GREECE: U.S. Becomes a Target Again

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Peter Taberner

ATHENS, Feb 16 2007 (IPS) - Fears have grown that a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy last month could indicate increased targeting of U.S. facilities in Greece.

The left-wing militant group, the Revolutionary Struggle, claimed responsibility for the attack. And that raised concerns over revival of a long tradition of left-inspired attacks on U.S. targets through the sixties and seventies.

The Jan. 12 attack was the seventh by the Revolutionary Struggle, beginning with a bomb on Athens’ Evelpidon courthouse in 2003 through to an audacious plot last year to kill public order minister George Voulgarakis. A bomb was intercepted 160 yards from the minister’s house.

The terrorist organisation has threatened more attacks on selected targets. The threats are evidently provoked by U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and Iraq, in the face of Greek government support to the Bush administration.

Government officials have sought to play down such threats. “Of course I agree that certain people disagree with U.S. policies, but such trends exist within Europe and the United States itself,” secretary-general for information Panos Leivadas said in a statement.

“The two peoples are in fact brought together by the deep principles of democracy and peace, and don’t forget that there are now thousands of Greeks that have migrated to the United States and prospered, and many Americans visit Greece.”

A U.S. embassy spokesperson said: “The Iraq war and other conflicts such as Kosovo (the disputes southern region of Serbia in the Balkans) no doubt have been a catalyst to recent attacks but this is still from a very secular organisation.”

Recent polls do not show any increase of hostility towards the United States, the spokesperson said. “There may be disagreements on political issues but Greeks generally are welcoming of American citizens and embrace many parts of U.S. culture.”

The United States is the largest foreign investor in Greece and has given Greece billions of dollars in economic aid since the Second World War.

But officers investigating the embassy bombing have spoken of their fears of an even bigger and more ambitious attack.

Loose border security around Greece is a major headache. The rocket launcher used in the embassy attack was almost certainly smuggled in from the Balkans or Albania. This has prompted Europol to urge all EU member states to be more vigilant and to exchange more information on any suspected terrorist activity.

A defence and foreign affairs special analysis paper published by the non-governmental organisation, the International Strategic Studies Association, suggests a link between the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Revolutionary Struggle. It predicts an increase in anti-U.S. activity in Greece led by groups campaigning for an independent Kosovo.

Kosovo which has substantial autonomy under UN protection is dominated by about two million ethnic Albanians, with only about 80,000 Serbs. Despite opposition from Serbia, the region seems headed for independence.

Some officials believe that Greece is now better prepared to deal with this and other threats after successfully dismantling the November 17 group by the summer of 2002 and holding the Olympics Games successfully two years later.

The November 17 organisation was behind several attacks on U.S. targets after the United States supported the right-wing military government from 1967 to 1974. The group took its name from the date tanks were sent in to crush an uprising on the campus of Athens Polytechnic Nov. 17, 1973. At least 20 people died, and that date is still marked by left- wing rallies and trade union protests.

Government spokesman Leivadas is confident of the ability to control terror groups: “It is a matter of fact that we have stopped deadly terror groups such as November 17, we always have been and always are vigilant and on the alert in dealing with terrorism issues,” he told IPS.