Operation Gladio

Operation Gladio was a secret "stay-behind" operation of NATO and the CIA designed to prevent influence of pro-USSR communist ideology within Western European nations. In a stay-behind operation, clandestine agents are left in a country following the end of hostilities to work to prevent penetration of the country in the future, physically or ideologically.

Operation Glado was a penetration of the sovereignty of Western nations during the 1950s, '60s and '70s and beyond. Although initially focused on Italy, which was emerging from a fascist political structure, Operation Gladio is thought to have expanded throughout European countries. In 1990, the European Parliament condemned Gladio, and demanded an investigation and the removal of its paramilitary structures. This has yet to be done.

However, more information has emerged. Swiss historian Daniele Ganser published a book called NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe that showed how Gladio really worked. Philip Willan, who writes for the UK Guardian and UK Observer, wrote Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy, in which he reported how US intelligence services used a Masonic lodge to support Christian Democrat governments and undermine the Italian Communist Party.

The purpose of Operation Gladio was to oppose any growing influence of the Warsaw, pro-USSR alliance in Europe. "Operation Gladio" was far more than an Italian operation. It is sometimes called "Super NATO" because its operations were extended around Europe. NATO actually had a hand in its structuring.

The structure of Operation Gladio was most ambitious and basically generated "stay behind" secret, clandestine NATO armies in numerous European countries. These armies were affiliated with the CIA as well and created arms caches before graduating to more significant activities such as creating various sorts of terrorist incidents that sought to undermine communist and socialist influence in Europe at the time.

The advent of Gladio was aligned with secret protocols drafted at the highest levels of European governments that demanded that European countries maintain an alliance with a larger Western block. There were standing clandestine cadres that had access to weapons and were to be activated in case of an attack by the Soviet Union. These cells and the other organizations of Operation Gladio could be termed paramilitary, as they existed outside of formal state structures. Operation Gladio's strategic elements used Masonic lodges as "safeplaces" to plot counterterrorism strategies including sabotage and assassination.

CIA director Allen Dulles is said to have been one of the main individuals behind Operation Gladio and CIA funding is said to have been involved as well. Objectives were to be pursued and achieved by implanting, in part, so-called social tension. Gladio paramilitary forces trained with the Green Berets and British Special Forces. The first branch of this wide-ranging network was discovered in Italy in the 1990s and public pressure eventually guaranteed that its more formal aspects were eventually disbanded. Presumably with the rise of NATO in Europe and the advent of the EU, various elements that composed Operation Gladio remain extant.

The basics of Operation Gladio were simple, though some in the mainstream media would still like to express doubts about the matter. Switzerland and Belgium have held parliamentary inquiries and the secrecy swirling around Gladio should not obscure the truth. The truth is simply that the paid operatives of Gladio set out to terrorize the people of Europe when it came to communism.

It is perfectly possible that much of the terror that took place in the 1960s and 1970s had to do with Gladio operatives. The idea was to link bombings and kidnappings in the public mind with communism. This of course reinforced the status quo, and the Anglo-American elites involvement thereof.

What has happened since the fall of communism is not entirely clear, but it seems evident that the same tools used to support Gladio are now being transferred to the “war on terror.” The Cold War, while vast, was never perhaps as real as its supporters made it out to be. The War on Terror, with its paucity of combatants, is more obviously phony.

Fortunately, there is a good deal of evidence already available that shows clearly how invasive the Anglo-American power elite was in Post-War Europe and the astonishing level of its influence. Operation Gladio is surely responsible, to some extent, for putting the Anglosphere in a position of control over European affairs – an undeniable reality in today's power elite controlled world. 

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