NORTH AFRICA: The King's Bizarre Crusade

From the Strait of Gibraltar to the edge of the Sahara, 620 miles away, all Morocco last week seemed to be on one giant national picnic. In towns and villages, men and women sang and danced to the din of drums and the ear-splitting piping of flutes; excited children ran through the streets and watched their parents and relatives board trains and buses for the south. King Hassan II's bizarre crusade to "liberate" the Spanish Sahara (TIME. Oct. 27) was ready to begin.

Realizing that an armed invasion might well cause a war...

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