Greece - US Department of State

Greece 765
305. Telegram From the Embassy in Greece to the Department of
State 1
Athens, March 5, 1971, 1628Z.
1034. For Deputy Assistant Secretary Davies from Ambassador
Tasca.
1. I would hope in light of continuing pattern of his remarks that
you would review the conclusions in your letter of December 4 2 that
we do not have enough evidence to support representations to friendly
governments regarding Andreas Papandreou’s calls for violence
against Americans in Greece. Since that time, Papandreou has repeated
his call for “dynamic resistance” against the Greek regime and its U.S.
supporters on at least three occasions (Deutsche Welle, December 10;
Munich Radio, December 22; BBC, January 3). In addition, we have recent
report that main obstacle to Papandreou’s group cooperating with
Communist resistance group PAM is that latter will not agree to campaign
of violence [less than 1 line not declassified].
2. I realize the problems raised for the Department by making representations
about Papandreou to a government which depends on liberal
support, such as Canadian Government, but American lives are at
stake. Leaflets are again being distributed calling for violence against
American installations. There were, as you know, four bombs planted
recently, intended to destroy American automobiles, and on the
evening of February 26 we received another bomb threat which fortunately
did not materialize. Papandreou in a letter to Senator Case associated
himself by implication with the bombing attempt not only on
the Embassy but also with that on September of Defense Laird while
he was meeting with the Prime Minister here.
3. I believe that we could raise this subject with the Canadian Government
without making representations. The facts of Papandreou’s
calls for violence against the installations and representatives of a
friendly country should be of concern to a government which has
granted him residence, particularly since the Canadian Government
has only recently had firsthand experience with senseless violence. I
think the least we should do is bring the facts to their attention.
Tasca
1 Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 594,
Country Files—Middle East, Greece, Vol. II 1 Nov 1970–31 Dec 1971. Secret; Exdis.
2 Not found.