U.S. Could Shut Greece Bases, Officials Say

The Reagan Administration, stung by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou’s threats to shut down four U.S. military bases in Greece, has made contingency plans to withdraw American forces from that country, State Department and Pentagon officials said Friday.

“Anytime you have a government that states publicly it’s going to kick bases out, it seems prudent to plan what you are going to do afterward,” a State Department official said.

The planning follows increasing anti-American rhetoric by Papandreou and a bombing in a bar near one of the bases Feb. 2 that injured 80 people, most of them U.S. servicemen. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has said that Greek government-sponsored anti-Americanism stirred up the violence, a charge that Athens rejected.

At the Pentagon on Friday, an official said that while the United States has no plans to close its bases in Greece, “we prudently look at all possible eventualities.”

Ports, Airfields

Two of the bases are ports, used by ships of the 6th Fleet. The other two are air fields used by U.S. planes for reconnaissance flights into the Middle East and the Soviet Union.

The defense officials said that the new look at plans to close the bases is tied to Greek elections this year, noting that if Papandreou wins another four-year term, he could make good his earlier pledges to shut the bases in 1988.

One official said the safety of the about 4,000 U.S. servicemen at the bases would also be a factor in any move.

The United States considers its bases in Greece, two near Athens and two in Crete, as vital to the protection of the southern and eastern flanks of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Greece is a member.

Papandreou has often referred to neighboring Turkey, another NATO member, and not the Soviet Union, as his country’s chief enemy.

5-Year Pact

He has said the current five-year pact that expires in 1988 calls for an end to U.S. base rights at that time, but Washington--until now, at least--had viewed the date as time to begin new talks to extend the basing accord.

The agreement says that either side can terminate it on five months’ notice.

Defense officials would not discuss any future site for the bases if Greece were to close them, but military analysts said Turkey was a likely place.

Some officials conceded that to shift the bases to Turkey, along with the money they pour into the local economy, would further stir anti-American feelings in Greece.

The United States now has about 5,500 servicemen at seven bases in Turkey. They are chiefly Air Force personnel.