Cole

Greece has long been a favorite hangout and refuge for terrorists. The Greek government does not support terrorism, but the Greeks have been willing to look the other way if international terrorists operated from Greece, but did not make any attacks on Greece. This extended to local terrorists. As long as the locals only (or just mainly) attacked foreign targets, the government and judicial system was unwilling to crack down on the local groups. Even when caught, courts were prone to release terrorists on technicalities. This was especially true if the victims were people (like Americans) that were unpopular in Greece. But now Greece is running the 2004 Olympics and that project is not going well at all. Local politics and personal disputes have slowed down preparations to the point that Greece is threatened with the 2004 Olympics being given to another country. This has never been done before and would be a major embarrassment for Greece. One of the criticisms of Greece's Olympic preparations is its shabby record in dealing with terrorism. To deal with this criticism, Greece recently passed an anti-terrorism law that makes it easier for police to find, and for the courts to convict, terrorists. However, many in the Olympic and anti-terrorism consider this law just for show. The real problem in Greece is the remaining tolerant