Death in Salonika Bay: Who Pulled

FAIRFIELD, Conn.—The disappear- 41 ance and murder of George Polk in By James G. Kellis Greece has fascinated the news media for almost 30 years. Mr. Polk was an aggressive correspondent who was George Polk, a CBS correspondent, held in high esteem by those who had worked with him in the Middle East was killed in 1948 in Greece and in Greece. His courage and his abilities as a CBS correspondent did while covering the civil war. Here, not endear him to Greece's extreme right wing, often the target of his reports. an ex-investigator tells of his At the time of his death in May 1948, Greece was embroiled in a civil suspicions of a right-wing cover-up. war between Communist-led guerrillas attacking from mountain hideouts in murdered Mr. Polk. Soon I conducted the north and the Government, which hatever influence we exercised in an independent investigation and dis- consisted of moderate and right-wing Greece, to remove from both the Gov- covered that Major Moushountis's elements. Mr. Polk and a handful of ernment and the military corrupt and story contained many inconsistencies inept officials in order to gain the other correspondents had criticized and discrepancies. the Greek Government for corruption, people's support. (As we learned sub- Once when I walked into Major sequently in Vietnam, it is difficult to its /ack of popular support, and its Moushountis's office, I overheard him poor prosecution of the war against win against guerrillas if the Govern- saying to a subordinate, "Be careful of the guerrillas. He had suggested that ment they oppose is corrupt and inept, what you say in front of Colonel if the Government was not reorgan- irrespective of the amount of United Kellis because he understands Greek." States aid.) By attacking corruption ized and no effort was made to ap- After the officer left, I confronted point honest, capable people, it was and ineptitude, George Polk had been Major Moushountis with discrepancies making the same point. likely to collapse. and accused him of covering up. His Mr. Polk's constant needling of the answer: "Colonel, don't press me. My insistence that 1 would not be Government, particularly right-wing There are questions of national inter- party to a cover-up led to my. removal elements, made him their target: Rea est involved here. I have my orders. I from the investigation and my re- Polk, his' widow, told the they had have only a few years of my career assignment to, Washington. No one repeatedly received threats by , mail left and I don't want to lose my pen- was ever named an investigator to and by telephone from extreme right- sion." I tried to find out who was put- succeed me, ist elements. ting pressure on Major Moushountis, Upon my removal, Major Moushoun- Consequently, the investigation and but he was not helpful. tis and some Government officials de- trial of a suspect in the case, fraught cided it was time to act. They arrested with discrepancies and contradictions, In the meantime, I collected other information that contradicted the offi- a Reuters news agency correspondent, have been interpreted as a cover-up. Gregoris Stactopoulos, who was also (A recent article in More magazine cial investigation; and reported to Gen- eral Donovan that I believed there a reporter for Makedonia, a Salonika concluded that the Greek Government, was an attempted right-wing cover-up. daily, and, after considerable torture United States State Department, the and threats on the life of his mother Central Intelligence Agency and the Karl Rankin, the charge d'affaires at the United States Embassy, asked to and two sisters, extracted a confession American press were all involved in a of complicity in the murder, allegedly "massive cover-up.") meet with me. He admonished me: "I don't see why you are breaking your committed by two Communists. (At The •discovery of Mr. Polk's body the time of his death, Mr. Polk was floating in Salonika Bay, his hands back trying to uncover who killed this correspondent. If you, as a military of- trying to reach Gen. Markos Vafiades, and feet bound and a bullet hole in his ficer, or I, as a diplomat, were killed, leader of the leftist guerrillas, for an head, and the suspicion this was a none of these people would give a interview. political murder led the Overseas damn." I left his office disheartened During the trial, besides the Stacto- Writers Association, in the United by his lack of principles and courage, States, to investigate the killing. It poulos confession the only physical evi- and was more than ever convinced dence was an envelope mailed to the appointed Gen. William J. Donovan, that the American, British and Greek World War II director of the Office of police on May 10, 1948, containing authorities in Greece were determined some of Mr. Palk's identity docu- Strategic Services (OSS); as counsel to hide the truth. ments. The police asserted that the and chief investigator. At the time, I Mr. Rankin, Major Moushountis and was an Air Force lieutenant colonel, envelope was addressed by Mr. Stac- others tried to impress on me the need topoulos's mother. Mr. Stactopoulos and General Donovan arranged for my to pin this murder on the Communists. 'assignment to the investigation. was convicted as an accessory to the The Greek Government considered it crime and sentenced to life imprison- In June 1948, General Donovan and essential that United States public ment. (He was released in 1960 when I flew to Greece and met with the opinion remained favorable to it so Prime Minister Constantine Karmen- chief Greek investigator, Maj. Con- that it could continue to get vital lis reviewed the case and commuted stantine Moushountis, and representa- American assistance. - his sentence.) , tives from -the United States Embassy, I could not accept these arguments. When I recently visited Mr. Stacto- C.I.A. and the British police mission. For much of World War II, I had During our initial meeting, everybody poulos for the first time, he denounced served with guerrillas in Greece and the investigation and trial and de- accepted the theory Major Moushoun- China. This experience convinced me , tis presented that the Communists scribed in detail how Major Mou- that it was essential for us, through shountis had tortured him and how he the Trigger?

finally broke down when, the major had threatened the life of his mother and two sisters. A young, bright member of Parlia- ment, Stelios Papathemelis, volun- teered his services as an attorney and with the 'support of other members of Parliament petitioned to reopen the Polk case. In addition to Mr. Stacto- poulos's recantation of his confession, there is testimony from his sister, from the 1948 president of the Salon- ika Bar Association, and five persons Who participated in addressing and mailing Mr. Polk's identity documents to the police. Attorney Papathemelis told me that he has a strong case, that he hopes to prove Mr. Stactopoulos in- nocent and reopen the Polk investiga- tion in order to find the real killers. (One of two others sentenced to death in absentia in the Stactopoulos trial is now in Rumania and wants to return home to testify in a new trial, Mr. Papathemelis has said. The other defendant is dead.) Walking recently near the place• where George Polk's body was found, I remembered some of his dispatches. Ironically, those dispatches and the murder might have been the turning point in Greece's civil war. The shock of Mr. Polk's death focused American attention on Greece, and soon Presi- dent Harry S. Truman was putting pressure on the Greek Government to remove corrupt and incompetent offi- cials from both the Government and military and to introduce reforms. It is my considered judgment that without these reforms Greece would, have been overwhelmed by the guerrillas. Still, my experience with the Polk investigation left me with an uneasy feeling that many United States offi- cials• were willing to disregard prin- ciples for personal or national con- venience. While I was in Greece, in 1948, I often heard the statement that na- tional interests had to be given a higher priority than discovering the real murderers of George Polk. I could not accept then, and I do not accept today, that we could support national interest bye disregarding moral prin- ciples. Last March, some Greek reporters interviewed me on the Polk case and I concluded the interview by saying: "It is to the best interest of Greece and America that our relations are con- ducted within the rules of law and morality. Compromises on pragmatic grounds eventually turn to haunt us."

James G. Kellis is now an executive with an aircraft firm in Connecticut. THE NEW YORK TIMES, RATURDAr SEPTEMBER 17, 1977 NYTirnes (- i A SEP 1 7 1977

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