The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-11

Churchill sold Roosevelt on the idea that this was British sphere of influence, that all decisions, all military and diplomatic op- erationS should be under the Bri- tish.
 This has been carried out to the last Tin fact, so much so that it was a cause of considerable em- barraSSment to U. s. military leaders in the Near East. When, for instance, U. s. Army officers wanted to send instructions to U. s. Army men inside Greece, they had to send them through the British in British code. They never could tell whether the messages were delivered.
 And when U. s. officers want ed to send man by plane to cer- tain points in Jugoslavia and Greece, they had to do it on British planes. This was part of the Churchill Roosevelt agree ment. But if the British didn't want to fly their planes, U. s. of- ficerS could not go.
 It is now no secret that both
 British and American troops infiutrated back and forth in- side Greece and JugOslavia dur
 ing the German occupation.
 Supplies were sent to the guer-
 rillaS in both countries, and so were U. s. troops. Usually
 thet rOOps were American citi-
 zens of Greek or JugOSlav de-
 scent who spoke the language
 and could work with the rebel
 armies fighting the German Oc- cupatiOn. But Everything had
 to be done under the British,
 and whent he British found an
 American too friendly to the
 nOn-R -ROyalists in Greece, he was
 quietlyt transferred elsewhere.
 This policy was carried so far that today American citizens working form UNRRA in Greece must wear British uniforms. If they refuse to wear British uni forms, they are not allowed in Greece.
 POLICY REVISED TOO LATE
 Thus, although the State De- partment has now announced a policy Of keeping hands off Greece, Italy ct al. as far as their type of government is concerned, &C., tually this has come little late. For more than two years, the Greeks were told by U. s. dip lomats that the British views were our views. For instance, when the Greek Cabinet at Cairo, in the autumn of 1943, requested King George of Greece not to re- turn until a plebiscite had been held, this column reported (on Oct. 28, 1943) that U. s. Ambas- sador Alexander Kirk urged the Greek Cabinet to support the king.
 It is hard to reverse a policy
 overnight and make the Greeks understand it. UnquestiOnably
 they hold us almost as respOn- sible for the riOting and blood shed in the Stretes of Athens as they hold the British.
 NOTE: On Aug. 19, 1944, this column quoted Greek guerrilla Premier Svolos as saying: Iii an Anglo-American army comes in with the idea ,of keeping any part of Greece, we will fight against you as we never fought against the Germans. We fought the Turks in the mountains of Greece for 500 years, and we will do the same against you"
 MOVIE STARS IN POLITICS
 The activity of Orson WelleS, Frank Sinatra, Ann Sheridan and a lot of other movie and radio stars in the recent campaign has caused repercussionS among the movie-going public. One irate movie-goer recently wrote to to Harry Warner of Warner Bros. demanding that movie stars be suppressed when it came to ex- pressing their political opinions.
 To this Harry Warner replied:
 Dear Madam: In repley to your letter of the Sth, I am very much surprised that any one would refuse to go to see a picture because the star in asked their friends not to send