I have just started reading Gladio-NATOs Dagger at the Heart of Europe by Richard Cottrel. The author uses an interesting, new to me term.

Underground organizations were organized in WW II to sabotage German war efforts. These groups had weapons and materials cached throughout Europe to facilitate their efforts. The French underground made famous to us in WW II movies would be one.

After the war these groups were not disbanded but sustained by the CIA and others to thwart any socialist or communist uprisings. Gladio was the name of the Italian operation but has come to represent all such organizations. Just as ‘Kleenex’ has come to mean ‘tissue’. Read the rest of this entry »