Achievements
It was a time of change and of rumour, and it is difficult to assess de Marenches's achievements. There were those who believed that while he was one of the busiest figures on the intelligence circuit, some of his pronouncements (those on the Soviet Union for example) were based on slender information. Others noted how he successfully cultivated his contacts in the Middle East, pushing the sales of Mirage fighters and helping to establish a relationship with Iraq that has persisted. In Africa, sometimes working with the old Gaullist emissary Jacques Foccart, and sometimes behaving as his rival, de Marenches strengthened France's traditional strongholds.
He co-founded the Safari Club, a "private intelligence group one of George H. W. Bush's many end-runs around congressional oversight of the American intelligence establishment and the locus of many of the worst features of the mammoth BCCI scandal." The Club involved a number of states, including Saudi Arabia (which financed the operations), Morocco, Egypt and Iran, and was intended to counter Soviet operations in the Middle East and Africa.
Interlocutor of many heads of state in the world and close friend of King Hassan II of Morocco, he was elected member of the Academy of Morocco. After the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency of the United States of America, he would have become, according to the American journalist Colley, one of his closest advisers doing business in Afghanistan.
Among other things, Count de Marenches is known to have predicted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to an American journalist who immediately reported his conversation to US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and left for Kabul, "arriving in the same time as the Soviet tanks did" (Marenches in Dans le Secret des Princes).
Extremely charismatic and a colorful character, he was highly esteemed for his valour and patriotism.
Edouard Balladur knew him well when they were both working closely with President Pompidou. When Balladur was Prime Minister, he was due to preside over a medal-awarding ceremony. He was suddenly unable to attend and he asked de Marenches to take his place. Coming from Balladur this was a serious mark of respect as well as of friendship.
Standing at 6'4", he was called Porthos in reference to the Three Musketeers and his corpulence.
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