el- el-Krin's 10000 regulars, in
trenched in their mountain Businesses.
await favorable opportunity again to
raid the fertile plains. This promises
new fights In the near future
Spain, meanwhile, If one can be-
lieve the Madrid press, intends to
persist in her announced policy of
leaving Abd-el-Krim a free field to
fasten his hold on the mountain
tribes. From time immemorial the
chief occupation of these hillsmen
has been raiding and plundering the
lowlands, and certainly only force
can stop them from continuing this
lucrative and agreeable trade.
One Must Leave.
One is compelled to conclude that
sooner or later the French will send
a punitive expedition across the
mountains. In a word, the presence
of Abd-el- -Krim and the French in
Morocco at the same time is prac-
tically impossible. The French must
conquer him or get out.
1t is now evident that the cam
paign of 1925 has done little toward
a final clearing up of the Riffian sit
uation. 1t has established a basis for
future solution, but 1t has not
solved the problem. If the French
intend to conquer northern Morocco
there arises Immediately the question
of the control of Gibraltar and the
Mediterranean.
Behind this shadow is England and
unending international complications
The writer is inclined to believe
| that Abd-el-Krim will prove as great
a factor in the stirring up of future
conflicts and wars in Europe as the
| Balkans have been in the past.
| Copyright. 1925. by Chicago Daily News Co J
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