Operation GLADIO our own Terrorists
Sword Play
By Chris Floyd
You had to attack civilians, the
people, women, children, innocent people, unknown
people far removed from any political game. The reason
was quite simple: to force ... the public to turn to
the state to ask for greater security."
This was the essence of Operation Gladio, a
decades-long covert campaign of terrorism and deceit
directed by the intelligence services of the West --
against their own populations. Hundreds of innocent
people were killed or maimed in terrorist attacks --
on train stations, supermarkets, cafes and offices --
which were then blamed on "leftist subversives" or
other political opponents. The purpose, as stated
above in sworn testimony by Gladio agent Vincenzo
Vinciguerra, was to demonize designated enemies and
frighten the public into supporting ever-increasing
powers for government leaders -- and their elitist
cronies.
First revealed by Italian Prime Minister Giulio
Andreotti in 1991, Gladio (from the Latin for "sword")
is still protected to this day by its founding
patrons, the CIA and MI6. Yet parliamentary
investigations in
Italy
,
Switzerland
and
Belgium
have shaken out a few fragments of the truth over the
years. These have been gathered in a new book, "NATO's
Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in
Western Europe
," by Daniele Ganser, as Lila Rajiva reports on
CommonDreams.org.
Originally set up as a network of clandestine cells to
be activated behind the lines in the event of a Soviet
invasion of
Western Europe
, Gladio quickly expanded into a tool for political
repression and manipulation, directed by NATO and
Washington. Using right-wing militias, underworld
figures, government provocateurs and secret military
units, Gladio not only carried out widespread
terrorism, assassinations and electoral subversion in
democratic states such as
Italy
,
France
and
West Germany
, but also bolstered fascist tyrannies in
Spain
and
Portugal
, abetted the military coup in
Greece
and aided
Turkey
's repression of the Kurds.
Among the "smoking guns" unearthed by Ganser is a
Pentagon document, Field Manual FM 30-31B, which
details the methodology for launching terrorist
attacks in nations that "do not react with sufficient
effectiveness" against "communist subversion."
Ironically, the manual states that the most dangerous
moment comes when leftist groups "renounce the use of
force" and embrace the democratic process. It is then
that "
U.S.
army intelligence must have the means of launching
special operations which will convince Host Country
Governments and public
opinion of the reality of the insurgent danger."
Naturally, these peace-throttling "special operations
must remain strictly secret," the document warns.
Indeed, it would not do for the families of the 85
people ripped apart by the Aug. 2, 1980 bombing of the
Bologna train station to know that their loved ones
had been murdered by "men inside Italian state
institutions and ... men linked to the structures of
United States intelligence," as the Italian Senate
concluded after its investigation in 2000.
The
Bologna
atrocity is an example of what Gladio's masters called
"the strategy of tension" -- fomenting fear to keep
populations in thrall to "strong leaders" who will
protect the nation from the ever-present terrorist
threat. And as Rajiva notes, this strategy wasn't
limited to
Western Europe
. It was
applied, with gruesome effectiveness, in
Central America
by the Reagan and Bush administrations. During the
1980s, right-wing death squads, guerrilla armies and
state security forces -- armed, trained and supplied
by the United States -- murdered tens of thousands of
people throughout the region, often acting with
particular savagery at those times when peaceful
solutions to the conflicts seemed about to take hold.
Last month, it was widely reported that the Pentagon
is considering a similar program in
Iraq
. What was not reported, however -- except in the
Iraqi press -- is that at least one pro-occupation
death squad is already in operation. Just days after
the Pentagon plans were revealed, a new militant
group, "Saraya Iraqna," began offering big wads of
American cash for insurgent scalps -- up to $50,000,
the Iraqi paper Al Ittihad reports. "Our activity will
not be selective," the group promised. In other words,
anyone they consider an enemy of the state will be
fair game.
Strangely enough, just as it appears that the Pentagon
is establishing Gladio-style operations in
Iraq
, there has been a sudden rash of terrorist attacks on
outrageously provocative civilian targets, such as
hospitals and schools, the Guardian reports. Coming
just after national elections in which the majority
faction supported slates calling for a speedy end to
the American occupation, the shift toward high-profile
civilian slaughter has underscored the "urgent need"
for
U.S.
forces to remain on the scene indefinitely, to provide
security against the ever-present terrorist threat.
Meanwhile, the Bushists continue constructing their
long-sought permanent bases in
Iraq
: citadels to protect the oil that incoming Iraqi
officials are promising to sell off to American
corporations -- and launching pads for new forays in
geopolitical domination.
Perhaps it's just a coincidence. But the
U.S.
elite's history of directing and fomenting terrorist
attacks against friendly populations is so extensive
-- indeed, so ingrained and accepted -- that it calls
into question the origin of every terrorist act that
roils the world. With each fresh atrocity, we're
forced to ask: Was it the work of "genuine" terrorists
or a "black op" by intelligence agencies -- or both?
While not infallible, the ancient Latin question is
still the best guide to penetrating the bloody murk of
modern terrorism: Cui bono? Who benefits? Whose powers
and policies are enhanced by the attack? For it is
indisputable that the "strategy of tension" means
power and profit for those who claim to possess the
key to "security." And from the halls of the Kremlin
to the banks of the
Potomac
, this cynical strategy is the ruling ideology of our
times.
Annotations
The Pentagon's 'NATO Option'
CommonDreams.org, Feb. 10, 2005
NATO's Secret Armies Linked to Terrorism?
International Relations and Security Network, Dec. 15,
2004
Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio and NATO's
Stay-Behind Armies
Parallel History Project, Nov. 29, 2004
Synopsis of Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio
International Relations and Security Network, Dec. 15,
2004
Gladio: The Secret U.S. War to Subvert Italian
Democracy
Independent Media Center, Jan. 31, 2004
Unknown Militant Group Declares War on Extremists
in Iraq
Al Ittihad via Focus News, Jan. 11, 2005
U.S. Arming Baathist Militia's to Combat Shiite
Cleric Rule
Asia Times, Feb. 15, 2005
The Coming Wars
New Yorker, Jan. 17, 2005
Sectarian Massacres Shake Iraq
The Guardian, Feb. 12, 2005
Iraqi Election Catapults Critic of U.S. to Power
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 14, 2005
Iraq Winners Allied With Iran are the Opposite of
U.S. Vision
Washington Post, Feb. 14, 2005
COINTELPRO: Alive and Kicking
San Francisco Bay Guardian, Jan. 25, 2001
US Role in Salvador's Brutal War
BBC, March 24, 2002
Guatemala: Memory of Silence
Report of the Commission for Historical
Clarification,"
Reagan's Dark Global Legacy
Counterpunch, June 7, 2004
Dark Reagan Legacy in Central America
Reuters, June 7, 2004
Reagan Set Roots for al Qaeda
News24 South Africa, June 7, 2004
Reagan and Guatemala's Death Files
Consortiumnews.com, May 26, 1999
The US-Guatemala File: Training State Terrorists
Consortiumnews.com, May 26, 1999
The Ghost of Terror Past
Salon.com, Jan. 11, 2002
US Wants to Build Network of Friendly Militias to
Fight Terrorism
AFP, August 15, 2004
Opening Statement of Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz
House Armed Services Committee, Aug. 10, 2004
Guatemala to Pay Paramilitaries
BBC, Aug. 10, 2004
Efrain Rios Montt Background
More or Less (Australia), June 18, 2004
Rios Montt: Authoritarian Fundamentalist
Proceso (Mexico), April 15, 2001
CIA Admits 'Tolerating' Contra Drug Trafficking
Consortiumnews.com, June 8, 2000
Wackenhut: Inside the Shadow CIA
Spy Magazine, Sept. 1992
The CIA's Gentlemanly Planner of Assassinations
Slate.com, Nov. 1, 2002
Declassified Files Confirm US Post-War
Collaboration With Nazis
San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 7, 2001
Nixon Rigged 1971 Uruguay Elections
National Security Archive, June 20, 2002
JFK and the Diem Coup
National Security Archive, Nov. 5, 2003
CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954
Documents
National Security Archive, May 23, 1997
Guatemala: Memory of Silence
Report of the Commission for Historical
Clarification,"
Death, Lies, and Bodywashing
Consortiumnews.com, May 27, 1996
The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953
National Security Archive, Nov. 29, 2000
CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression
National Security Archive, Sept. 19, 2000
U.S. Documents Show Embrace of Saddam Despite WMD,
Aggression and Human Rights Abuses
National Security Archive, Feb. 23, 2003
Copyright: Moscow Times