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Operation Gladio is undisputed historical fact. Gladio was part of a post-World War II program set up by the CIA and NATO supposedly to thwart future Soviet/communist invasions or influence in Italy and Western Europe. In fact, it became a state-sponsored right-wing terrorist network, involved in false flag operations and the subversion of democracy.

The existence of Gladio was confirmed and admitted by the Italian government in 1990, after a judge, Felice Casson, discovered the network in the course of his investigations into right-wing terrorism. Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti admitted Gladio’s existence but tried to minimize its significance.

The main function of the Gladio-style groups, in the absence of Soviet invasion, seems to have been to discredit left-wing groups and politicians through the use of “the strategy of tension,� including false-flag terrorism. The strategy of tension is a concept for control and manipulation of public opinion through the use of fear, propaganda, agents provacateurs, terrorism, etc. The aim was to instill fear into the populace while framing communist and left-wing political opponents for terrorist atrocities.

Gladio and its “stay-behind� networks may be one of the most historically “accepted� or “confirmed� examples of false-flag terrorism. The documentation, the resolutions, confessions, and convictions all confirm that Gladio is much more than the media or government would have you believe—a mere “conspiracy theory.� The State Department set up a special site dedicated to dismissing “conspiracy theories,� including a whole page devoted to Gladio.

Truth movers should take advantage of Gladio and the stay-behind networks as a confirmed precedent of the US and western governments participating in ruthless terrorist attacks against their own people in order instill fear, control the population, and frame left-wing political opponents. People who believe that such things do not or cannot happen should be forcefully made aware of such examples as Operation Gladio.

EVIDENCE:

-The August 2, 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station which killed 85 people, is widely recognized as a Gladio operation. While it was initially blamed on the communist “Red Brigades,� eventually, right-wing and fascists elements were discoverd to be the culprits. Two Italian secret service agents and Licio Gelli, the head of the infamous P2 Masonic lodge, were convicted in connection to the bombing. 1

-“The makings of the bomb� came from an arsenal used by Gladio� according to a parliamentary commission on terrorism� The suggested link with the Bologna massacre is potentially the most serious of all the accusations levelled against Gladio, and comes just two days after the Italian Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti, cleared Gladio’s name in a speech to parliament, saying that the secret army did not drift from its formal Nato military brief� The Guardian January 16, 1991 1

-1969: “In Italy, the Piazza Fontana massacre in Milan kills 16 and injures and maims 80 [�.] during a trial of rightwing extremists General Giandelio Maletti, former head of Italian counterintelligence, alleges that the massacre had been carried out by the Italian stay-behind army and rightwing terrorists on the orders of the US secret service CIA in order to discredit Italian Communists.� 10

-1985: “In Belgium, a secret army attacks and shoots shoppers in supermarkets randomly in the Brabant county killing 28 and leaving many wounded. Investigations link the terror to a conspiracy among the Belgian stay-behind SDRA8, the Belgian Gendarmerie SDRA6, the Belgian right-wing group WNP and the Pentagon secret service DIA.� 10

-According to Vincenzo Vinciguerra, a far-right terrorist linked to Gladio and currently serving a life-sentence for the car bomb murder of 3 policement, “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.� 6

-Vinciguerra also made this statement to The Guardian, “The terrorist line was followed by camouflaged people, people belonging to the security apparatus, or those linked to the state apparatus through rapport or collaboration. I say that every single outrage that followed from 1969 fitted into a single, organised matrix� Avanguardia Nazionale, like Ordine Nuovo (the main right-wing terrorist group active during the 1970s), were being mobilised into the battle as part of an anti-communist strategy originating not with organisations deviant from the institutions of power, but from within the state itself, and specifically from within the ambit of the state’s relations within the Atlantic Alliance.� 1

-In 1990, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning Gladio. The resolution requested full investigations and a total dismantlement of the paramilitary structures involved—neither of which have come to pass.

-Similar Gladio-like operations have been discovered across Europe, including France, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Switzerland...


Check out The Lone Gladio by Sibel Edmonds for further reading on Operation Gladio.

Video:

FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds (aka 'The Most Classified Woman in U.S. History') Explains Who Is At The Top Of The Pyramid -- /videos/8644...

Friday 13th in Paris.
Brings to mind the demise of the Templars...

Coincidence?

We'll probably never know
There's real terrorism
And then there's staged terrorism

I'm not sure it matters. It could be real because the conditions that would cause this sort of shit still obtain. If we really wanted to stop terrorism, we would work on raising the standard of living for everyone around the world instead of bombing them into penury.

Jim wrote: "I'm not sure it matters. It could be real because the conditions that would cause this sort of shit still obtain. If we really wanted to stop terrorism, we would work on raising the standard of liv..."

George Carlin summarized the War on Terror best I think: "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity".

Jim wrote: "I'm not sure it matters. It could be real because the conditions that would cause this sort of shit still obtain. If we really wanted to stop terrorism, we would work on raising the standard of liv..."

Till then we're to just sit & take all this?

James Morcan wrote: "Jim wrote: "I'm not sure it matters. It could be real because the conditions that would cause this sort of shit still obtain. If we really wanted to stop terrorism, we would work on raising the sta..."
In theory, that sounds good and also very true, but war is a practicality, a reality (in whichever name it's carried out). We're destined to live in a culture of fear where each side considers the other a threat to its existence--wars seem inevitable.

Sash wrote: "In theory, that sounds good and also very true, but war is a practicality, a reality (in whichever name it's carried out). We're destined to live in a culture of fear where each side considers the other a threat to its existence--wars seem inevitable. ..."

If we keep acting like a society of cavemen and keep allowing sociopathic politicians to rule us, then I agree.
However, if more compassionate people like yourself Sash can speak up and demand to be heard, then it is curtains for the Global Elite and everything changes.

We the common people are the massive majority and we hold the true power.
But we must stop being manipulated by fear campaigns and stop being fooled into believing our enemies are such ridiculous things as immigrants or foreigners or those of other religions (who are all our fellow human beings...).

James Morcan wrote: "Sash wrote: "In theory, that sounds good and also very true, but war is a practicality, a reality (in whichever name it's carried out). We're destined to live in a culture of fear where each side c..."

You're right James! Nowadays, we're witnessing lesser instances of people being sold out to political rhetoric and reason is coming out as victorious. People are questioning everything, good people on both sides are coming up more than ever which is great.
Now this Paris terror attack makes me cynical!

All this shit is completely unnecessary. We could end hunger and poverty and kick fossil fuels to the curb within a decade if we had the mind to. We don't so the cycle will continue until we collectively remove our heads from our asses.

Jim wrote: "All this shit is completely unnecessary. We could end hunger and poverty and kick fossil fuels to the curb within a decade if we had the mind to. We don't so the cycle will continue until we collectively remove our heads from our asses..."

Yup. Totally.

And another thing I find suspicious is nobody, or at least nobody in senior positions, was fired after 9/11. Wouldn't you think the single biggest F*#&-up in the history of US national security would cause multiple heads to roll and even entire departments to be fired?
Hmmm, call me paranoid, but I find this detail very suspicious and perhaps a red flag as to the true nature of 9/11...

I've started to come to the conclusion that it's irrelevant if terror attacks are genuine or false flag. Ultimately, they are a feature, not a bug, in our system.

The way we responded to 9/11 ended up radicalizing more people, who respond with more violence, which makes us respond with more violence, ad nauseam. If we stopped right now, it would probably take 100 years to make most of the anger go away.

I see a Syrian passport was found at the scene in Paris. These terrorists seem to always be leaving their passports around at such things, don't they...

Jim, you make some good points as usual.

I guess it matters if you are into the whole punishing the guilty thing. While that may be emotionally satisfying on some level, it doesn't address the problem.

Jim wrote: "I guess it matters if you are into the whole punishing the guilty thing. While that may be emotionally satisfying on some level, it doesn't address the problem."

Guantanamo Bay is emotionally satisfying to many. Only the Western innocents pay the price--the guilty thing on our side doesn't get punished!

Jim wrote: "I've started to come to the conclusion that it's irrelevant if terror attacks are genuine or false flag. Ultimately, they are a feature, not a bug, in our system. ..."

Not sure if I agree on this one.
If the mass populace were aware that a fair amount of "Islamic terrorism" could be state-sponsored terrorism, or a combination of the two (e.g. ISIS/CIA collaborations or MI6/Al-Qaeda co-ops), would that be a game-changer? Would everyone (on all sides) start questioning news stories and start demanding more information before growing hateful?

To take one nation, the USA, what percentage of Americans know about Operation Northwoods or Project Paperclip or Operation Gladio or any of these other nefarious projects? 5%? 10% at best I'd say. If my assumption is correct there, then this may explain why it's impossible for many to even conceive of the idea that certain incidents against the US could actually be false flag attacks or Inside Jobs conducted by their own intel agencies...

Seems to me that it's a hell of a lot easier to manipulate populations when they are not receiving this type of hard-to-find or suppressed knowledge. For example, I would wager the vast majority of the members in this group would be much harder to coerce into hating certain sectors of society simply because they are more clued up than average citizen.

I'll grant that false flag attacks make things worse. They allow governments to justify things people ordinarily wouldn't support.

My point is that the conditions that create radicalism are built into the system. Colonialism or Neo-colonialism create conditions of extreme poverty which are a breeding ground for resentment. Killing civilians with bombs and drones only adds to that.

The system demands we keep invading countries. The weapons manufacturers want to sell weapons. The oil and other mineral companies want access to their product. Or, in the case of Iraq, they want the oil to stay in the ground. The banking system wants to lend money to governments to buy weapons. These are just some of the people that finance our elections, guaranteeing business will continue.

When WWII ended, we kept things going with the Cold War. We fought proxy wars in Asia and Central America. When the Soviet Union collapsed, they needed something else. The radical Islam that the CIA created in Afghanistan seemed like a good candidate. If September 11 hadn't happened, they would have found some other justification.

The state sponsorship of these groups to help feed the war effort is all part of the system. The responsibility for any single atrocity seems kind of meaningless when atrocities are churned out on a regular basis.

as far as I understand, 6 out of the 7 attackers in Paris were suicide bombers...how does that play into the notion of a false flag operation?

Lisa wrote: "as far as I understand, 6 out of the 7 attackers in Paris were suicide bombers...how does that play into the notion of a false flag operation?"

Obviously the Paris attackers/bombers were (and all their kind are) terrorists Lisa, but how many intelligence agencies knew of their plans before the event - as has been suggested in the case of 9/11?

IF they knew, that would constitute a false flag operation in my book.

Lisa wrote: "as far as I understand, 6 out of the 7 attackers in Paris were suicide bombers...how does that play into the notion of a false flag operation?"

None of this discussion so far, at least from what I've written and read, relates to the Paris attacks. Operation Gladio was state-sponsored terrorism that occurred from the 60 until the 1990s, I believe.

As for Paris, it's too early to tell but on the surface it all seems like a legitimate terrorist attack.

Terrorism is real and only a fool would deny its existence. However, unfortunately false flag terrorism or Inside Jobs are also sometimes carried out by Western intelligence agencies.

Sorry , my bad. ..i thought it was about the Paris attack also, since it was mentioned in the thread. The video, if i remember correctly, she talked about the financial gain in weaponry...that's where my thought about suicide bombers didn't make sense. In the past I have watched the zeitgeist film and other posts by them and related to them...and all kinds of theories regarding 9/11. It is my understanding that the western world desires middle eastern's business and there's an immense capital gain for a few elitists. We are selling weapons to terrorists. I'm not sure anyone really doubts there are elitist tainting the governments around the world. The problem is finding ways to render their relations useless. I found this article interesting...perhaps educating the next generations in this manner will carve a doorway into a nonviolent path.

this group has opened my eyes for things that didn't really occur to me to investigate. So I'm planning on spending some time now on siding these things a little better. Lance mentioned what he considered a false flag attack. I just watched this Ted talk that kind of brought that into a new light for me:
Check out this amazing TEDTalk:


Trevor Aaronson: How this FBI strategy is actually creating US-based terrorists




Sent from the official TED app for Android:

Google Play:

Lisa wrote: "this group has opened my eyes for things that didn't really occur to me to investigate."

It's good to hear that! :)

Try doing a web search on Captagon. A Saudi prince was once caught with two tons of drugs, most of it Captagon, with the intention of selling it to ISIS. It makes users fearless and brutal. Of course, the prince got away with it due to diplomatic immunity or someone being paid or threatened. Suicide bombers/shooters being given that drug along with indoctrination can be a part of a false flag operation without realizing what they are doing in the larger sense.

The other issue is that merely not knowing things is only part of the problem. A large number of people that I know, even supposedly intelligent people, refuse to even read anything that does not agree with their previously established ideas of the magnificence of their country. When I encounter that attitude, I immediately back off to avoid generating more resistance, then later try to sneak in a little truth sideways in a way that they might not find so objectionable. It is a long road. I also believe that many such people are simply not ready to understand that violence does not bring peace. That is another long road.

Bruce wrote: "Try doing a web search on Captagon. A Saudi prince was once caught with two tons of drugs, most of it Captagon, with the intention of selling it to ISIS. It makes users fearless and brutal. Of cour..."

Saudi has a long history of sponsoring terrorism and creating instability in the Middle East and elsewhere to gain dominance over the area. Also, their version of Islam is different from the one practiced by the rest of the ummah (Muslim world) in general. Drugs are used as a big driving force in terrorism.
Why U.S supports the monarchy of Saudi Arabia because everywhere else "democracy is the only" way which the U.S needs to help achieve?
I agree to all you've said.
"Violence does not bring peace"? Right, but what does? And, who is fighting for peace? There are so many I know who don't want it and the nations are fighting for power, survival, supremacy, oil, anything but peace (in the name of peace?)
Thanks for the Captagon info!

I'm not sure anything is about peace anymore, but rather about self-interest. Funding and creating terrorist groups to fight our battles and then leave them to their own devices is horrific...but so is sending our own soldiers in to do the dirty work. ..two wrongs, but which one is more right?

Operation Gladio
Read more here:

Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia



NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe

Did The CIA Commit Acts Of Terrorism? (Operation Gladio partially-declassified) -- /videos/1086...

Charles wrote: "Reading this alongside your discussion of Operation Northwoods. The similarities are really striking, as is the relevance to 9/11, which has not not been properly investigated and about which there are real questions that need to be answered. ..."

Thanks Charles.
And yes, I personally think the signs were there in the 20th Century that certain splinter groups within our governments really are/were capable of such evils against their own fellow citizens.

In a way it's a compliment to the good nature of the average citizen that they cannot even conceive those in power are able to commit such crimes against them.
Many in the upper echelons of power think differently and selfishly, however...

None of that is to say 9/11 was definitely an Inside Job, but I think it's naive to just dismiss such theories as impossible and to believe in ideas like "no American would do that to their fellow Americans".

Yeah, I also tend to believe Al-Qaeda and ISIS are predominantly Western creations...So many finance trails lead back from these supposedly independent terrorist networks to US/UK intelligence agencies.

That's not to say terrorism isn't real or a problem for the world, but the key thing I believe many are missing is these terrorist networks are keeping the war machine, and all its funding, at full tilt.

Charles, what'd you learn about these things from researching for your intriguing book Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect? Did you pick up any clues about how things can be engineered at the very top to fool the public?

Charles wrote: "This was very vague. But here are some books that I think go some way toward answering it:

Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb
Gary Wills, Bomb Power
Richard Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly -- really in..."

Thanks Charles.
Best,
James

Charles wrote: "It's a serious question. In the sense that it would involve tracing the complicated web of the national security state and trying to understand how significant certain historical actors, institutio..."

When you mention "historical actors", can you elaborate on that?
Are you mean professional liars at the top of administrations?

Charles wrote: "Hmm, now you mention it 'historical actors' is pompous jargon - I meant 'people' i.e. it would be interesting to see whether any of the same people cropped up. This is the sort of thing that Richar..."

Hi Charles, Thanks for the detailed explanation.
J

Gladio: NATO's Dagger at the Heart of Europe: The Pentagon-Nazi-Mafia Terror Axis

Hmm, I really need a whole more on this author and his claims:

"GLADIO - NATO’S Dagger at the Heart of Europe: The Pentagon-Nazi-Mafia Terror Axis by Richard Cottrell
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 225,630. Language: English. Published: April 21, 2012 by Progressive Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Politics and Current Affairs » Terrorism, Nonfiction » History » European

Masquerading as a rear guard against a Communist takeover, NATO's covert special forces are in reality a hideous cancer poisoning European democracy. NATO was behind the Red Brigades and RAF; the murders and attempts on the lives of heads of state: Aldo Moro, Robert Maxwell, Olaf Palme, Pope John Paul II, and JFK; and the false-flag train bombings in London, Madrid and Bologna."

What in blazes is NATO's "covert" special forces, The claims are so outrageous that they need Extraordinary proof. If this chap is correct, we are not homo sapiens but homo dumbus.

Now this book might be worth studying: Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia.

One of the best comments on Glaido is found at the Amazon page. Review is by M. B. Green:

You may well be right, Dave. That book (which I haven't read and only added it as there are so few books published on the fairly recently declassified Operation Gladio) may indeed be poorly written/researched.

Better to focus on more polished accounts like ex-FBI employee turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds' books on the subject including Classified Woman and The Lone Gladio.
And this book by a Swiss historian: NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe.

Also, better to focus on the news reports and media articles on the actual history, I think...Like this excellent summary by WikiSpooks:
It's very good study for those who instantly assume our governments would never be able to conceive let alone orchestrate terrorism against their own people...and that the likes of 9/11 in NYC or 7/7 in London are definitely NOT be "inside jobs" and that such speculation is ludicrous and without historical justification. Granted, 9/11 and 7/7 may not have been inside jobs (very few if any of us know for sure), but Operation Gladio and Operation Northwoods certainly provide very strong contributing evidence toward there being a broader campaign to either secretly sponsor terrorists and/or fake terrorism and blame it on foreign "enemies".

The aforementioned WikiSpooks article also mentioned Operation Gladio has continued and switched its focus from communists to Muslims, as per this excerpt: "Officially non-existant, these networks were hard for NATO/MI6/Deep state officials to control, and carried out bombings, kidnappings and assassinations to such an extent that the network was publicly exposed in Italy in the 1980s. It has retrospectively called Operation Gladio/A, after the project was adapted as 'Gladio B', using radical Moslems as a substitute enemy image for communists."

How many more such documents concerning supposedly foreign terrorism in the West will be declassified or accidentally leaked in the coming decades to reveal more state sponsored terrorism created by Western intelligence agencies?

We are most likely looking at the tip of the iceberg...

The Swiss book might be worth a look. Here is the authors bona fides:

Daniele Ganser is a Swiss historian. His book NATO's Secret Armies addresses secret armies run by NATO, especially Operation Gladio. Wikipedia
Born: August 29, 1972 (age 44), Lugano, Switzerland
Education: University of Basel.

and his web page:


The fact that the Kindle book costs $48.76 seems a little pricey. I can rent it for $16.19 per day. That screams beware to me.

I don't doubt that the group existed, and may still be in play today. Wonder why the allies didn't use them in the Middle East?


The FBI source seems more credible: Sibel Edmonds is the editor of Boiling Frogs Post and the founder- director of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. She is the recipient of the 2006 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. Ms. Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI where she reported serious acts of security breaches and cover-ups, and for that she was retaliated against and ultimately fired. The court proceedings on her case were blocked by the assertion of State Secrets Privilege, and the U.S. Congress has been gagged and prevented from taking up or even discussing her case through retroactive classification issued by the Department of Justice. Ms. Edmonds has a MA in Public Policy from George Mason University, and a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University.

It is always tough to judge the chaff from the wheat.

BTW-James and I do tend to get along fairly well even if I play Scully a lot to his Mulder.

Sibel is a member of this group Dave, so maybe she'll post in this thread one day to enlighten us all. Her book Classified Woman is excellent.

David wrote: "BTW-James and I do tend to get along fairly well even if I play Scully a lot to his Mulder. ..."

I think in this instance it's more like I'm playing an unbiased/neutral global citizen and you're playing the part of a hardcore patriot based in somewhere like Arkansas who refuses to accept the West is capable of such evils :)

Here are news reports on Operation Gladio all from very standard (non-conspiracy orientated) outlets in the mainstream media including the Washington Post, the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times etc...

The Gladio File: did fear of communism throw West into the arms of terrorists? (The Guardian)

Operation Gladio - Full 1992 documentary (Originally aired on BBC2 in 1992, 'Operation Gladio' reveals 'Gladio', the secret state-sponsored terror network operating in Europe)

Haberman, Clyde; Times, Special to The New York (Nov 16, 1990). "EVOLUTION IN EUROPE; Italy Discloses Its Web Of Cold War Guerrillas". The New York Times.

CIA Organized Secret Army in Western Europe - (The Washington Post)

Secret Italian unit 'trained in Britain' - (The Guardian), 17 November 1990

CIA Ties With Ex-Nazis Shown - The Washington Post

SECRET GLADIO NETWORK PLANTED WEAPONS CACHES IN NATO COUNTRIES (Associated Press)

Well, the Arkansas jibe stung a little :-)

Howdy Partner, we don't cotton to this talk. Did I get it right?

PS-I certainly believe that black ops has happened, does happen ane will continue to happen.

David wrote: "Well, the Arkansas jibe stung a little :-)

Howdy Partner, we don't cotton to this talk. Did I get it right?"

Wasn't a jibe mate, just having a little fun.
And yes, I think you're getting your Southern speak downpat!

Excerpt from 33 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True:



Operation Gladio: Gladio is a code name denoting the clandestine NATO “stay-behind� operation in Italy after World War II, intended to continue anti-communist resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, “Operation Gladio� is used as an informal name for all stay-behind organizations, sometimes called “Super NATO�. The role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in sponsoring Gladio and the extent of its activities during the Cold War era, and its relationship to right-wing terrorist attacks perpetrated in Italy during the Years of Lead and other similar clandestine operations is the subject of ongoing debate and investigation. Italy, Switzerland and Belgium have had parliamentary inquiries into the matter. What can we prove about that role? Thousands of documents, depositions and testimony as well as recorded conversations and admission by the highest levels of government in Italy. That’s about as credible as it gets, regardless of the CIA’s adamant denial it ever happened. What took place? The shooting of innocent civilians, terrorism and assassinations all blamed on leftist communists were actually apart of well coordinated, “black operations.� Black operations are typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and, often, outside of standard military protocol.

“The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.� Black ops missions often fit into the deniable category, a situation in which there is no claim of responsibility for the action, and/or a false flag operation is used to give the appearance that another actor was responsible, or � most often � black operations involve extensive arrangements so as to be able to hide the fact that the black operation ever occurred. Black military operations, or paramilitary operations, can be used by various secret services to achieve or attempt to achieve an unusually sensitive goal. The methods used in black operations are also used in unconventional warfare. Depending on the precise situation in a given case, and the level of authoritarianism of the national government or other responsible party, some tasks will be conducted as black operations, while there are usually other activities that can be admitted openly. Black operations may include such things as assassination, sabotage, extortion, spying on allied countries or one’s own citizens, kidnapping, supporting resistance movements, torture, use of fraud to obtain funds, use of child soldiers, human experimentation, trafficking in contraband items, etc. Since 9/11, many black operations and long time unethical standings have been approved for legality in the war on terror. In other words, since September 11th, 2001, it is no a longer conspiracy for any of this to occur, a simple decision by a top level military or CIA official is enough, without oversight or even one thread of admission by the Government or Private conspirators. Much of the Black operations today are performed by private contract companies like Blackwater (now Xe).

This is a documentary banned in teh United States that was allowed to air on BBC. It was an investigation into Operation Gladio:

Conspiracy Theories That Became Conspiracy Facts

Sometimes conspiracy theories turn out to be true. Therefore, it’s worth assessing them, even if their claims appear wholly outlandish. Especially if their claims appear wholly outlandish.

4. Operation Gladio: Anti-Communist False Flags in Italy

Operation Gladio was the post-World War II love-child of a CIA/NATO/M16 plot to battle communism in Italy. The operation lasted two decades and used CIA-created “stay behind� networks as part of a “Strategy of Tension� that coordinated multiple terrorist attacks from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Authorities blamed these attacks on Marxists and other left-wing political opponents in order to stigmatize and condemn communism. The operation involved multiple bombings that killed hundreds of innocent people, including children. The most notable attack was the August 2, 1980, bombing of the Bologna train station, which killed 85 people.

In an Anti-Media piece written about five confirmed false flag operations (which includes Operation Gladio, I wrote:

“How do we know about Operation Gladio in spite of its incredibly clandestine nature? There are two principle sources. One, the investigations of Italian judge Felice Casson, whose presentation was so compelling it forced Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to confirm Gladio’s existence. The second source is testimony from an actual Gladio operative, Vincenzo Vinciguerra, who is serving a life sentence for murder. In a 1990 interview with the Guardian, Vincenzo stated that Gladio was designed to psychologically coerce the Italian public to rely on the state for security.�

Operation Gladio is a textbook modern “false flag.� It used terror and violence to discredit an ideology (communism). And to think, this came at a time before the internet when the CIA didn’t have a fully entrenched mainstream media to trumpet, echo, and build consensus around every little nuance (though they were working on it with COINTELPRO and Operation Mockingbird). Nowadays, the CIA has multinational propaganda machines � the news networks � to make sure all terrorist attacks fit into the carefully scripted narrative that manufactures consent around our wars for oil, natural gas, and other resources.

The link you give, Lance, is quite something. I knew the US interfered in foreign countries, but I had no idea the list was this long. And the stupid thing about it is, I doubt the US ever ended up better for its efforts.

Another interesting thing is shown by Gladio - the quality of the people the CIA uses. Truth, Justice and . . . Yeah, right.

Jim wrote: "All this shit is completely unnecessary. We could end hunger and poverty and kick fossil fuels to the curb within a decade if we had the mind to. We don't so the cycle will continue until we collectively remove our heads from our asses. ..."

I wish you could become US President, Jim.

Ian wrote: "The link you give, Lance, is quite something. I knew the US interfered in foreign countries, but I had no idea the list was this long. And the stupid thing about it is, I doubt the US ever ended up..."

I agree, Ian, the US has spent a lot of time, money and energy focusing on other nations' politics and influencing in various ways including CIA assassinations. I think the American military and intel. agencies inherited many of the policies of the British Empire in this regard - creating a global empire etc.

Operation Gladio is one of many declassified projects that provide more nuances in the Free World vs the Rest narrative.