Evening star., 1952-09-29
House Probers Blame
AT for Delay, Waste
Al Moroccan Bases
By jones E. Roper

House investigators blame the
Air Force for most of the waste
and confusion that delayed con-
struction of air bases in Morocco.
A subcommittee of the House
Appropriations Committee says
the Air Force failed to plan prop
erly and then failed to keep the
Army Corps of Engineers informed
about the urgency or non-urgency
Of the project.
AS a result, the subcommittee
says. the Army Engineers who did
the actual construction worked
under emergency conditions-and
that meant wasting money to save
time.
The House subcommittee re-
ported these conclusions after
hearing 800 pages of secret teSti-
mony about the $421 million pro-
ject in North Africa. In blaming
the Air Force and, to a lesser ex-
tent. American diplomats. the
subcommittee challenged the find
ingS of a Senate subcommittee.
Appropriate Action Asked.
A Senate Armed Services sub
committee under Senator john
son of Texas has criticized the
Army Engineers and called for
appropriate action" against their
chief, 1t. Gen. Lewis A. Pick.
The House subcommittee, how
ever. found that "a substantial
injustice has been done by making
the Corps of Engineer officers the
whipping boys of this operation"
"A most serious circumstance
was the lack of advance planning
(by the Air Force)," the subcom-
mittee said.
1t recounted that the Air Force
had advance inspection parties I'M
Morocco many months before it
informed the Army engineers that
they might be called upon to build
bases there. Then, when the
Korean war broke out. the Air
Force called for construction of
five bases in Morocco and stipu-
lated that they be ready to handle
bombers within six months.
The subcommittee said the Air
Force indicated to the Engineers
that the issue of peace or war
might well rest on whether the
Moroccan bases were ready for
action within the time limit.
Took Calculated Risks.
The Engineers, therefore, spent
1iberally to get building equipment
and materials on a frantic-urgent
basis, the subcommittee said. The
Engineers, it added. took construc-
tion shortcuts and calculated
risks to speed completion of the
runways.
This expensive emergency phase
continued for many months after
the world crisis eaSed. The sub
committee said the Air Force sim :
ply neglected to tell the Engineers =,
that world conditions had changed
and could allow for economical
construction at normal speed.
The subcommittee also blame j Il
the Air Force for changing Speci-
flcations and at one time hating
construction of base under threat
to court martial the Army Engi-
neer if he continued the work.
American diplomats were &C
cused of failing to get proper
clearance for the projects from
France. which controls Morocco.
At one time, all construction was
stopped because the French dis
covered the United States wanted
to garrison four times as many
troops on the bases as
stated.
Feared Political Problem.
This proposed influx of Ameri-
can troops so alarmed the French ,
that they demanded the bases
be abandoned or be built away
from large population centers sol
as not to cause a political prob
lem. This forced the Air Force
to change the base sites.
"The lessons learned should be
applied to future diplomatic deal
Ings of this nature" the subcom-
mittee said.
The subcommittee did not men,
tion the Senate investigators by
name. but apparently had them
In mind when it wrote:
mo other job in the committee S
recollection has received the
of adverse criticism and
publicity which has been given to
the Moroccan project.
Some portions of the criticism