FALSE FLAGS-WHATS THE MOTIVES

FALSE FLAGS (SET UP OR STAGED BY SOMEONE)
False flag-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time.

EVERY TIME THE LINKS ARE ON THE BOTTOM LIKE THIS POST.YOU KNOW GOOGLE AND THE CIA AND ALL THE REST OF THE MILITARY AGENTS ARE SENDING ME A MESSAGE TO GET OFF THIS SUBJECT OR ELSE.YES ITS A THREAT FROM THE NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASES TO QUIT TELLING OUR DIABOLICAL SECRETS TO ENSLAVE THE SHEEPLE WITH THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND.

FALSE FLAG INFO VIDEOS-MILITARY STATE CONTROL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBStfPbOIXc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GCWPbhUB9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urh4GA6JmPg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5k2rvTpYvU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzRb9_LhVas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvldEG-tLs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XfTCpskaA

HERES A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT A PATSY OF THE GOVERNMENT WOULD GET AWAY WITH.ONLY ONE CHARGE AGAINST THIS GUY (IF HE IS A GOVERNMENT PUPPET FOR TERORISM)AND THEY LET HIM OFF OF 280 CHARGES.THIS TO ME SMELLS OF A SETUP JURY AND GOVERNMENT PATSY PROVOCATEUR.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2010 -Ghailani Verdict Complicates Bid to Close Gitmo
Acquittal on Most Counts in First Civilian Trial of a Terror Suspect Held There Also Ignites Debate on Rule of LawGitmo Detainee Acquitted of Most Terror Charges
Final Arguments on Tap in Landmark Terror Trial

(CBS/AP) The first court conviction of a Guantanamo Bay detainee did little to inch President Barack Obama closer to shuttering the island prison, making it increasingly likely his campaign promise will remain unmet when his term expires.
Jurors in New York City on Wednesday convicted Ahmed Ghailani of conspiracy to blow up government buildings in the al Qaeda attacks on two U.S. embassies in 1998, but they acquitted him on more than 280 other charges. He is the only person transferred from Guantanamo Bay for trial since the U.S. began filling the military prison in Cuba eight years ago. In some ways, the conviction was a vindication for an administration that believes the judicial system established by the Constitution has proved itself capable of handling terrorism cases. Predictions of new terrorist attacks and huge police expenses surrounding the trial never materialized. Ghailani now faces 20 years to life in prison, longer than three of the four sentences handed down by military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.But CBS News national security consultant Juan Zarate, a former official in the Bush administration's anti-terror efforts, called this a very mixed result.The verdict Demonstrates the complications trying to bring high-level al Qaeda figures from Guantanamo into the civil system, Zarate said on CBS' The Early Show Thursday.It also demonstrates the contradictions trying to hold somebody accountable in the criminal system, even if we are going to hold them in custody, regardless of the verdict. … I think this starts to close the debate on the use of civilian trials for high-level Guantanamo detainees and will certainly color the debate how to handle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.Zarate's comment highlights an irony that frustrates defenders of the rule of law. As the New York Times' Charlie Savage reported Thursday, Critics of the Obama administration's strategy on detainees said the verdict proved that civilian courts could not be trusted to handle the prosecution of al Qaeda terrorists.

But if a partial acquittal is proof that courts cannot be trusted, then the critics are proposing a system where the outcome - conviction on all counts and a harsh sentence - is predetermined and the trial is meaningless. The system worked here, Mason Clutter, the counsel of the Rule of Law Program at the Constitution Project, told the Times. I don't think we judge success based on the number of convictions that were received. I think we judge success based on fair prosecutions consistent with the Constitution and the rule of law.Clutter said that the result left Ghalani with little recourse for appeal and did not entail the extravagant cost or need to disclose classified information often cited by opponents of civilian trials. Despite the acquittals, which included murder counts for each of the 224 people killed in the bombings, the Justice Department said it was pleased Ghailani faces up to life in prison and said it would seek that sentence.But senior officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions, conceded that the one-count conviction, combined with big electoral wins for Republicans this month, will make it harder to close the prison.The administration had hoped for an overwhelming conviction to help ease congressional opposition to Obama's long-stymied plan for moving the detainees to U.S. soil. The administration must notify Congress before any transfer, and Republicans have said they would block such efforts. They couldn't come close to getting that done when the Democrats were in charge,said Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who is expected to be the next chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.There's no way they're going to get it now that Republicans are in charge.King called the verdict a tragic wake-up call to the Obama Administration.

Ex-Italian President: Provocateur Riots Then Beat The S--- Out Of Protesters
Cossiga says Italian government should do what I did under Operation GLADIO - infiltrate protest groups with agent provocateurs Paul Joseph Watson
Propaganda Matrix Thursday, October 30, 2008

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga has offered a solution to the Italian government in dealing with widespread demonstrations by students and teachers over a cut in state funding of education - use agent provocateurs to start riots and then have the police beat the s--- out of the protesters.Cossiga, former Italian President, Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, and one of the founders of the Operation GLADIO covert intelligence unit, encouraged Silvio Berlusconi and current Minister of the Interior Robert Maroni to do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior,namely infiltrate what so far have been relatively peaceful demonstrations, radicalize them, start riots, then engender public support for a heavy-handed police response.

Cossiga's full statement translated reads as follows.Maroni should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. University students? Let them do what they want. Withdraw the police from streets and universities, infiltrate the movement with provoking agents ready for anything [agenti provocatori is the Italian term] and let them devastate shops, put fire to the cars and put cities to the sword for ten days.Then, strengthen by people's support, the sound of the sirens from ambulances will have to overwhelm that from the police and carabinieri [italian military police]. Law enforcement officers should pitilessly beat the shit out of protesters and send them all to the hospital. They should not arrest them since the courts would free them immediately, but they should beat them savagely, and they should beat savagely as well those teachers that incites them: not old professors, just the young school teachers.Cossiga is essentially describing the problem-reaction-solution dialectic that he exploited when he was in government. Under the banner of Operation GLADIO, which was unveiled after parliamentary investigations in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, NATO sponsored secret armies committed acts of violence and terrorism and blamed the attacks on left-wing political movements, allowing far-right governments to seize power in numerous European countries.

You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game, right-wing terrorist and GLADIO agent Vincezo Vinciguerra explained the so-called strategy of tension in sworn testimony.
The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the state cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened.GLADIO-orchestrated false flag terror attacks, such as the Bologna train bombing in 1980 which killed 85 people, were revealed during the Italian parliamentary investigation as having been overseen by elements of the U.S. intelligence apparatus. At the very least, U.S. intelligence sat on prior knowledge of bombings and allowed them to go ahead.Cossiga's call to infiltrate protest groups and provocateur violence, giving the police public backing to beat the s--- out of them, is a false flag tactic that has been employed numerous times during major protest events around the world.Indeed, the scenario Cossiga is describing is exactly what happened at the violent 2001 Genoa G8 summit, during which Italian police planted bombs in headquarters being used by protest groups as an excuse to conduct raids and beat the s--- out of peaceful demonstrators.A similar tactic was also attempted during last year's SPP summit protest in Quebec Canada. Canadian police were caught dressed up as rock-wielding anarchists intent on causing riots. Peaceful protesters identified the agent provocateurs and the police later had to admit the fact despite going to the lengths of publicly staging the arrests of their own officers.Last year, Cossiga drew on his first-hand personal experience in conducting false flag terror operations to declare that 9/11 was an inside job and that this fact was common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies.

Gordon Duff: Terrorism, Always Suspect A False Flag First
March 30, 2010 Gordon Duff, Veterans Today

Real Terrorists are rare and usually easily caught always ask: Who gains from this?

Every time there is a terrorist attack, the nations blamed say that it was a false flag operation. This is what America did to cover up My Lai. We were lying. Germans claimed Poland invaded Germany in 1939. An educated guess is that 75% of terrorist attacks we hear of were staged, never happened or were done by radical groups that were first infiltrated, then controlled and eventually financed and supplied by intelligence agencies. Intelligence agencies are, in actuality, the biggest terrorist organizations in the world. The CIA has blown up more buses, airplanes and markets than any almost anyone else. The Mossad may be number one, followed by, well, everyone, the RAW, ISI, MI-6, IRA and dozens of others.Either directly or through idiots, clones (operatives using false identity to look like terrorists) or through simply doing it themselves, these groups promote national policy by destabilizing nations, swinging elections or defaming religious, national or political groups by staging attacks and using the press to place the blame. The popular video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 even has a terrorist attack on a transportation center in Moscow built into it, a “false flag” attack. Today, the real thing happened.

FRANCESCO COSSIGA, FORMER PRIME MINISTER, PRESIDENT AND MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR OF ITALY SPILLS HIS GUTS

With communism threatening to overrun Europe, NATO set up terrorist groups under Operation Gladio (short sword) to act as guerrilla armies in case Europe was overrun. As this became less and less likely, intelligence services began using the terrorist groups meant to fight Russia to manipulate politics in Europe through terrorist acts, such as bombings. We wouldn’t know the details if Cossiga, one of the planners of Operation Gladio, hadn’t spilled his guts about this and other false flag operations in Europe and elsewhere. This is what Cassiga told Robert Maroni, Italian Minister of the Interior about methods employed to control civil protests in Italy:Maroni should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior.University students? … infiltrate them with agents provocateurs … and let the agents provocateurs devastate shops, set fire to cars and put cities to the sword for ten days.Then, having won the sympathy of the public … the police should pitilessly beat the shit out of protesters and send them all to hospital.One of the operational leaders of Operation Gladio, representing NATO with the CIA, was Vincezo Vinciguerra who stated under oath:You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the state cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened.When the Italian parliament investigated, a number of allegations arose. It seemed that one of the Gladio operations was a train bombing in Bologna in 1980 which killed 85 people. This was supported by both physical evidence and significant testimony. It was also discovered that Palestinian terrorists operating in Europe including Abu Nidal were working for the CIA and Mossad. Investigations by the Italian parliament reported the following about Stefano delle Ciaie.

A neo-fascist group tied to extremist Masonic lodges in Italy had formed a political action cell called P2. Though none of this was reported in the US, this group, tied directly to NATO intelligence services was linked to terrorist acts throughout Europe and even in South America. The report reads as follows:In December 1985 magistrates in Bologna issued 16 arrest warrants, including at least three to P-2 members, accusing members of the Italian intelligence service SISMI of first planning and then covering up the Bologna bombing. One of these 16 was P-2’s leader Licio Gelli, who had spent most of the post-war years in Argentina. A small group of anarchists, penetrated by delle Chiaie’s man Mario Merlino, were blamed at first for the Piazza Fontana bombing, even though Sismi knew within six days that delle Chiaie was responsible, and Merlino had planted the bomb.

THE BUZZ WORDS OF MURDER

We now use terms like Low Intensity Conflict and Surrogacy Warfare to describe terrorism operated by governments against either foreign governments or, more often, their own people. Most false flag attacks are used to influence elections or to push through Patriot Act and FISA type legislation or to justify acts like the invasion of Iraq. Control of both the press and any potential investigation makes such operations a mainstream effort of national policy, so commonplace that those who work in intelligence or at the highest levels of law enforcement automatically write off major terrorism incidents as staged.In Vietnam, Operation Phoenix was terrorism, meant to kill civilian communists including doctors, nurses, teachers and even religious leaders. We ran similar programs in Central America for years, killing thousands, nuns, reporters, union leaders and moderate politicians we were afraid would eventually join with communists. It was a horrible embarrassment to the CIA that the communist dictatorship in Nicaragua was voted out of office in an open election they sponsored. We had been running death squads throughout that country from our bases on Honduras for years.Similar operations have been staged all over the world, from Chile to Korea to Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States. Half the bombings during the 60s and 70s were planned or influenced by informants or agent provocateurs as described by Cossiga. The massive infiltration of the militia movements of the 80s and 90s brings the Oklahoma City bombing into question.

EVERY DAY, ALL OVER THE WORLD

If a train or bus blows up in London, it is best to look at who is visiting, what political party is going to gain or what scandal needs to be pushed off the front page. In India, the Mumbai attacks, blamed on Pakistan, did nothing for Pakistan. Who gained? Israel gained as did India, gained massively. When a school is blown up in Pakistan and blamed on the Taliban, Pakistan doesn’t believe the Taliban had anything to do with it. When Iran is attacked from Balochistan, it knows nobody in Balochistan planned the attack.Yes, there are real terrorists, people without hope who are pushed to extremism through exploitation, often by religious fanatics or hucksters. For every Maddrassa in Pakistan, there is a church in the US, perhaps ten, advocating beliefs that can lead nowhere but to violence.

BREEDING TERRORISM AT HOME

Radicals within the United States have always been a serious problem. A good analytical tool is the simple public poll. It reveals how gullible a population is and how easy they would be to fool. The primary groundwork for terrorism is control of the press and the molding of public opinion. With foreign governments with highly suspect intelligence agencies infiltrating the press, as they have in the United States, there is little doubt that providing cover for false flag terrorism is in the cards.

RECENT HARRIS POLL REVEALS THE FOLLOWING BELIEFS BY ONE AMERICAN PARTY DEEMED RIGHT OF CENTER:

* 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist
* 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president
* 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is doing many of the things that Hitler did
* 57 percent of Republicans believe President Obama is a Muslim
* 24 percent of Republicans believe President Obama may be the AntiChrist

And it gets worse:

* 57% of Republicans either believe or are not sure that health care reform is a diabolical government plot to create death panels
* 91% of conservative Republicans call Obama a socialist, Marxist, communist, or fascist
* 72% of Republicans either think or haven’t made up their minds about whether Obama was born in the USA. 42% are solid birthers
* 80% of Republicans support extending the Patriot Act
* 67% of Republicans oppose the choice of a public health insurance option (only 40% of all Americans oppose)
* 70% of Republicans oppose a woman’s right to chose having an abortion
* 60% of Republicans oppose making it easier for workers to organize
* 60% of Republicans are creationists
* Only 6% of scientists are Republican
* 68% of Republicans are not at all concerned about Climate Change
* Only 23% of Republicans believe in natural evolution
* Only 38% of Republicans support funding embryonic stem cell research

HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO BLAME THE EASTER BUNNY FOR 9/11 WITH FOLKS LIKE THIS AROUND?
The basic rule is simply this, if terrorists suffer as a result of an attack, bring down massive retaliation, if new laws are passed or a public is aroused, then we are probably dealing with a false flag attack, not a genuine terrorist act. If a terror attack, such as the phony Crotch Bombing in Detroit are staged and individuals tied directly to security agencies make millions in profits overnight, you can be absolutely certain, no questions asked.Who benefits from today’s attack on Moscow?

Sword Play: Attacking Civilians to Justify Greater Security
Chris Floyd | February 29 2005

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.

NATO’s secret armies linked to terrorism?
by Daniele Ganser ISN Security Watch, 15 December 2004
www.globalresearch.ca 17 December 2004
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/GAN412A.html

At a time when experts are debating whether NATO is suited to deal with the global war on terror, new research suggests that the alliance’s own secret history has links to terrorism.ISN Editor’s Note:This report written by Daniele Ganser is based on excerpts from his newly released book, NATO’s Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, released this week by Frank Cass in London.The book describes NATO’s clandestine operations during the Cold War. The research was prompted by a story that made world headlines in 1990 but quickly disappeared, ensuring that even today, NATO’s secret armies remain just that - secret.Until now, a full investigation of NATO’s secret armies had not been carried out - a task that Ganser has taken on single-handedly and quite successfully.

In Italy, on 3 August 1990, then-prime minister Giulio Andreotti confirmed the existence of a secret army code-named Gladio - the Latin word for sword - within the state. His testimony before the Senate subcommittee investigating terrorism in Italy sent shockwaves through the Italian parliament and the public, as speculation arose that the secret army had possibly manipulated Italian politics through acts of terrorism.Andreotti revealed that the secret Gladio army had been hidden within the Defense Ministry as a subsection of the military secret service, SISMI. General Vito Miceli, a former director of the Italian military secret service, could hardly believe that Andreotti had lifted the secret, and protested:I have gone to prison because I did not want to reveal the existence of this super secret organization. And now Andreotti comes along and tells it to parliament! According to a document compiled by the Italian military secret service in 1959, the secret armies had a two-fold strategic purpose: firstly, to operate as a so-called stay-behind group in the case of a Soviet invasion and to carry out a guerrilla war in occupied territories; secondly, to carry out domestic operations in case of emergency situations.

The military secret services’ perceptions of what constituted an emergency was well defined in Cold War Italy and focused on the increasing strength of the Italian Communist and the Socialist parties, both of which were tasked with weakening NATO from within. Felice Casson, an Italian judge who during his investigations into right-wing terrorism had first discovered the secret Gladio army and had forced Andreotti to take a stand, found that the secret army had linked up with right-wing terrorists in order to confront emergency situations. The terrorists, supplied by the secret army, carried out bomb attacks in public places, blamed them on the Italian left, and were thereafter protected from prosecution by the military secret service. You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game,right-wing terrorist Vincezo Vinciguerra explained the so-called strategy of tension to Casson.The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the state cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened.

No comment from NATO or the CIA

How strongly NATO and US intelligence backed and supported the use of terror in Italy in order to discredit the political left during the Cold War remains subject of ongoing research. General Gerardo Serravalle, who had commanded the Italian Gladio secret army from 1971 to 1974, confirmed that the secret army could pass from a defensive, post-invasion logic, to one of attack, of civil war.The Italian Senate chose to be more explicit and concluded in its investigation in 2000: Those massacres, those bombs, those military actions had been organized or promoted or supported by men inside Italian state institutions and, as has been discovered more recently, by men linked to the structures of United States intelligence. Ever since the discovery of the secret NATO armies in 1990, research into stay-behind armies has progressed only very slowly, due to very limited access to primary documents and the refusal of both NATO and the CIA to comment. On 5 November 1990, a NATO spokesman told an inquisitive press: NATO has never contemplated guerrilla war or clandestine operations.The next day, NATO officials admitted that the previous day’s denial had been false, adding that the alliance would not comment on matters of military secrecy. On 7 November, NATO’s highest military official in Europe, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) US General John Galvin, together with NATO’s highest civilian official, Secretary-General Manfred Wörner, briefed NATO ambassadors behind closed doors. Since this is a secret organization, I wouldn't expect too many questions to be answered, reasoned a senior NATO diplomat, who wished to remain unnamed. If there were any links to terrorist organizations, that sort of information would be buried very deep indeed. Former CIA director William Colby confirmed in his memoirs that setting up the secret armies in Western Europe had been a major program for the CIA. The project started after World War II in total secrecy, and access to information was limited to the smallest possible coterie of the most reliable people, in Washington, in NATO and in the countries concerned. Yet when in Italy in 1990 former CIA director Admiral Stansfield Turner was questioned on television on Gladio, he strictly refused to answer any questions on the sensitive issue, and as the interviewer insisted with respect for the terror victims, Stansfield angrily ripped off his microphone and shouted: I said, no questions about Gladio!, whereafter the interview was over.

Protest from the EU

If there had been a Soviet invasion, the secret anti-communist soldiers would have operated behind enemy lines, strengthening and setting up local resistance movements in enemy-held territory, evacuating shot down pilots, and sabotaging the supply lines and production centers of occupation forces. Upon discovery of the secret armies, the European Parliament responded with harsh criticism, suspecting it to have been involved in manipulation and terror operations. This Europe will have no future, Italian representative Falqui opened the debate, if it is not founded on truth, on the full transparency of its institutions in regard to the dark plots against democracy that have turned upside down the history, even in recent times, of many European states.Falqui insisted that there will be no future, ladies and gentlemen, if we do not remove the idea of having lived in a kind of double state - one open and democratic, the other clandestine and reactionary. That is why we want to know what and how many Gladio networks there have been in recent years in the Member States of the European Community.The majority of EU parliamentarians followed Falqui, and in a special resolution on 22 November 1990 made it clear that the EU “protests vigorously at the assumption by certain US military personnel at SHAPE and in NATO of the right to encourage the establishment in Europe of a clandestine intelligence and operation network, calling for a a full investigation into the nature, structure, aims, and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations or any splinter groups, their use for illegal interference in the internal political affairs of the countries concerned, and the problem of terrorism in Europe.

Secret armies across Western Europe

Only the parliaments in Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium had formed a special commission to investigate the national secret army, and after months or even years of research, presented a public report. Building on this data and secondary sources from numerous European countries, NATO’s Secret Armies confirms for the first time that the secret networks spread across Western Europe, with great details on networks in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Luxemburg, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, as well as the strategic planning of Britain and the US. The stay-behind armies were coordinated on an international level by the so-called Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) and the Clandestine Planning Committee (CPC), linked to NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). And they used cover names such as Absalon in Denmark, P26 in Switzerland, ROC in Norway or SDRA8 in Belgium. Interestingly, large differences existed from country to country. In some nations the secret armies became a source of terror, while in others they remained a prudent precaution.In Turkey, the Counter-Guerrilla was involved in domestic terror and torture operations against the Kurds, while in Greece, the LOK took part in the 1967 military coup d’état to prevent a Socialist government. In Spain, the secret army was used to prop up the fascist dictatorship of Franco, and in Germany, right-wing terrorists used the explosives of the secret army in the 1980 terror attack in Munich. In other countries, including Denmark, Norway, and Luxemburg, the secret soldiers prepared for the eventual occupation of their home country and never engaged in domestic terror or manipulation. In the context of the ongoing so-called war on terror, the Gladio data promotes the sobering insight that governments in the West have sacrificed the life of innocent citizens and covered up acts of terrorism in order to manipulate the population.Allegations that NATO, the Pentagon, MI6, the CIA, and European intelligence services were linked to terror, coups d’état, and torture in Europe are obviously of an extremely sensitive nature, and future research is needed in the field. In the absence of an official investigation by NATO or the EU, ongoing international research into terrorism is about to tackle this difficult task, the first step of which I hope to have promisingly taken with NATO’s Secret Armies.Dr Daniele Ganser is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH in Zurich. For more information on the topic, compare the research of the Center of Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich.