Italian report on Gladio
01 March 1992
A draft parliamentary report on the Gladio network, which was initially set up by NATO to fight a guerilla war in the case of a Soviet invasion, has concluded that the organisation was an illegal armed band. The president of the commission on terrorism, Libero Gualtieri wrote: "There was no justification for Gladio, neither at the start nor the finish. Indeed, there was an increase in its threat and its illegality with the passing of years...Gladio was a component in that strategy which by planting within the system elements of tension, justified the chance for stabilising interventions." He goes on to advise that. "The time has come to act and punish those responsible for the deception."
In a separate development a memorandum, issued by two military judges from Padua, has accused six secret service generals involved in organising the network of high treason and sabotage and suggests that they will be arrested. The memorandum is based on documents from "Office R", (Gladio headquarters), and outlines a programme of political disruption and "possible acts of terrorism". General Gerardo Serraville, the head of Gladio during the early 1970s, is heavily implicated in this strategy. The memorandum also links Gladio with a fascist organisation "Marine Star", a Mussolini veterans' group set up after the second world war.
The reports are thought to have serious implications for the besieged Italian President Francesco Cossiga who has staunchly defended the network, and is standing for re-election later this year. Indeed, Cossiga's outspoken support has caused consternation among his Christian Democrat Party, while the Italian press has questioned his sanity. During a recent North American tour he told astonished journalists that during the 1948 election: "I was part of a group of young Christian Democrats, armed by the carabiniere, ready to defend the party in the event of a Communist coup d'etat..." The arms were apparently issued to the paramilitary group and "bought with funds put at the disposition of the party."
Cossiga's name has also come up in a recent trial linking Licio Gelli, grandmaster of the P2 masonic lodge, with leading politicians and the Ndrangeta drug and arms running network. Both Gelli and P2 have been heavily implicated in the Gladio scandal. During the course of the trial he is heard, in tapped telephone conversations, assuring leaders of the Ndrangeta that he will use his influence with Cossiga, and Prime Minister Andreotti, to secure the release of members of their organisation.
Guardian 7.12.91 15.1.92; 30.1.92; Irish Times 23.1.92.up