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Obviously shaken by the unreliability of his military, Hassan last week lashed out at the army as "despicable and evil" and moved to reassert his authority. He abolished the posts of defense minister and chief of staff, made himself commander-in-chief of the armed forces and named his personal pilot, who had landed the shot-up royal plane on one engine, chief of the air force. Although Morocco's tiny navy was the only armed service that had not yet mounted an attack against him, Hassan sacked the navy chief as well. He also summarily retired four military judges who earlier this year acquitted 1,007 cadets involved in the 1971 revolt. Evidently Hassan intended to see that those involved this time would be dealt with more harshly. Last week at least 50 persons, including Oufkir's widow, were still being interrogated, although Hassan guessed that "not more than 15" actively took part in the plot.
Quick Thinker. In a large measure, Hassan's survival can be attributed to the fact that he is a quick thinker—"twice as fast as anybody else around here," remarked one knowledgeable diplomat. "His most implacable opposition," cabled TIME Correspondent Curt Prendergast from Morocco last week, "lies in the cities, where laborers' tin and tar paper shantytowns contrast sharply with the lavish life-style of the rich, most notably Hassan himself. So far, Hassan has succeeded in keeping his political opposition at bay. The conservative Istiqlal Party and the leftist National Union of Popular Forces are in a shaky alliance at best; the militancy of the better-organized Union Marocaine du Travail is mitigated by the fact that for every job there are two hungry men seeking it." When negotiations with the parties broke down, Hassan proclaimed a new constitution last March. The parties boycotted the election. But government trucks went out and transported voters to the polls; Morocco's third constitution in a decade was ratified by 98% of the voters.
With the monarch and the monarchy both more vulnerable to the pressures around them, Hassan last week reiterated that new elections would be held in a few months. "I want to build on the basis of legality, in 'the open,' " said the King, using some of his favorite golfing terms. "It's a match where everybody can join in." But he clearly expected the political parties to make concessions to him, and not vice versa. He was ready to open talks, Hassan said, but only if the parties changed their demands—which are, essentially, rule by Parliament rather than the throne.
After a wary silence, both the Istiqlal Party and the National Union of Popular Forces issued statements attacking Hassan's "antidemocratic" policies and his "absolutist" style of government. The papers had hardly hit the streets when Hassan's Information Ministry confirmed the point by seizing the entire press run.