Greece - US Department of State

712 Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX
A suggestion for your reply is enclosed at Enclosure No. 3. 3
It is not yet clear the degree to which the exchange between you
and the Prime Minister can be used to help persuade critics of the
regime that the regime does in fact firmly intend to return the country
to parliamentary democracy. The effective use of the exchange depends
in part on the Prime Minister’s willingness to agree to the publication
of the text of the two letters or, alternatively, the substance of the
letters.
Recommendations
The Under Secretaries Committee recommends:
1. That no announcement be made public concerning the resumption
of arms shipments before the NATO Ministerial Meeting and
the Meeting of NATO Defense Ministers are behind us (the latter meeting
takes place on June 11).
2. That after the June 11 NATO meeting, we will resume the shipment
of the arms now withheld (and make a public announcement of
our decision) unless it appears that the resumption of arms shipments
would seriously jeopardize any of the legislation in the Administration’s
foreign aid program, and also taking into account other Congressional
foreign policy considerations.
3. That Ambassador Tasca be authorized to inform the Greek
Prime Minister of the decision along the following lines:
a) that the President was taking him at his word on the question
of constitutional reform.
b) that the President is prepared to resume the normal shipment
of military equipment to Greece, including all the items which have
been suspended.
c) that there is a serious problem with some elements of Congress
who are in a position to attack and perhaps to endanger foreign aid
legislation which neither the Greek Government nor the United States
Government would like to see endangered; this is a fact of political life
in the United States which must be recognized.
d) that we will keep the developing Congressional situation under
intensive review in order to choose the earliest appropriate moment
at which it will be possible to begin the resumption of arms shipments,
and to make a public announcement that we are doing so. As
is obvious, premature advance speculation from Greek sources about
the President’s intention to resume arms shipments will necessarily delay
the resumption of arms shipments to Greece.
As regards timing, it is proposed:
a) that Ambassador Tasca speak to the Greek Prime Minister in
the sense of these instructions promptly after you have authorized Am-
3 Not found.