Terrorism Still Factor for Athens

It’s 1,000 days until the opening of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Today of all days--17 November.

On that day in 1973, the military junta then ruling Greece brutally crushed a student uprising. Later, a terrorist group took “17 November” as its name and has operated with impunity in Greece for a generation, having killed 22 people since 1975, four of them Americans.

The anniversary of the junta’s 1973 reprisal will, as usual, be marked with a march on the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

Because of the quirk in the calendar, however, there will be no Olympic celebrations today in Greece. Instead, the spotlight will once again turn to security concerns--even as the International Olympic Committee prepares for another visit next week to check on issues related to delay-plagued preparations for 2004.

Security issues--both at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Games--have become even more acute since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The torch-lighting ceremony for the Salt Lake Games, which begin Feb. 8, is scheduled for midday Monday in Olympia, Greece.

The Greek government has pledged the largest security operation in the nation’s history in 2004, vowing to spend more than $600 million. Its plan relies heavily on the use of troops and security cameras.

But to ease anxieties among athletes, fans and corporate sponsors, particularly those from the United States and Britain, terrorism and security experts have stressed that Greek authorities must break 17 November by 2004.

In Athens on Thursday afternoon, a bomb exploded next to an American Express bank branch on a busy street leading to the main 2004 sports complex. The blast blew out the windows of a passing school bus carrying more than a dozen children; a bystander was slightly hurt.

Bombings and arson attacks by leftist and anarchist groups in Athens are not uncommon. It is rare, however, for such attacks to occur in daytime--and remote-controlled bombs are known to have been used in the past only by more sophisticated terrorist cells, including 17 November, known in security circles as “N17.”

N17 burst onto the scene in 1975 with the killing of Richard Welch, the CIA chief in Athens. The United States had supported the junta, which ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.

Over the years, N17 has issued anti-U.S. proclamations and has been tied to dozens of bombings, including a 1991 rocket attack against American Express offices.

In June 2000, N17 killed a British defense attache, Brig. Stephen Saunders, while his car was stuck in morning traffic near the Olympic Stadium.

No one has ever been arrested in connection with any N17 attack.

Some former U.S. officials have claimed that the long-ruling Socialist government in Greece has shielded suspects and blunted inquiries--claims routinely rejected by the government.

Appearing on a Greek television program on Nov. 6, Thomas Niles, who served as U.S. ambassador to Greece from 1993 to 1997, said that in 1995 he had given Greek authorities a list of potential suspects linked to 17 November.

The Greeks did not follow up, Niles said.

In response, a Greek government spokesman called Niles “a liar.” A State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Thursday that Niles was speaking as “a private citizen.” Boucher also said that the U.S. has “excellent and very close cooperation with the government of Greece on fighting terrorism.”

The IOC, meantime, is due back at Athens for an inspection Wednesday. After a September visit, the IOC’s Denis Oswald, who heads the inspection team, announced there “obviously” had been a number of significant delays in constructing key venues and critical roadways. By November, he said, he expected demonstrable progress.

In a letter Oct. 5 to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, head of the Athens 2004 organizing committee, Oswald said the situation “remains extremely tense.”

The letter also includes a note expressing the IOC’s “great surprise” that several road and interchange projects have been “revisited or simply canceled.”

Among them: a project at a junction linking Athens and the port of Piraeus. That casts doubt on the ability of organizers to berth Olympic visitors on cruise ships in the harbor--increasingly necessary because Athens doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for the Games.

Meantime, a squabble emerged that threatens the marathon course, which is supposed to start, naturally enough, in Marathon and end in Athens. The mayor of Marathon has said that the town council may prevent the 26.2-mile race from starting in the ancient town if a canoe-kayak course--which could help boost tourism after the Games--isn’t built in the area.

In October, aiming to boost IOC confidence, the Socialist government shuffled--again--the lineup of ministers detailed to Olympic preparations.

After one week in office, the new public works minister, Vasso Papandreou, said in late October that it was doubtful some of her ministry’s projects could be ready in time for the Games.

But Evangelos Venizelos, who kept his powerful post as culture minister and overall government coordinator for the Games, said progress is being made.

Oswald concurred, saying in a phone interview, “There were a number of contracts supposed to be signed in order to be within the timetable and they were signed. So this is positive news.” But he also said, “There is still quite a lot of concern.”

A source familiar with the Olympic scene in Greece, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “If you look back and compare what Athens will be, it will be Atlanta,” a reference to the 1996 Summer Games. Those Games, marred by a bomb blast that killed one woman and injured more than 100 people, were “a disaster organizationally.”

In addition, “The press wrote that transit was a disaster--which it was. The press wrote that there was no information technology--which was true. But what does the rest of the world care? The athletes performed fantastically in good venues and the people of the world watched [on television] with interest.

“That is where we are going. It will not be Barcelona,” which used the 1992 Summer Olympics as a catalyst for an urban makeover largely completed by Games time. “It will not be Sydney,” the 2000 Summer Olympics declared the best Games ever by then-IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.