Newsweek: Greece -- How the Colonels Run the Country

The following comes from a Hellenic Nationalist comrade.
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I recently procured an old issue of Newsweek magazine, dated 19 January 1970, with a cover story concerning the 21 of April Regime.On the cover, the regime's symbol (a phoenix with a soldier carryinga bayonet) is shown on the background with a picture of Papadopoulos on the foreground. The text reads: "GREECE: How the Colonels Run the Country."

Although the majority -- the VAST majority -- of the cover story onthe Colonels is negative and based on a democratic and liberal perspective, there were several points which I thought I'd share as they refute modern claims by Leftists concerning how the U.S. brought the Colonels to power, how torture was used against civilians, and how everyone was against the Colonels. Considering that this Newsweek article is biased against the Colonels' regime, no one can claim that the following excerpts are "American propaganda." Rather,they are a testament that the Colonels' coup not only was NOT supported by the U.S., but actually resulted in the U.S. placing an arms embargo on the country; that the allegations of torture used against Greek prisoners was only a myth as the Red Cross discovered no complaints of torture from inmates they interviewed plus the fact that Papadopoulos himself publically condemned torture; and, finally, that the majority of Greek citizens were NOT against the Colonels' regime.

Here are the excerpts:

"It was, after all, American aid that helped to defeat the Communistsin Greece's devastating civil war twenty years ago. And when the colonels seized power in April of 1967 -- under pretext of preventing a Communist take-over -- many Greeks automatically assumed, without a shred of evidence, that the coup had been spawned by patrons in Washington and nursed by the CIA. In fact, the U.S. has all along been ambivalent about the new regime in Athens. It slapped the junta's wrists with an arms embargo (later downgraded to a "selective" ban), but despite considerable pressure, has consistently declined to push to colonels any further."

"Although no one outside the junta can say for certain, the weight of evidence indicates that such methods as the falanga -- beating the soles of the feet with an iron rod or wooden stick -- is no longer a widespread practice in Greece. Whether or not out of concern for his regime's image, Prime Minister George Papadopoulos has repeatedly given stern orders against the use of torture. And, coincidentally or not, there have been no published complaints of torture from prisoners or their families since last November, when a Red Cross inspection team with a Greek-speaking Swiss interpreter was given limited access to Greek prisons and detention camps."

"The demonstration -- the only one of its kind since the colonels took over -- does not prove, however, that a majority of Greeks oppose the regime. In fact, the junta has assiduously courted public approval -- and there is every reason to believe that its efforts have met with some success. Shortly after they seized power, the colonels canceled $250 million worth of debts owed by Greece's farmers, a move that won them instant applause in a country in which 60 per cent of the population lives on the land. What's more, the junta's highly publicized public-works programs and its nationalistic stance have convinced a number of conservative Greeks that the military has the country's best interests at heart."

A supplementary article titled "The Exiles: A Clutch of FeverishFactions . . . And a Cooly Neutral Monarch" has the following excerpt of interest:

"So far, the Greek emigres have been able to do little more than wish, for despite their feverish plotting, they have scant influence with either their own countrymen or with foreign governments.Although, there are over 1 million Greeks living overseas, but the great majority of these left home for better-paying jobs in Europe and North America. (Many of the Greeks living in the U.S. are fervent anti-Communists and thus supporters of the colonels in Athens.) True political exiles -- those who fled Greece because of conviction or political necessity -- number probably more than 5,000. And among the political emigres, there are only a few hundred activists who devote most of their time and effort to undermining the junta."

If anyone is interested I could transcribe the rest, but having read it, I can honestly say they there is nothing else worthwhile in the articles to be read.