STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Greek guerrillas accuse U.S. of bombing MP By Dina Kyriakidou ATHENS, June 26 (Reuters) - Greece's November 17 urban guerrillas denied on Tuesday they bombed a conservative MP in January and accused U.S. secret agents of carrying out the attack to force Greece to pass a tough anti-terrorist law. The U.S. State Department dismissed the accusation as "totally and utterly absurd." The leftist group said in an 11-page statement in the liberal daily Eleftherotypia that the remote-controlled bomb against New Democracy party deputy Vasilis Mihaloliakos was aimed at pressuring the government to push through the bill. "The bomb was placed by American secret service agents with a specific target. It was a scare warning to the government that no other delay in submitting and passing the terrorist law will be tolerated," November 17 said. The group, which has staged several remote-controlled bomb attacks, said the bombing was so simple it could only have been botched intentionally, indicating it was not meant to kill. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "The allegation that the U.S. was somehow involved in an attempted terrorist murder of a member of the Greek Parliament ... is totally and utterly absurd." "We're not going to engage in some debate with a terrorist group. We work with the Greek authorities on bringing perpetrators of these kinds of acts to justice," he added. Greek authorities said at the time the attack bore the hallmarks of November 17, which has killed 23 Greeks and foreigners in 26 years. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said authorities were still investigating the attack and repeated Greece's determination to "eradicate the scourge of terrorism." NARROW ESCAPE Mihaloliakos, his brother and daughter survived the January 22 attack with minor injuries. No group claimed responsibility. "I am not prepared to lend legality to terrorists by entering into a dialogue with them," Mihaloliakos said in response to the November 17 statement. Greece, particularly sensitive to criticism of its anti-terrorism record before the 2004 Athens Olympics, passed the anti-terrorism law this month despite criticism even from socialist deputies that it curtailed civil rights. The law frees police to conduct DNA testing, bug phones and conduct video surveillance in terrorism and organised crime investigations. It also offers protection to witnesses. The socialist government, eager to show results in the fight against November 17, has stepped up its efforts since the group shot dead British defence attache Stephen Saunders last year. It has cooperated with British police in the investigation and for the first time has asked countries such as the United States and Israel for their cooperation. Washington, long a harsh critic of Greece's anti-terrorism record, has recognised recent efforts but pointed out that there have been no arrests in the group's 26-year history. November 17 emerged with the murder of the CIA station chief in Athens in 1975. It has since killed several more Americans. The group is named after the day in 1973 when Greek students staged a bloody uprising against the 1967-1974 military junta widely believed in Greece to have been supported by Washington. 15:22 06-26-01 ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
