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Athens wilts under Games security pressures
By Iason Athanasiadis

ATHENS - The Greek government appears to be forfeiting control over vital aspects of security preparations for the Summer Olympic Games, even as the security budget spirals to an unprecedented US$1.5 billion.

Teams of US, Israeli and British intelligence officials have been in Greece since last year, preparing for the massive policing operation that will unfold during the Games, which run from August 13-29. The

Americans are particularly active in securing Greece's border posts and the central Piraeus harbor, while an Israeli team has been providing the Greek police with training on how to deal with suicide bombers.

But with just weeks before the high-profile opening ceremony, current and former Greek government officials are admitting to being the recipients of "insufferable pressures for a long time, not just from the Americans".

Virghinia Tsouderou, a former Greek foreign minister, attributed the pressure to the "political and economic interests of the great powers", adding that blackmail may have been brought to bear on Greece's five-month-old center-right government.

With Athens already swarming with foreign intelligence services and despite public claims to the contrary, it has emerged in the past two months that US and Israeli guards will be armed, while the US Coast Guard will shoulder some of the burden of securing high-profile targets, such as the port of Piraeus, where foreign dignitaries will stay aboard eight cruise ships.

A group of seven nations - including the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel - are advising Greece on how to secure its mountainous land and extensive sea borders; monitor an extensive indigenous community of about a million blue-collar foreign workers; and protect up to 1.5 million tourists, spectators, officials and visiting athletes.

Greece's neighbors Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey have stepped up border patrols to stop extremists from sneaking into the country, while international police agencies Europol and Interpol are also working closely with Greek authorities.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's wide-range Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) radar planes will lock down the skies over the Attica basin, while NATO frigates will patrol the Ionian and Aegean seas. Greece asked for the alliance's help one day after March's bombings of commuter trains in Madrid that claimed 191 lives. NATO's involvement has also stirred controversy. High-level talks are continuing as to whether the alliance will deploy armed personnel in Greece.

The Greek constitution prohibits foreigners from carrying weapons.

Hundreds of US troops will be on standby on an aircraft carrier somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, ready to be flown into Athens within 20 minutes of an incident. A Czech NATO squad specializing in nuclear, biological and chemical catastrophes will be secretly based in the Greek capital, according to a British security contractor involved in the security of the Olympics.

Concerns over a possible CBR (chemical, biological, radiological) attack have loomed. A senior doctor at Athens' central Evangelismos Hospital - where members of the International Olympic Committee will be treated in case of an emergency - told Asia Times Online that, although staff at most hospitals in Athens had attended some seminars on how to react to a CBR emergency, he has doubts over their ability to react competently in the event of an attack.

With some countries making the leap from an advisory to an operational level, the potential for confusion is expanding. Garbled chains of command, secretiveness on who will head the decision-making process and tremendous US and British pressure on the Greek government to compromise its sovereignty and allow US special forces personnel into the country during the Games are all potential triggers of instability.

A spokeswoman for the Greek Ministry of Public Order admitted on Wednesday that foreign guards would guard the up to 70 foreign leaders. She also confirmed that Israeli athletes would continue to be accompanied by armed guards, a practice that started in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics when Palestinian terrorists killed several in a bloody hostage-taking.

"The Israelis had a drama in Munich, and since then have been forced into such decisions," said ministry spokeswoman Regina Despiniotou, adding that this issue was "extremely detailed" and not something on which she wished to comment.

In interviews, Greek and Western officials, analysts and contractors described to Asia Times Online how the Greek government had progressively surrendered sovereignty on key issues related to the security of the Olympics. A former government official charged with security for the Games estimated that at least 300 armed guards would participate in the Olympics, aside from "the intelligence people who'll come in who are totally undercover and we'll never know about".

While the Greek government has spent $1.5 billion and will deploy up to 70,000 police and soldiers around Olympic venues, the US, British and Israeli insistence on operational involvement appears to betray concern over preparations. It comes on the back of reported poor showings by Greek forces in several role-playing exercises.

On the other hand, the prospect of several nationalities carrying weapons has heightened concern about the potential for chaos.

"When local security personnel see someone armed, they won't necessarily know that he's a good or bad guy, so the Greek effort has been to limit the number of countries who will carry weapons, knowing that the Americans can't be restricted," said Thanos Dokos, a former consultant for the Greek Ministry of Defense.

While the Greek authorities have role-played on all conceivable scenarios, they admit that a determined suicide bomber could cause chaos. "The way to look at it is that anyone who wants to make nasty mischief has known about it for a long time, and it's foolish to underestimate this," said Alex Rondos, the former security coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We are trying to preempt, prevent such threats."

On Thursday, Greek anti-Olympics groups staged a rally in downtown Athens and marched to parliament. The leftist groups included the Anti-2004 Campaign, the Greek Social Forum and the

Genoa 2001 Initiative, as well as popular movements and labor groups.

The demonstrators claim that the capital now functions as if in a state of emergency, and that labor conditions have worsened as a result of the Olympic Games. They also object to security measures in which information will be made available to security agencies, saying this is a violation of personal privacy and human rights.

Also on Thursday, a gasoline bomb was thrown at a Culture Ministry building in central Athens. A police official said the attack did not cause any injuries. The ministry holds overall responsibility for staging the Games.

Greek anarchist groups have staged hundreds of similar attacks against cars and businesses in Athens, but the number has declined this year as security in the capital has been tightened.

On May 5, a group called "Revolutionary Struggle" exploded three bombs in a police station in Athens and said in a written statement that foreign agents and wealthy Westerners were unwelcome at the Olympics.

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Jul 24, 2004

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