Operation Gladio Exposed: Secret Stay-Behind Networks and NATO's Legitimacy in Early 1990s Belgium
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2023-08-31
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en
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Operation Gladio was a clandestine stay-behind network in Western Europe led by NATO during the Cold War. It was meant to deter a Soviet invasion if it were to occur as well as that sabotage missions, aided with weapons caches, were part of the operation. Average citizens were recruited to be part of the operation in order to not make it look suspicious. The network led to a so-called strategy of tension in which the calls for more security became increasingly stronger. No head of government of the countries involved was notified of its existence until later during the Cold War. It is speculated that the paramilitary structure of the networks as well as the anti-communist ideology that prevailed and the weapons caches led to a collusion of intelligence, state security forces and far-right (terrorist) groups and paramilitary gangs. The first signs of the existence of such a network came from the Republic of Italy, where in the early 1990s, directly after the end of the Cold War, a parliamentary committee designated for the investigation of operation Gladio was installed by the Parliament of Italy and partially commissioned by then-Prime Minister of Italy, Giulio Andreotti. The reveals in the report that resulted from these investigations have led to outrage all across Europe, especially among NATO member states.
This thesis concludes that the case in the Kingdom of Belgium, where a similar stay-behind network existed under the names of STC-MOB (Flanders) and SDRA VIII (Wallonia) has found that the outrage did spread in Belgium, but not on even fronts. The existence of these networks was proven in a report published by the (federal) Parliament of Belgium, however the impact of these results remained uneven. NATO's legitimacy, the focus in this thesis, was weakened in the Belgian parliament, but not necessarily among the Belgian people. This is important now that NATO’s legitimacy is at stake again.
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