A NATO-backed paramilitary network established after WW2, originally inspired by fear of the USSR. It was also called the “Stay behind network”, since if the Red Army invaded Europe, its members would “stay behind” enemy lines to disrupt Soviet control. Officially non-existant, secrecy was so extreme that these networks were hard for NATO/MI6/Deep state officials to control. Gladio was responsible for bombings, kidnappings and assassinations to such an extent that the network was publicly exposed in Italy in the 1980s and was the subject of a BBC documentary by Alan Francovich some years later.[1] The project was adapted in the mid 1990s as “Gladio B”, using “Moslem terrorists” as a substitute enemy image for communists.
What has come to be called Operation Gladio was never intended to be publicly acknowledged. It was a multi-national military plan to arm and train clandestine groups in many (perhaps all) of its member countries and elsewhere in Europe. The official narrative on these networks is confused, contradictory and definitely incomplete, with many basic questions unanswered. The stated reasons for establishing undercover armed groups has tended to focus on use of the secret armies as a fifth column to provide armed resistance in the case of a Soviet invasion. Continue Reading at Wikispooks…
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