Posted on 11/08/2001 1:04:52 PM PST by a_Turk
ATHENS, Nov. 7 — Tensions between Greece and the United States increased this week after a former American ambassador to Athens asserted that there were links between the country's ruling political elite and the Revolutionary Organization 17 November, a terrorist group held responsible for a series of assassinations of Americans and others in recent years.
Thomas Niles, who served as ambassador here from 1993-97, appeared on a local television current affairs program Tuesday night. He said he had given the Greek authorities a list of potential suspects linked to 17 November, a group that surfaced in 1975 and whose activities routinely include assassinations and anti-American proclamations.
"In 1995, we explained to the Greek government who we thought was writing its declarations," Mr. Niles said. The suspect, he added, was "not a member of the government at that time" — the Socialist cabinet led at that time by the late Andreas Papandreou. "There was no follow-up" from the Greeks, Mr. Niles said.
A government spokesman, Christos Protopappas, reacted swiftly today, saying that Mr. Niles was a "liar" and called his allegations "tales and fictional scenarios."
Named after the date of a bloody student uprising in 1973, 17 November first burst into the public eye with the 1975 killing of the head of the Central Intelligence Agency post in Athens, Richard Welch. The killing was seen as revenge for what Greek leftists saw as Washington's support of the military dictatorship that ruled between 1967 and 1974.
Since then, the terrorists have killed 22 more people, Greeks and foreigners, with most of the foreigners Americans. Not a single related arrest has been made.
"There is something, some element in the system that does not want this to happen," Mr. Niles said.
He ruled out, however, that the present administration of Prime Minister Costas Simitis had any contact with members of 17 November, which Mr. Niles characterized as a Marxist-Leninist group with sympathizers including "prominent members of Greek society."
Mr. Niles, who works for the United States Council for International Business in Washington, spoke during a visit to Athens. Reached by telephone in Geneva, he declined to elaborate.
The contentious 1995 report to which he referred was not the first attempt by Washington to prod Athens into investigating potential terror suspects, according to American intelligence officials.
In 1981, the then Greek Intelligence Services drafted a list of potential terror suspects that the intelligence officials said was compiled with the assistance of C.I.A. agents operating in the country at the time.
Requests to investigate the named individuals were knocked down by the Socialist Pasok party that rose to power later that year, according to the intelligence officials. The Greek government insists it has never received any such lists.
Mr. Niles was not the first former American official to comment on Greece's record on fighting terrorism, a subject that has become more acute since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, and has heightened security concerns about the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
James Woolsey, the former C.I.A. director, and L. Paul Bremmer, a former diplomat who headed a Congressional inquiry into fighting terrorism, suggested in 1999 that Greece be put on the list of countries facing sanctions for failing to cooperate with the United States.
is that the Greek criminals are better drivers.Man Pericles, I just love your sense of humor. Really!
Message to the US government: 1. Orthodox Christians are your friends. (repeat that 15 times) 2. Get serious and get some real terrorists!That's very good advice, if the cabinet were made up of preschoolers :)
I'm going to back -up Pericles .. Although no official study has been completed as yet...That's 'coz you're smart.
it will be interesting to see which Greek politicians the CIA wants to purge.I sort of like the PM and the FM.
and they started to discuss, Swiss bank accounts, portfolios on Wall St., and actual payments from you know who?I don't know who, but they would not discuss that stuff would they? It seems all to revolve around the ego. The arms money thing seems illogical. The whole thing is illogical. The EU allowing itself be the tool of Enosis seems illogical... We'll just annex the place, you watch.
jealousy, as in, why is he getting more than me.that would be sooo childish. That could at best a manipulating whine.
And why dont you tell us what you were doing there?
Each national Orthodox Church normally enjoys a form of independent status and looks to the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople as First Among Equals when there is a dispute. The Moscow Patriarchate's "reach" is largely limited to the nations of the former Soviet Union, and even that is currently in dispute.
My guess would be the payola trail does not lead to Russia but leads to China. China would have the most to gain from watching all of us kill each other.
And why dont you tell us what you were doing there?Whatch out! I think she's up to something ;-)
there was a lot of anti Ciller PR in the NYTSince Ciller used the religionists to form a coalition government a few years back, almost causing a coup, she has lost any political appeal she might have had. She barely made it into parliament during the last elections.
I don't really believe Russia has that kind of international influence today. They might, but my belief is they don't.Agreed. Their clout did exist back in the day when it helped pry Greece and the rest of the Orthodox nations loose from the Ottoman empire. Their influence persisted throughout the Cold War, but has disappeared since the fall of the USSR. The terror organizations they sponsored within NATO countries, however, still exist. I am curious who pays November 17 today?
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