No sooner had Moroccan Opposition Leader Mehdi ben Barka disappeared during a visit to Paris 20 months ago, than a rumor began to make the rounds that the American C.l.A. was behind the abduction. Even Charles de Gaulle allowed as to how that was probably the case. Then, to the French President's chagrin, it became clear that his own police, acting in cahoots with Moroccan officials and the Parisian underworld, had engineered the whole operation. "A vulgar and minor affair," said De Gaulle in airy dismissal.
Ben Barka would not go away that easily. The French press and public kept...