A clandestine organisation acting in parallel with the Italian state, and with the support of the US, committed crimes, engaged in political subversion, and prevented leftist parties from coming to power in Italy.
"For over 40 years this organization has eluded all democratic controls and has been run by the secret services of the states concerned in collaboration with NATO. In certain Member States, military secret services (or uncontrolled branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime"
This is the first section of a report of the Italian Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into Operation Gladio, a clandestine military and intelligence network operating on European soil for forty years after WWII.
Historical fact is more unsettling than fiction. The first in a series, this article is an introduction to Gladio, a clandestine operation that changed Italian - and world - politics.
