Which country was exactly a big problem for years , dear JJ ?
Reader comment on item: American Intifada
in response to reader comment: I am very sorry for Greece, but your country was a big problem for years

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jun 27, 2007 at 05:40

Dear JJ , you wrote :

> For many years Greece did not cooperate in fighting terrorism. The 1976 hijackers of the Air France flight to Entebbe boarded with their weapons at Athens. In fact in the old days, Israeli citizens whose plane landed in Greece to refuel were not even allowed to leave the airplane!

The Greek-Israeli relations were cold and unfriendly for many years. There were grave reasons for that and please don't jump to the conclusion that anti-Semitism was again at the core of the problem! How could Greece react positively to friendly relations and close cooperation between Israel and Turkey?

As to fighting terrorism , you may have perhaps well forgotten that in the 80-ies it was the US that was the greatest sponsor and benefactor of jihad. The Soviets learned that sad fact in Afghanistan with disastrous consequences.

At that time it was in the "national interests" to train and equip the mujahedeens. The US was proud of that. Greece never did that on a similar scale although it supported the Kurds against America's best friend - Turkey.

> Mr. Theodorakis and Mr. Papandreou used to say the most awful anti-Israel and anti-Semitic (as well as anti-American) nonsense.

Leaving anti-Semitism apart , do you seriously think that Greece has ever had any reason to be thankful to the US for anything ? The role the US played in the Greek civil war was far from altruistic and beneficial. Its friendship with Turkey was a tragedy for Greece. Who blackmailed Greece to stay neutral while the Turkish airforces were using US-made napalm to annihilate the small National Gurd in Cyprus in 1974 ? Kissinger engineered the whole invasion of Cyprus in 1974 to have Turkey on America's side and deceived the pro-American military regime in Athens into believing America would support Greece in Cyprus after all. When the Attila II and II operations were undeway Kissinger told Ioannidis , the then head of the military regime created by the US in 1967 roughly so : "Don't go to war against Turkey. If you do, you'll regret it. You'll lose not only half Cyprus but also territories in Greece proper". "You betrayed us" - replied Ioannidis.

Some time after that the military regime fell and Greece left the NATO.

Anyone familiar with Greece's recent history knows these basic facts and yet you refer to some "anti-American nonsense".

> Now relations have improved. I am glad you have now awakened to the danger, and I welcome you as allies, but please do not blame the USA. You have brought this on yourselves.

I wish you were right, dear JJ.

By the way, the above has nothing to do with any anti-Americanism. We all make mistakes. Let's just and not repeat and aggravate them by making virtue of vice.

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