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NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe (Contemporary Security Studies) 1st Edition
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This fascinating new study shows how the CIA and the British secret service, in collaboration with the military alliance NATO and European military secret services, set up a network of clandestine anti-communist armies in Western Europe after World War II.
These secret soldiers were trained on remote islands in the Mediterranean and in unorthodox warfare centres in England and in the United States by the Green Berets and SAS Special Forces. The network was armed with explosives, machine guns and high-tech communication equipment hidden in underground bunkers and secret arms caches in forests and mountain meadows. In some countries the secret army linked up with right-wing terrorist who in a secret war engaged in political manipulation, harrassement of left wing parties, massacres, coup d'états and torture.
Codenamed 'Gladio' ('the sword'), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of "The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II" (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that "The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller." (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called 'stay-behind' armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.
- ISBN-100714685003
- ISBN-13978-0714685007
- Edition1st
- PublisherRoutledge
- Publication dateDecember 22, 2004
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.14 x 0.7 x 9.21 inches
- Print length336 pages
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'Much of this is appearing in English for the first time and it would be hard to overstate its importance.' - Lobster
About the Author
Daniele Ganser is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He studied at Basel University in Switzerland, at Amsterdam University (UVA) in the Netherlands, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in England. He has published on the role of the United Nations in the Cuban conflict, Switzerland's path towards the United Nations and Switzerland's position outside the European Union.
Product details
- Publisher : Routledge; 1st edition (December 22, 2004)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0714685003
- ISBN-13 : 978-0714685007
- Item Weight : 1.37 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.14 x 0.7 x 9.21 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #293,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #269 in Terrorism (Books)
- #360 in European Politics Books
- #527 in German History (Books)
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Basically, Gladio in Italy was only the most infamous example of an incredibly sinister, U.S./NATO-sponsored, extreme-right underground terrorist network active throughout Western Europe, largely consisting of unrepentant ex-Nazis & Nazi collaborators. As the years passed and the Soviets failed to provide the invasion that was the terrorists' raison d'etre, they got wrestless and started cooking up some "excitement" of their own. This real explanation behind Bologna and other incidents was thoroughly suppressed, especially in the U.S.
When you're done with this book, you will be well-informed concerning a chilling 20th century reality that most Americans have never heard of (that many don't care to hear of). Others of us would rather know, especially now. It seems REAL history doesn't match up too good with what they show us on thuh tee-vee. How odd!
This book also has some problems, thus the four stars. I believe Ganser wrote it in another language, and it was translated. Or Ganser wrote the English himself, just not very fluently. Either way, the prose is not engaging and is sometimes clumsy / unclear / grammatically bizarre.
Also, I bought this book at the[...] price because I wanted it very much, but I was appalled by this price for a paperback. Now I see it's "only"[...]. To me, this ridiculous price suggests suppression of an important-but-unwelcome topic, reminescent of the "privishing" Gerard Colby describes in Kristina Borjesson's 'Into the Buzzsaw.'
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That there has since the 1990s been little public accountability (despite public acknowledgement that the activities did take place) raises crucially important questions about the validity of the War On Terror, British involvement in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, and many other similar occupations and internal conflicts as well as many of the events which have been attributed to "terrorists" over the past decade or so. For not only do we not know that the countries involved actually dismantled the stay-behind armies in the 1990s, we don't know which countries ran stay-behind armies in each others' countries - and whether these were likewise dismantled. In fact, the main protagonists (the UK & USA) have so far refused to comment.
Whilst many would argue that this is essential to protect national security, this argument, when examined logically, is baseless. For if we truly do live in democracies then no government should be above the law. And when supposedly-demoractic governments encourage - or turn a blind eye to - actions which are undeniably anti-democratic then it would seem to stand to reason that we actually don't live in democracies at all.
Danielle Ganser has added one more link into an ever-strengthening chain of evidence that democracy truly does not exist. A truly disturbing story; this is history that everyone should know.
A lot of things you thought where terror attacks or such in Europe for the last 50-60 years have given some light.
If you read this how and then see what it has become and the power it wields then you can see the start of the world we live in.
I was small when the bombings happend in Italy and remember seeing it on the news, by reading this puts things into a new light.
When you look at what NATO and the EU is now you will find out in this book some of the blood this new system we live under is build on.
I advise all people who want to know more and who want to discover the puzzle pieces this world has been build into this is a good book to start with and a important puzzle piece to know even though it is small, it ties some of the puzzle together.
As John Prados says in his excellent introduction: `in country after country, Gladio influenced, violently or not, political processes through fear and terrorism. Police and security services protected perpetrated crimes and antidemocratic `state sponsors' created terrorist networks.'
It was everything except a benign game of play. In Italy alone, the strategy of tension was responsible between 1969 and 1987, for 14591 (not less) acts of violence with political motivation. There and elsewhere, bombs exploded in Bologna, Munich and Istanbul leaving hundreds of dead and crippled.
Other dirty `tricks' were torture, coup d'états, election fraud, assassinations, disinformation, provocation and false flag operations. In one word, a destructive spiral of violence.
This warfare planning group was linked to NATO, the Pentagon and the CIA and operated completely outside democratic control from the nationally elected legislators. It made a joke of national sovereignty.
A must read for all those who try to understand the world we live in.
This book goes into details, documented, with lots of reference, and the author "splits" the entire SB beast country by country
Just one issue prevents the 5th star: I have bought the kindle edition and it's crammed with incredible typos.
I mean: entire paragraphs skipped, repetead, or wrongly presented - this prevents in at least 2 parts comprehension
but anyway: buy this. It's Europe history.
d
Linguistic difficulties aside, this book appears to be a relentless, exhaustive amassing of everything the author has been able to assemble from secondary sources: a very badly written, plodding, methodical exposition of all the available evidence, with no critical assessment of that evidence.
Deadly dull, unreadable, not for the faint-hearted, this disappointing (and expensive) book does a disservice to serious scholarship on an important subject.







