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| Daniele Ganser. © Collage: The Voice of Russia |
Written by Boris Tumanov and Alexander Artamonov, Voice of Russia
Some time ago, Daniele Ganser wrote a book called “NATO’s Secret Armies”. In it, Mr. Ganser insists that in the mid 20th century, NATO formed secret divisions in Western Europe – a fact which many people don’t know or deny.
Recently, a Russian translation of this book appeared.
In an interview with the Voice of Russia, Professor Ganser spoke about the details of his investigation.
When NATO was formed in the middle of the 20th century, its initial aim was to defend the US and countries of Western Europe from possible attacks of the Soviet Union and other countries with Communist regimes. In response, the Soviet Union and its allies formed a similar military block of their own, called the Warsaw Treaty. Until the collapse of nearly all the world’s Communist regimes, which took place in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, NATO and the Warsaw Treaty were irreconcilable rivals.
However, Mr. Ganser, and some other experts as well, claim that NATO undertook not only official, but also secret steps against the Communist block. One of these steps was the formation of a secret army in the early 1950s. This army was called “Gladio”, which means “sword” in Latin, and is emblem was a salamander.
Here is what Professor Ganser said in an interview with the Voice of Russia.
“At first, many of my colleagues didn’t believe me that NATO has ever had a secret army. In fact, for some time, practically nobody in the whole world believed in that. However, in 1990, Italy’s Prime Minister Giulio Andreotticonfirmed that there had been NATO’s secret armies in all NATO’s member countries, and that in Italy, such an army was called “Gladio”. This revelation of Mr. Andreotti came as a shock for many people.”
“The aim of these secret armies was to resist possible attacks from Communist regimes. However, fortunately, these attacks never happened. There was only an ideological confrontation and a cooling of relations, known as The Cold War. Thus, some people think that these secret armies were left without work, but this is not true. NATO often used them to manipulate the behavior of European politicians, to make them adhere to more anti-Soviet policy.”
“Some of the countries where these armies secretly manipulated the government policy were France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Finland.”
“Sometimes, NATO’s secret armies didn’t even stop at committing terror acts,” Professor Ganser continues. “I believe that these armies were behind such terror acts as, say, the explosion it the waiting room of a railway station in Bologna on August 2, 1980, when 85 people were killed and 200 injured. Some time later the same year, another powerful explosion took place during a beer festival in Munich.”
“I believe that NATO was involved in these two terror acts and in several similar ones,” Daniele Ganser insists. “NATO integrated its agents into terrorist organizations, and they just had to take part in terror acts, afraid of being disclosed if they refused.”
“It seems to be impossible that terrorism in Europe was sometimes inspired by governments,” Professor Ganser says, “but, unfortunately, this is true. I will give another example. In 1985, France intended to hold nuclear tests at an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Activists from Greenpeace decided to disturb these plans, and they sailed to the atoll in a boat owned by their organization. To get rid from the unwanted interrupters, French secret services committed a terror act against their boat. As a result, one of the activists, a journalist, was killed.”
“I won’t say that it is really US secret services, and not Bin Laden, who were behind the 9.11 terror act,” Daniele Ganser says. “This would have been a too daring supposition. I believe that the author of this terror act was really Bin Laden, but I also believe that the US secret services knew about his plans but did nothing to stop him. They decided that this terror act might be used as a good pretext for the US to interfere in many affairs in the Middle East, which would have given the US easier access to Middle Eastern oil and gas.”
Daniel Ganser’s book “NATO’s Secret Armies” was used as the basis of a documentary filmed by Daniel Amaro. This film has already been shown on TV in Belgium, Switzerland and France. However, if Mr. Amaro’s film was inspired by Professor Ganser’s book, the book itself, in its turn, was inspired by a film – although it was not a documentary, but a feature film. Namely, it was the movie “The Bourne Identity”, directed by Douglas Liman. In this film, a secret organization is depicted, which is called “Treadstone” and which kills high-ranking politicians. Daniel Ganser believes that although the story told in this film is fiction, the mysterious “Treadstone” organization has a real prototype – the secret armies of NATO.
Recently, a Russian translation of this book appeared.
In an interview with the Voice of Russia, Professor Ganser spoke about the details of his investigation.
When NATO was formed in the middle of the 20th century, its initial aim was to defend the US and countries of Western Europe from possible attacks of the Soviet Union and other countries with Communist regimes. In response, the Soviet Union and its allies formed a similar military block of their own, called the Warsaw Treaty. Until the collapse of nearly all the world’s Communist regimes, which took place in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, NATO and the Warsaw Treaty were irreconcilable rivals.
However, Mr. Ganser, and some other experts as well, claim that NATO undertook not only official, but also secret steps against the Communist block. One of these steps was the formation of a secret army in the early 1950s. This army was called “Gladio”, which means “sword” in Latin, and is emblem was a salamander.
Here is what Professor Ganser said in an interview with the Voice of Russia.
“At first, many of my colleagues didn’t believe me that NATO has ever had a secret army. In fact, for some time, practically nobody in the whole world believed in that. However, in 1990, Italy’s Prime Minister Giulio Andreotticonfirmed that there had been NATO’s secret armies in all NATO’s member countries, and that in Italy, such an army was called “Gladio”. This revelation of Mr. Andreotti came as a shock for many people.”
“The aim of these secret armies was to resist possible attacks from Communist regimes. However, fortunately, these attacks never happened. There was only an ideological confrontation and a cooling of relations, known as The Cold War. Thus, some people think that these secret armies were left without work, but this is not true. NATO often used them to manipulate the behavior of European politicians, to make them adhere to more anti-Soviet policy.”
“Some of the countries where these armies secretly manipulated the government policy were France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Finland.”
“Sometimes, NATO’s secret armies didn’t even stop at committing terror acts,” Professor Ganser continues. “I believe that these armies were behind such terror acts as, say, the explosion it the waiting room of a railway station in Bologna on August 2, 1980, when 85 people were killed and 200 injured. Some time later the same year, another powerful explosion took place during a beer festival in Munich.”
“I believe that NATO was involved in these two terror acts and in several similar ones,” Daniele Ganser insists. “NATO integrated its agents into terrorist organizations, and they just had to take part in terror acts, afraid of being disclosed if they refused.”
“It seems to be impossible that terrorism in Europe was sometimes inspired by governments,” Professor Ganser says, “but, unfortunately, this is true. I will give another example. In 1985, France intended to hold nuclear tests at an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Activists from Greenpeace decided to disturb these plans, and they sailed to the atoll in a boat owned by their organization. To get rid from the unwanted interrupters, French secret services committed a terror act against their boat. As a result, one of the activists, a journalist, was killed.”
“I won’t say that it is really US secret services, and not Bin Laden, who were behind the 9.11 terror act,” Daniele Ganser says. “This would have been a too daring supposition. I believe that the author of this terror act was really Bin Laden, but I also believe that the US secret services knew about his plans but did nothing to stop him. They decided that this terror act might be used as a good pretext for the US to interfere in many affairs in the Middle East, which would have given the US easier access to Middle Eastern oil and gas.”
Daniel Ganser’s book “NATO’s Secret Armies” was used as the basis of a documentary filmed by Daniel Amaro. This film has already been shown on TV in Belgium, Switzerland and France. However, if Mr. Amaro’s film was inspired by Professor Ganser’s book, the book itself, in its turn, was inspired by a film – although it was not a documentary, but a feature film. Namely, it was the movie “The Bourne Identity”, directed by Douglas Liman. In this film, a secret organization is depicted, which is called “Treadstone” and which kills high-ranking politicians. Daniel Ganser believes that although the story told in this film is fiction, the mysterious “Treadstone” organization has a real prototype – the secret armies of NATO.
Professor Daniele Ganser from the Basel University, Switzerland specializes in international relations after WWII.
Boris Tumanov and Alexander Artamonov are the author and presenter at the Voice of Russia, Russia's first internationally broadcasted Radio. On air since 1929.
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