[ALBSA-Info] On CBS 60 Minutes

[Agron Alibali]

DAILY MAIL (London) 
January 8, 2002 

GREEKS 'PROTECT' KILLERS OF BRIGADIER 

>From George Gordon in New York 

The Greek government has been accused of protecting terrorists who have murdered 22 people, including British military attache Brigadier General Stephen Saunders. 

Last night, the former U.S. ambassador to Greece, Thomas Niles, said the socialist government - which recently held 12 British planespotters as suspected spies - was deliberately ignoring information that could convict terrorists. He said a trial would be too politically damaging for the government. 

The terror group 'November 17' is also said to be responsible for the assassination of five American embassy employees, an explosion on a bus transporting U.S. servicemen and attacks on banks and businesses that have cost the country millions in damages. 

Mr Niles said the CIA had identified one of the key members of November 17 to the police, but they had failed to react. 

Speaking on the CBS 60 Minutes programme, he said Greek police who were sent to the U.S. for terrorist training had been sidelined on their return. 

The programme said that high- ranking observers inside and outside Greece believe there are ties between the Socialist Party which has governed Greece for 17 of the last 20 years and November 17. 

They date back to the time the groups fought together against a military dictatorship. 

To put a terrorist on trial would reveal those links and bring the government down, analysts say. 

Brigadier Saunders's wife Helen appealed to the government to arrest his killers. Her husband was shot four times in Athens in June 2000 on his way to work at the British embassy. 

Wayne Merry, a former U.S. official who served in Athens, said the attitude of the police was to 'let sleeping dogs lie'. 



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