The Price of Diplomacy

ATHENS: The United States apparently stands to pay a penalty for its diplomatic handiwork in bringing a recent Greek-Turkish standoff to an end. Friday, police blamed the Greek nationalist terror group November 17 for a missile attack on the U.S. Embassy in Athens that barely missed its target. "Until now no organization has claimed responsibility," the anti-terrorism department said in a statement. "But the action and the material used point directly to November 17." November 17 is the only Greek guerrilla group to have used antitank missiles. TIME's Anthee Carassavas reports that the leftist movement it supports is still rankling over U.S. intervention after Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war last month over claims to a small by symbolic islet in the south Aegan sea. "This comes amid a period of rising anti-American sentiment which has been fueled by the outome of that crisis. President Clinton sent in troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke, who reached an eleventh-hour deal to have them withdraw their forces and leave the island stripped of any kind of flag. But it also ties in with the fact that the U.S. during this entire crisis silently supported Turkey, when Greek officials were whipping out maps showing that this island was indeed considered Greek territory."