European terrorism, lessons in history

12 January 2007

Given that an anti-tank missile was fired at the U.S. Embassy in Athens just before sunrise this morning, now is as good a time as any to link to some background information on terrorism in Europe that came via a three part BBC Timewatch documentary series detailing Operation Gladio - a Nato/Western intelligence-supported, far-right alliance responsible for perpetrating 'false flag' terrorism via 'stay-behind' networks of operatives whose primary objective was/is to incriminate the enemy of the day.

Documentary Series on Operation Gladio in Italy -- NATO/Western Intelligence supported 'false flag' terrorism

Part 1: Gladio part 1: The Ringmasters (wmv.46mb)
Part 2: Gladio part 2: The Puppeteers (wmv.46mb)
Part 3: Gladio part 3: The Foot Soldiers (wmv.46mb)

Danielle Ganser, whose book NATO's Secret Armies - Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe does a great deal to uncover the previously less exposed but still hidden hand of the far-right in major terrorist atrocities that are blamed on the, historically Communist/left-wing and, since the end of the 'cold war', Muslim, enemy of the day, also runs a web site with a bunch of related articles, some of which are in English:

NATO's secret armies linked to terrorism? [PDF]
ISN Security Watch, 15th December 2004

Able Danger adds Twist to 9/11 [PDF]
ISN Security Watch, 25th August 2005

The end of the 'age of oil' [PDF]
ISN Security Watch, 30th May 2006

Ganser also has a series of scientific papers:

FEAR AS A WEAPON

Title: Fear as a weapon
Subtitle: The effects of psychological warfare on domestic and international politics
Language: English
Author: Daniele Ganser
Date of Publication: Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 2005
Journal: World Affairs. The Journal of International Issues
Pages: 28-44
ISSN: 0971 8052
Free PDF:

If we think about weapons today, we often produce the pictures of guns, tanks, atomic bombs, aircraft carries and fighter jets in our minds. However, one of the most influential weapons is invisible to the human eye: Fear. The phenomenon fear is being studied by the military discipline “psychological warfare” (PSYWAR) and is being used also today on the global battlefields to discredit and weaken an enemy. This paper presents examples from the Cold War period when fear was used as a weapon in order to inform the reader how fear might be used as a weapon today.

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TERRORISM IN WESTERN EUROPE

Title: Terrorism in Western Europe
Subtitle: An Approach to NATO’s Secret Stay-Behind Armies
Language: English
Author: Daniele Ganser
Date of Publication: Volume VI, Number I, Winter-Spring 2005
Journal: The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Pages: 69-97
ISSN: 1538 6589
Free PDF:

Research into terrorism in Western Europe has for many years focused on the „Red Brigades“ in Italy, the „Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF)“ in Germany, the "Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)" in Spain, and the "Irish Republican Army (IRA)" in Ireland. New historical research shows, however, that next to these well known terrorist groups another set of secret units existed on the same continent: stay-behind armies controlled by NATO, the CIA and MI6, some of which seem also to have been linked to terrorism and crime. This new data, as presented in the paper, opens up a set of disturbing new questions on our understanding of the history of terrorism in Europe.

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THE BRITISH SECRET SERVICE IN NEUTRAL SWITZERLAND

Title: The British Secret Service in Neutral Switzerland
Subtitle: An Unfinished Debate on NATO's Cold War Stay behind Armies
Language: English
Author: Daniele Ganser
Date of Publication: December 2005, Volume 20, Number 4
Journal: Intelligence and National Security
Pages: 553-580
ISSN: 0268 4527
Free PDF:

In 1990, the existence of a secret anti-Communist stay-behind army in Italy, codenamed ‘Gladio’ and linked to NATO, was revealed. Subsequently, similar stay-behind armies were discovered in all NATO countries in Western Europe. Based on parliamentary and governmental reports, oral history, and investigative journalism, the essay argues that neutral Switzerland also operated a stay-behind army under the code name “P26”. It explores the role of the British secret service and the reactions of the British and the Swiss governments to the discovery of the network and investigates whether the Swiss stay-behind army, despite Swiss neutrality, was integrated into the International NATO stay-behind network.

There is also another article, 9/11 Terror, lies and deception, in which Ganser takes on some of the issues surrounding the events of 11th September 2001.

'Never believe something until it is officially denied', goes the oft-quoted phrase. Well, if it's denial of Ganser's research you want, or denial of 'stay behind' networks, its denial you've got, straight from the horse's mouth.

The comments are open for discussion of the above.