My ““ Judgment ” on this Sinful World

In a book titled NATO’s Secret Armies - and Terrorism in Western Europe, Daniele Ganser described their clandestine Cold War operations, run by European secret services, collaborating with NATO, the CIA and Britain’s MI6 and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) against a possible Soviet invasion, internal communist takeovers, or others on the political left gaining power. The network included France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Luxembourg, as well as politically neutral European countries – – Austria, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Named “Gladio” (Latin for double--edged sword), NATO’s armies remained secret until August 1990, when then Prime Minister GiuliGiulioo Andreotti confirmed IItaly’staly’s participation in testimony before a Senate subcommittee investigating terrorism, General Vito Miceli, former Italian military secret service director, saying in protest: I have gone to prison because I did not want to reveal the existence of this super secret organization. And now Andreotti … tells … parliament!

According to a 1959 Italian military secret service document, “these armies had a two-fold strategic purpose:

 First - to operate as a so-called ‘stay--behind’ group in the case of a Soviet invasion and to carry out a guerrilla war in occupied terrterritories;itories;

 Second - to carry out domestic operations in case of “emergency situations.”

In Italy, against both communist and socialist parties, it was claimed they wanted to weaken NATO “from within,” Italian judge, Felice Casson, learning that right-wing terrorists carried out bombings against civilians, blamed them on the left, neo-fascist Vincenzo Vinciguerra explaining the scheme as follows: They were supposed to force these people, the ItalianItalian public, to turn to ththee state to ask for greater security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the state cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened. In 2000, the Italian Senate was more explicit, saying: “Those massacres, those bombs, those military actions had been organized or promoted or supported by men inside Italian state institutions and, as had been discovered more recently, by men linked to the structures of United States intelligence,” meaning CIA mainly. Former director, William Colby, admitted in his memoirs that covert western armies were a major CIA initiative, begun post-WW II, and restricted “to the smallest possible

coterie of the most reliable people, in Washington (and) NATO” to keep the initiative secret.

Yet once its existence was confirmed, the EU parliament drafted a sharply critical resolution saying: “These organizations (sic) operated and continue to operate completely outside the law since they are not subject to any parliamentary control….calling for a full investigation into the nature, structure, aims and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations.” OnlyOnly Italy, Belgium and Switzerland did them, the GHW Bush administration not commenting when it was preparing for war against Iraq, fearing it might harm its alliance.

Gladio, however, was real, designed like Winston Churchill’s British Special Operations Executive (SOE) – to help anti-Nazi resistance forces carry out insurgencies in occupied territories. After NATO’s 1949 creation, the so-called Clandestine Committee of the Western Union (CCWU) was secretly integrated into its operations, by 1951 called the Clandestine Planning Committee (CPC). Then in 1957, a second secret army called Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) was established by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR), giving America overall command and control. It relied heavily on dedicated anti-communists, largely from the political right, including former Nazis and like-minded terrorists, operatives to weaken the political left and neutralize and defeat Soviet Russia, ostensibly in case of invasion, the chance for which was practicapracticallylly nil.

Italy’s Secret Army

In researching right-wing terrorism, Judge Felice Casson discovered them, their link to the political right, and examples of their lawlessness. One instance was in 1972 when a car bomb killed three , Italy’s parliamentary police, wrongly blamed on the like for other attacks carried out by extremist anti-communist groups, blamed on the left. Right wing terrorist, Vincenzo Vinciguerra, was later charged with the Carabinieri killings, explaining at his 1984 trial that Italy’s security apparatus supported his crimes, saying: “There exists in Italy a secret force parallel to the armed forces, composed of civilians and military men, in an anti-Soviet capacity; that is, to organize a resistance on Italian soil against a Russian army.” In fact, he revealed GladiGladioo and its link to terrorismterrorism without naming it, callcallinging it “a secret organization, a super-organization with a network of communications, arms, and explosives, and men trained to use them.”

A 2000 parliamentary investigation concluded that operatives “linked to the structures of United States intelligence” were involved in bombings, massacres, and other terrorist attacks as part of a campaign against the political left. In 2001, General Giandelio Maletti, former Italian counterintelligence head, confirmed CIA’s involvement to “do anything to stop Italy from sliding to the left.”

Turkey’s Secret Armies

During the Cold War, Turkey guarded a third of NATO’s borders with Warsaw Pact countries. Its “Counter--Guerrilla” secret army carried out some of the most sensitive missions, under the command of Turkish special forces to “organize resistance in case of a communist occupation.”

According to Turkish army commander, General Semih Sancar, America financed it, committing terror attacks against the political left, one of many occurringoccurring in 1977 in Taskim Square, IstIstanbul.anbul. During a mass May 1 (May Day) trade union rally, snipers on surrounding buildings killed 38 attendees, injuring

hundreds more during a 20 minute rampage. Several thousand police on hand did nothing to intervene. “Counter--Guerrilla” also engaged in torture, survivors later explaining their ordeal. Some became outspoken critics, but never got authorities to investigate their ordeal or expose other crimes.

Spain’s Secret Armies

From his Spanish Civil War victory until his 1975 death, Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship ruled Spain, his government the embodiment of Gladio, according to early 1980s prime minister Calvo Sotelo.

In his book titled, “Gladio,” its 1971 – 74 Italian commander, Gerardo Serravalle, explained that Franco tried to establish contacts with NATO’s secret army long before Spain became an official NATO member inin 1982. However, its secret service wasn’t interested in a stay-behind function, but wanted a tool for internal control to neutralizes leftist elements.

Portugal’s Secret Armies

Gladio was active in Portugal, the nation’s press telling a national audience in 1990 about “a secret network, erected at the bosom of NATO….financed by the CIA” in the 1960s and 1970s. It was called ‘Aginter Press,’ ” involved in assassinations and other terrorist acts, internally and in Portugal’s African colonies. A later Italian Senate inquiry learned that Yves Guerin-Serac, a French secret warfare specialist, directed Aginter Press. In November 1990, Portuguese defense minister, Fernando Nogueira, insisted he knew nothing about it, saying no “information whatsoever (existed) concerning (any form of) Gladio structure in Portugal.” Italians had to confirm it, includingincluding Judge ,Salvini, saying it conducted secret military operations during the Cold War to defend “the Western world against a probable and imminent invasion of Europe by the troops of the Soviet Union and the other communist countries.” InIn fact, like other Gladio operations, it waged global war against the political left, killing thousands to defend privilege against beneficial social change, what remains ongoing today, America its leading exponent.

Greece’s Secret Armies

In late 1944, Winston Churchill ordered a secret Greek army created to prevent leftists from gaining power, called by various names, including the Greek Mountain Brigade, the Hellenic Raiding Force, or Lochos Oreinon Katadromon (LOK). Field Marshall Alexander Papagos excluded “almost all men with views ranging from moderately conservative to left wing,” assuring its members would be exclusively hard right anti-communists. In 1952, Greece joined NATO and was fully integrated into its stay-behind network, the CIA and LOK reconfirming their mutual cooperation in a secret March 25, 1955 document, British journalist, Peter Murtagh, later learning that: The Raiding Force doubled as the Greek arm of the clandestine pan-European guerrilla network set up in the 1950s by NATO and the CIA which was controlled (in) Brussels by the Allied Coordination Committee.” It was a stay-behind force against a possible “Soviet invasion of Europe. It would co-ordinate guerrilla activities between Soviet occupied countries and liaise with governments in exile. AccAccordingording to former CIA agent Philip Agee, it also serservedved as “a nucleus for rallying a citizen army against the threat of a leftist coup,” each of several groups “capable of mobilizing and carrying on guerrilla warfare with minimal or no outside direction.” Agee also

explained that “Paramilitary groups, directed by CIA officers, operated in the sixties throughout Europe,”Europe,” stressing that “perhaps no activity of the CIA could be as clearly linked to the possibility of internal subversion.” Evidence points to LOK’s involvement in the Greek April 20, 1967 coup, one month before national elections likely to have overwhelmingly elected the left-leaning George and Andreas Papandreou’s Center Union. Under NATO’s Prometheus plan, LOK took over the Defense Ministry. Tanks rolled through Athens, and rightist forces took control of communications centers, parliament, and the

royal palace, arresting over 10,000. Many were later tortured and killed. In 1990, the socialist opposition wanted a parliamentary investigation, denied by public order minister, Yannis Vassiliadis, saying there was no need to examine such ““fantasies,”fantasies,” meaning whatwhat happened was justified.

France’s Secret Armies

Fearing a communist takeover, it was established post-WW II. Socialist interior minister, Edouard Depreux, explained in June 1947 that: Toward the end of 1946, we got to know of the existence of a black resistance network (a secret army), made up of resistance fighters of the extreme right, Vichy collaborators and monarchists. They had a secret attack plan called ‘Plan Bleu,’ which should have come into action either towards the end of July or on AugustAugust 6, (1947). Though publicpublic outrage closed it down, the military secret service (Service de Documentation Exterieure et de Contre-Espionnage – – SDECE)

under Henri Alexis Ribiere set up another, again fearing a Soviet invasion, more likely to prevent leftists from gaining power. In the early 1960s, it saw the de Gaulle government as a threat like the communists, inciting some in the stay-behind network to initiate “terrorist actions” against his Algerian peace plan, later confirmed in 1990 by then French military secret service, AdmiraAdmirall Pierre Lacoste. Even so, he felt the stay-behind network was justified, no matter its hard right militancy. During his presidency (from 1981 – – 1995), President Francois Mitterrand distanced himself from the initiative, saying in 1990: When I arrived, I didn’t have much left to dissolve. There only remained a few remnants, of which I learned the existence with some surprise because everyone had forgotten about them. Italian Prime Minister Giulo Andreotti, however, wasn’t pleased by how Mitterrand dismissed France’s involvement, saying that far from being shut down, France’France’ss secret armyarmy participated in a secret October 24, 1990 ACC meeting in Brussels. Mitterrand refused to comment.

Germany’s Secret Armies

In 1990, when learning about Germany’s secret army, socialist parliamentarian, Hermann Scheer, called for an investigation at the highest levels saying: …. the existence of an armed military secret organization outside all governmental or parliamentary control is incompatible with the constitutional legality, and therefore must be prosecprosecuteduted (under) criminal law.

Later he stepped back after learning that socialists knew and suppressed it. At the same time, press reports claimed right-wing extremists, including former Nazis, were part of a secret army called Organization Gehlen (ORG, later changed to BND), named for WW II General, Reinhard Gehlen, head of Eastern Front intelligence. He was later recruited by America to establish an anti-Soviet spy ring, and by West Germany to head its intelligence. According to a former NATO intelligence official, “Gehlen was

the spiritual father of Stay Behind in Germany….his role known to the West German leader. Konrad

Adenauer, from the outset.” On September 9, 1952, former SS officer, Hans Otto, told Frankfort police that he “belong(ed) to a political resistance group, the task of which was to carry out sabotage activities and blow up bridges in case of a Soviet invasion,” adding that while “neo-fascist tendencies were not required, most members” had them. In addition, financing was “provided by an American citizen (named) Sterling Garwood.”

Otto said the initiative was code-named Technischer Dienst des Bundes Deutscher Jugend (TD BDJ), commanded by Erhard Peters, and financed by the CIA. It had a blacklist of leftists to be assassinated in case of an emergency, perhaps manufactured ones to do it anyway. Though officials like August Zinn, Hessen state Prime Minister, were outraged and wanted members investigated, the highest Karlsruhe court, Bundesgerichshof (BGH), ordered all TD BDJ members released, Zinn believing “The only legal (reason was that) they acted (in reresponsesponse to) America(‘s)America(‘s) direction.”

Austria’s Secret ArArmiesmies

In 1947, Austria’s first secret army became known when a right-wing stay-behind network was discovered. The so-called Soucek-Rossner conspiracy resulted in a number of arrests, Soucek and Rossner testifying that they had recruited and trained right-wing partisans to prepare for a Soviet invasion, insisting Washington and Britain had full knowledge and approved. Nonetheless, both men were convicted and sentenced to death in 1949, yet were mysteriously pardoned by Chancellor Theodor Korner, perhaps following CIA orders. Thereafter, senior Austrian officials approved of a stay-behind army and began cooperating with the CIA and MI6. Franz Olah set one up, code-named Osterreichischer Wander-Sport-und Geselligkeitsverein (OWSGV), later saying “special units were trained in the use of weapons and plastic explosives.” His prime motive was to prevent a leftist takeover, explaining:explaining: It wasn’t our intention to fight communism in the Soviet Union but to fight against” internal leftist elements. “We took weapons. We also had modern plastic explosives that were easy to handle. I had a small arsenal of weapons in my office. There must have been a couple of thousand people working for us….Only very, very highly positioned politicians and some members of the union knew about it.

In 1996, the Boston Globe revealed the existence of secret CIA arms caches in Austria, President Thomas

Klestil and Chancellor Franz Vranistzky insisting they knew nothing about it or the existence of a secret army. Clinton’s State Department spokesman, Nicholas Burns, called their aim “noble,” admitting that similar networks operated in other European countries. In August 2001, GW Bush appoinappointedted Burns US Permanent Representative to NATO, where he headed the combined State-Defense Department US Mission and coordinated NATO’s response to the 9/11 attacks.

Switzerland’s Secret Armies

Despite its neutrality, a 1990 parliamentary investigation revealed a secret stay-behind army, code- named Special Service, then P26, operating within the Swiss military secret service Untergruppe Nachrichtendienst und Ab Abwehrwehr (UNA), during mostmost of the Cold War. Yet Switzerland experienced no terrorist attacks or coup threats throughout the pperiod,eriod, so why the need for extremism? Parliamentary commission Senator, Carlo Schmid, said he “was shocked that something like this” went on, calling it … “conspiratorial….like a black shadow.” A judicial investigation, headed by Judge Pierre Cornu, was

charged to learn if Swiss neutrality was violated. Evidence confirmed that P26 cooperated closely with Britain’s MI6 and other UK intelligence, concluding, however, that no Swiss laws were broken, whether or not true.

Belgium’s Secret Armies

On November 7, 1990, socialist defense minister, Guy Coeme, told a national TV audience that a NATO- linked secret army operated covertly throughout the Cold War, adding: I want to know whether there exists a link between the activities of this secret network, and the wave of crime and terror which our country suffered from during the past years.

A parliamentary investigation followed, Belgium’s Senate confirming that its secret army consisted of two branches, called SDRA8 and STC/Mob, the former a military unit within Belgium’s military secret Service General du Renseignement (SGR) under the Defense Ministry. Its members were trained in unorthodox warfare, combat, sabotage, parachute jumping, and maritime operoperations.ations.

STC/Mob was part of the civilian secret service – – Surete de L’Etat (Surete), under the ministry of justice. Its members were technicians, trained in radio operations and intelligence gathering under enemy occupation conditions. While senators obtained good information on the stay-behind armies’ structure, they learned little about their involvement in terrorist operations, including so-called Brabant massacres from 1983 – – 85, killing 28 and injuring many more. Despite exerting enormous pressure, they never got names of key operatives or who carried out the Brabant terror.

Netherlands’ Secret Armies

Like Belgium, it had two branches, one called Operations (O for short), directed by Louis Einthoven, a staunch anti-communist, to carry out sabotage, guerrilla operations, and building a local resistance. The other was called Intelligence (or I), established post-WW II by JM Somer, but led by JJL Baron van Lynden, responsible for intelligence gathering and dissemination to those with a need to know.

Dutch parliamentarians weren’t happy about keeping them out of the loop, but never ordered investigations into what clearly was an abuse of power.

Luxembourg’s Secret Armies

On November 14, 1990, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jacaques Santer told hihiss parliament:parliament: “all NATOONAT countries in central Europe have taken part in these preparations, and Luxembourg could not have escaped this international solidarity,” explaining that the Service de Renseignements (its secret service) ran the network in peacetime, but wasn’t linked to terrorism or other abuses of power.

Denmark’s Secret Armies

Code-named Absalon, EJ Harder led it, an unnamed network member explaining: There were twelve districts, structured according to the cell principle, but not as tightly organized as during the War. Also,

there were no alleged terrorist links, yet another member said its mission was to act in case of a Soviet

invasion as well as prevent leftists from gaining power, both called “a clear and present danger.” As in other countries, operations were secret. Its members were “ninety--five per cent….military, conservative, and staunchly anti-communist.

Norway’s Secret Armies

After European secret armies became known in 1990, journalists asked Norway’s Defense Ministry for an explanation, its spokesman, Erik Senstad, saying only that they were essential to the country’s security. Code-named Rocambole (ROC), it was run by Norway’s secret service (NIS), its “philosophy….based on the lessons learned during the German occupation,” to prepare for a potential future one, and like elsewhere to prevent leftists from gaining power. “Cooperation with the CIA, MI6, and NATO was intense,” but not without controversy, one example being NATO ordering intelligence conducted on anti-NATO Norwegians with strong pacifist convictions. Clearly, Norway’s sovereignty was breached, enough to get Brigadier Simon, chief of NATO’s Special Projects Branch, to apologize and promise to end to these type operations.

Sweden’s Secret Armies

Sweden’s Sakerhetspolis (SAPO), its security police, helped recruit it, working with Britain’s MI6 “to“to learnlearn how to use dead letter box techniques to receive and send secret messages,” as well as intelligence gathering and ways to deal with emergency situations. Swedish officials never provided details, denied any link to NATO or CIA, but the Agency’s operative, Paul Garbler, explained that Sweden was a “direct participant” in the network, adding: “I’m not able to talk about it without causing the Swedes a good deal of heartburn,” clearly suggesting disturbing abuses of power, possibly including the 1986 assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, a staunch anti-nuclear proponent, wanting Scandinavia freed from nuclear weapons.

Finland’s Secret Armies

As the only Western European country invaded by the Soviet Union during the so-called Winter War (November 30, 1939 – – March 13, 1940), Finland lost 20% of its forces and 16,000 square miles of

territory. It’s why Finns sided with the Nazis, to regain its land and prevent this happening again.

During the Cold War, Finland’s border with Soviet Russia was guarded by fences, land mines, and regular patrols. Also, a secret Western-linked resistance organization existed, made up largely of retired Finnish army officers – – armed, trained, CIA-funded and equipped, and ready to respond in case history repeated. “Secrecy was extremely tight,” no one talking about what they did or why. Even Finland’s government was kept out of tthehe loop.

The Russian counter forces – – "Spetzalnav"Spetzalnavaa naznasehchennaznasehcheniaia” – than and now

A military bus stops at the gate of an American Army training camp in Germany. The guards, assuming it is bringing back personnel from town, approach the bus and are about to perform their routine checks,

when they are shot down by bursts of fire from silenced weapons. As the bus drives on, members of the

two special forces inside put on their gas-masks. The sentry guards at the discharge ramps of the Pershing-II atomic missiles based in the camp, die within a few minutes under an invisible cloud of nerve-gas. The ramps are then rendered useless. A second Pershing base in Heilbronn falls in a similar way. At the same time, five important NATO telecommunication systems are being destroyed - one in Maastricht, Holland, and the others in Börfink, Kindsbach, Maßweiler and Vogelweh in the Federal Republic of Germany. There is tremendous confusion in NATO's High Command in Brussels. Numerous

high officers and politicians are unreachable. Some are found dead in their homes. Near Keflavik in Iceland, a main submarine defense base of the Atlantic Alliance, some divers appear out of the waves. Using equipment previously planted on the sea bed, they destroy information and telecommunication posts. None of the NATONATO countries are beingbeing spared, not even the neutral ones. In Stockholm,Stockholm, after heavy shooting near the palace, the Swedish royal family are kidnapped by agents who were lying in wait until they received the green light from their counterparts in the city. The elite of the Soviet special commandos could, with the help of undercover secret agents, put NATO in a catastrophic situation with one blow. How would the West, with a shattered arsenal of atomic weapons, heavily damaged Intelligence Service connections and diminished leadership, stop a major Soviet attack on Western Europe?

Even though all this might be a hypothetical test, it is serious in its planning. General Péotr Ivanovitch Ivachutin, the bullnecked, almost bald Commander of the Soviet Military Secret Service (GRU), has over 30,000 men and women specially trained for such tasks. For a long time the Western Secret Services did not know of the existence and build-up of these special troops, who were responsible for incidents like the assassination of the Afghan President in 1979, and the suffocation of anti-Soviet initiatives in Bulgaria in the mid-1960's. Now it is well known what danger they present and what their official name is: Speznas - in NATO English, Spetsnaz - a combination of the words "Spetzalnava naznasehchenia", which roughly means “troops for special purposes.”

"The setting up of 'Spetsnaz' troops is a particularly threatening aspect of the increasing military strength of the Soviet Union," says the Deputy Secretary of State in the US Ministry of Defence, Noel Koch. "It is meant to destroy the adversary's infra-structure and kill key people. In the case of war, this element of the Soviet Power apparatus could overthrow the strategic concept of NATO and even the one of the United States."

A typical Spetsnaz unit consists of two officers of differing ranks, one radio operator, and one paramedic, as well as at least two sabotage and four reconnaissance specialists. Part of their equipment is usually a type of missile (a so-called impulse bundle sender), which relays coded messages bit by bit via satellite to the central office, together with a list of further targets for sabotage and reconnaissance commandos. One hundred such units make a Spetsnaz brigade; each brigade has ten superior elite units available, consisting exclusively of active officers, whose main task is the assassination of hostile leaders.leaders. According to estimates by the American Secret Service, Spetsnaz have a total war force of twenty brigades each of 900 to 1,200 men strong, and in addition, at least four marine brigades. To be chosen for a Spetsnaz unit is a great honor. "Only those who have been proven to the core are chosen," says a

deserter of the GRU, who now lives in England under the pseudonym, Victor Suvorov. He states (this has been confirmed by secret service sources) that many of the existing Soviet sportsmen, i.e. Olympic

competitors, are Spetsnaz people. International competitions not only give them the opportunity to improve their shooting, skiing and swimming skills, but also give them the chance to get to know the countries better to which they might one day be assignedassigned as saboteurs.

Spetsnaz officers and soldiers receive better wages, rations and more holidays than other army members. They are also promoted quicker and can retire earlier. On the other hand, much is required of them. For survival training they are dropped in isolated areas where they have to survive on their own for days or weeks, often without even sleeping-bags. In combat, every Spetsnaz soldier has a light automatic Kalaschnikov rifle with 300 bullets and a bayonet (which can also be used as a saw and wire- cutters), a P6 pistol with silencer, six hand grenades or a fire cup for rifle grenades, as well as a James Bond style knife which, by pressing a button, silently shoots out a deadly blade to a distance of ten meters. The Spetsnaz troops apply the most brutal methods. One of their main training centers - Scheltia Vodij in the Ukraine - lies near a concentration camp where the prisoners are, according to Suvorov, used for close combat training, i.e. beaten up, kicked and often mutilated. "That is, of course, much more real than only stabbing sandbags," he says. Sabotage and Murderous Assaults. Intelligence service reports about a secret Spetsnaz training camp west of the Urals clearly state that maneuvers against American and NATO objectives are being practiced. There are replicas of commercial planes (to practise kidnappings), American and French jet-fighters, discharge ramps for nuclear weapons, Pershing missiles and ground supported projectiles. Strangely, a model of these American Pershing-II missiles already stood in this Soviet training camp before they were even stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983. In the eventuality of war, Spetsnaz troops would have already moved into Western Europe and the United States before a Soviet declaration of war. They would come in the dead of night with parachutes and midget-submarines, or as divers; at the same time an unusual number of Soviet sporting and cultural delegations would visit those countries chosen as targets for future invasions. Personnel of the Soviet Embassies and Consulates would be reinforced with young men and women of extraordinary physical fitness, who would work as guards, chauffeurs and gardeners.

They would call into action the so-called "sleeping" agents who had already settled a long time beforehand around the military bases, weapons depots and telecommunication centers. They would observe the situation, report about what they had seen and give shelter to the Spetsnaz troops, if necessary. If the Soviets wanted to launch a surprise attack, the troops would mark or attack nuclear weapon stations, immobilize command and control systems, disable military bases, destroy power stations and radio networks, as wwellell as assassinate top politicianpoliticianss and high officers.officers. Assassinations are normally the nucleus of Soviet "blitz" war planning. As the atomic weapons of NATO are only allowed to be activated after agreement by the political leadership, the removal of these leaders would drastically delay an atomic counter-attack. "The Soviet Union must disable the political decision-making centers of the leading NATO states within the shortest possible period of time," says C. N. Donnelly, the leader of the Soviet Union Research Centre of the Royal British Military Academy. This audacious strategy takes advantage of the slow decision-making process within NATO. The structure of the Alliance firstly demands a mutual consultation of all sixteen member states. Apart from this, the mobilization of the front-line of defense takes several days. This means the lorries which pick up the nuclear warheads from the Western European depots have to wait their turn, then have to transport the dangerous freight on

public roads to their destinations providing an ideal target for Spetsnaz attacks. "The major danger is not a grand invasion," as the British Defense Minister found out in 1984, "but the specially trained sabotage troops."

According to the findings of the American Secret Service, the Russians have already made use of Spetsnaz units for years. John Dziak of the American Defense Ministry Secret Service, writes in his book “Special Operations in U.S. Strategy”: "When the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, Prague airport was occupied by Spetsnaz troops as ordered by the KGB. Party leader, Alexander Dubcek, was arrested and deported to Moscow. Other enemies on the KGB list were annihilated." The invasion of Afghanistan, in Christmas 1979, was a classic Spetsnaz operation. High officers in the Afghan army were lured to a reception held in honor of the "Afghan-Soviet friendship". They were then locked into the banqueting hall and slaughtered by a Spetsnaz unit.

The main task of the Spetsnaz force, a group of several hundred men who had been flown into Kabul was, according to the KGB-deserter Major Vladimir Kuszetschkin, the murder of the president Hafisullah Amin. On December 27th, Spetsnaz troops in Afghan uniforms attacked the Daulaman Palace from three sides. Led by the KGB, they forced their way through to Amin and killed him, his family and bodyguards. According to secret service reports from the West, which obtains information mainly from intercepted

radio messages and statements by fugitives and deserters, Afghanistan is the centre of current Spetsnaz operations.

"The costs arising from the war with Afghanistan are high," says Dziak, "but it is the first opportunity since the 2nd World War for the Soviet military to exercise their armed forcesforces in a rrealeal situation."

Careful Planning. According to the American former Defense Minister, John Marsh, Marsh, "The influenceinfluence of the Spetsnaz troops reach far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. They are an excellent instrument for the furtherance of the revolution thanks to their unconventional warfare tactics." Not only Afghan soldiers, but also soldiers from Cuba and other Third World countries have been in Spetsnaz-Training camps in the USSR. Spetsnaz units are regularly deployed to test the reaction capacity of the Western Secret Service and military. The Soviets particularly like to use a midget-submarine for this purpose. It

has caterpillar tracks similar to those on tanks, enabling them to drive on the sea bed. Using this they spy on Swedish naval bases, looking for suitable landing grounds for their combat swimmers. At one point, they managed to get wwithinithin 1.5 kilometres of the Stockholm shelf.

In March 1984, the Swedish army chased Spetsnaz frogmen near a major naval base with machine-gun fire and hand grenades. Not long ago, such submarines were sighted near the straits of Gibraltar and caterpillar tracks were discovered on the sea bed near Japanese naval bases. The well-known military expert Edward Luttwak, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, sees these Spetsnaz operations as, "a further sign of the care with which the Soviet Union prepare their plans of attackattack."."

The Western European countries in NATO are already focusing on the existence of Spetsnaz troops. Great Britain is in the process of reinforcing their Territorial Army. In addition the British have, through the Home Service Force, produced another instrument of national defense and improved methods of

protection for vital installations. This seems to be within good reason as can be seen in an article from “Jane's Defense Weekly” in January which states: "The Soviet Union keep a command of female Spetsnaz soldiers at the air base in Greenham Common, since land-operated Tomahawk weapons from the American Air force were stationed there in December 1983. According to statements made by Soviet deserters, trained female agents infiltrated the ranks of protesters and took part in all the events." The American Ministry of Defense believes that a variety of measures are necessary to put a stop to the

practices of Spetsnaz troops. First of all, people affected, like top officials in public life, would have to be informed of their combat tactics. Offices and organizations like the criminal investigation police and border police of the United States, whose field of investigation would include tracking down and engaging Spetsnaz troops in combat, would have to know exactly what to look out for. Finally, intensive work would have to be carried out to obtain information about Spetsnaz in order to find out early enough how, when, and where these troops might strikestrike next.

"Spetsnaz came into being very quickly and we are only now realizing the danger it presents to us," says the Deputy Secretary of State Noel Koch. "In order to be prepared for it we have to improve our security precautions drastically."

A Final CommCommentent

Until made public in 1990, Western Europe’s secret armies remained a closely held secret – to defend capitalism against communism as well as the other way around and the political left or right, individual countries having discretion on their operations, some mainly or entirely stay-behind, others involved with terrorism. The former group included Denmark, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, and the Netherlands. In contrast, Italy, Turkey, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Sweden actively engaged in state organized terrorism, terrorism, including against their own citizens to hype fear.

During the last few years, Western intelligence agents have collected information about a large, hard- core Russian underground army. In the advent of a 3rd World War, they will prepare the way for an attack on Western Europe and, perhaps, the whole of the free world. In this text, I gave an extensive overview of these alarming facts.

Source: 'The Best of The Reader's Digest'

Mircea Halaciuga, Esq

Tel. 040.724581078