New US ambassador takes post
Ambassador Thomas Miller arrived in Athens yesterday to take up his post as the US envoy, saying that this was the third time he would serve his country in Greece. ‘I come here with much work to do. Obviously at the top of my list, at the top of the list of any American ambassador anywhere in the world, is the situation that confronts us from the events of September 11,’ he said. ‘And I think that this is an issue, a crisis that confronts us all. We’re together on this,’ he added. ‘I found in my past experience here, working on issues related to Greece, that we often have the same objectives, in fact, almost always. Sometimes we disagree on tactics. That’s okay. That’s the mature relationship between two friends.’ What is not known is that bin Laden never severed his ties with the strongest member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Abdullah, who, in effect, is ruling the kingdom as Fahd has been confined to a wheelchair. Abdullah, the crown prince, is not favored by Washington because of his disapproval of the US military presence but also because of his strong anti-Israeli position on the Palestinian issue. Well-informed diplomatic sources of another Arab country say that Abdullah kept in touch with bin Laden through the Saudi secret service chief, Prince Turki, who disappeared in late August.
