textfiles-politics/pythonCode/personTestingOutput/italy.xml

<xml><div>************FEATURE*************** </div>

<p>WITH A NEW <ent type='NORP'>ITALIAN</ent> GOVERNMENT THAT INCLUDES THE SELF-DECLARED NEOFASCIST PARTY, THE ROLE
OF AGENCIES WITHIN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IN PUSHING <ent type='NORP'>ITALIAN</ent> POLITICS TO THE RIGHT IS MORE
NEWSWORTHY THAN EVER. "GLADIO" TELLS THE STORY OF NEARLY A HALF-CENTURY OF EFFORTS BY THE
<ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>, THE U.S. MILITARY, AND AT TIMES, THE WHITE HOUSE, TO FORESTALL A FEARED "COMMUNIST
TAKEOVER." </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>ROWSE</ent> REVEALS THE DETAILS OF THIS POLICY, INCLUDING UNDERCOVER PAYMENTS TO <ent type='NORP'>ITALIAN</ent>
POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES, <ent type='ORG'>THE USE</ent> OF FASCIST WAR CRIMINALS, <ent type='ORG'>NAZIS</ent>, AND
MOBSTERS TO FORM AND LEAD UNDERGROUND PARAMILITARY GROUPS, U.S. LINKS TO A TERROR
BOMBING CAMPAIGN, AND REVIEWS DISQUIETING QUESTIONS ABOUT U.S. LINKS TO THE ASSASSINATION
OF <ent type='PERSON'>ALDO MORO</ent>. </p>

<p>ARTHUR E. ROWSE'S EXHAUSTIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE ORIGINS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE
<ent type='GPE'>DECADES</ent>-LONG COVERT U.S. EFFORT TO INFLUENCE <ent type='NORP'>ITALIAN</ent> POLITICS MARKS THE FIRST
COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT "GLADIO" IN A U.S. PUBLICATION. </p>

<p>ARTHUR E. <ent type='ORG'>ROWSE</ent>, FORMERLY ON THE STAFF OF THE <ent type='GPE'>WASHINGTON</ent> POST AND U.S. NEWS &amp; WORLD
REPORT IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS. </p>

<div> ************************************ </div>

<p> GLADIO: THE SECRET U.S. WAR TO <ent type='ORG'>SUBVERT</ent> <ent type='NORP'>ITALIAN</ent> DEMOCRACY </p>

<p> by Arthur E. Rowse </p>

<div> ************************************* </div>

<p>This January, <ent type='PERSON'>Silvio Berlusconi</ent> rode onto the turbulent <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> political scene on a white charger. Voters had become
disenchanted with long-time centrist leaders who were mired in massive corruption scandals. With crucial
parliamentary elections only two months away and the likelihood that the left would win power for the first time since
<ent type='EVENT'>World War</ent> II, *1 the billionaire businessman entered the fray with a slate of right-wing candidates who had never held
office. Helped by voter disgust and his own vast media and industrial holdings, Berlusconi's coalition won big, averting
the anticipated leftist victory. His win lifted the right, including the neo-fascists, to new postwar heights. *2 Real change
seemed unlikely, however, as <ent type='PERSON'>Berlusconi</ent> repackaged the old politics with new names and slogans. <ent type='PERSON'>Berlusconi</ent> himself
was weaned on the system and owed much of his success to <ent type='PERSON'>Bettino Craxi</ent>, a former Socialist prime minister who went
on trial for corruption the day after the March election. It wasn't long before the right's clean hands were upstaged by
arms raised in fascist salutes and cries of Il <ent type='NORP'>Duce</ent>. </p>

<p>While Berlusconi's rapid ascent took most observers by surprise, the stage was set for it by nearly 50 years of U.S.
interference in <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> politics. In the name of fighting communism, the U.S. helped generate a level of political turmoil
that sometimes approached civil war. U.S. agents and their <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> surrogates took control of key government agencies,
at times reducing <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> democracy to little more than a proving ground for the CIA's and the White House's
aggressive tactics. The undercover campaign, known as Gladio, for a double-edged <ent type='NORP'>Roman</ent> sword, was officially
acknowledged for the first time in 1990, when it was finally closed down. </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>THE DIMENSIONS</ent> OF GLADIO</p>

<p>The <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> people had received many signs over the years that the centrist parties the <ent type='NORP'>Christian Democrats</ent> and the
Socialists were promoted and to some degree controlled by <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent>. But it was only when the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> government
officially admitted it in 1990 that the ruling coalition began to crumble, ready to be picked apart two years later by
corruption scandals. The startling story of Gladio, which continues to make headlines in Europe, has barely been
mentioned in the U.S., where many of its darkest chapters remain secret. </p>

<p>The program in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> was aimed at the threat that <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> might mount an insurrection or gain a share of political
power through the ballot box. An insurrection was unlikely, however, since nearly all posts in the bureaucracy were
filled after the war by solidly anti<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> veterans of Mussolini's forces, with <ent type='ORG'>Allied</ent> approval. </p>

<p>During the war, most <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> considered themselves heroes who freed <ent type='NORP'>Western</ent> Europe from its brutal <ent type='NORP'>Nazi</ent> and
fascist rulers. It wasn't long after the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> landings on <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> soil, however, that the white hats got sullied. While
some <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> agents worked with antifascists to help lay the basis for <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> democracy, many of those higher up the
ladder conspired with backers of <ent type='PERSON'>Mussolini</ent> or the former king to impede it. *3 </p>

<p>Although many European intelligence agencies have admitted participating, the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> has denied any connection with
Gladio. But enough information has emerged to show that the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> sponsored and financed a large portion of the
terrorism and disruption that plagued <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> for nearly half a century. Among other things, the U.S. government: </p>

<p> Forged secret alliances with the <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> and right-wing elements of the <ent type='ORG'>Vatican</ent> to prevent the left from playing any
role in government;
Recruited Mussolini's ex-police into paramilitary bands secretly financed and trained by the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>, ostensibly to fight
<ent type='NORP'>Soviets</ent>, but really to conduct terror attacks blamed on the left;
Employed the gamut of psychological warfare tactics, including paying millions in slush funds to political parties,
journalists, and other influential contacts to tilt parliamentary elections against the left;
Created a secret service and a parallel government structure linked to the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> whose assets attempted several times
to overthrow the elected government; and
Targeted Prime Minister <ent type='PERSON'>Aldo Moro</ent>, who was later kidnapped and murdered under mysterious circumstances after
offering to bring <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> into the Cabinet. </p>

<p>THE SECRET <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> COVER</p>

<p>@TEMP = The <ent type='PERSON'>North</ent> Atlantic Treaty Organization (<ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent>) provided international cover for Washington's postwar
operations in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. A secret clause in the initial <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> agreement in 1949 required that before a nation could join, it
must have already established a national security authority to fight communism through clandestine citizen cadres.
This Stay Behind clause grew out of a secret committee set up at U.S. insistence in the Atlantic Pact, the forerunner of
<ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent>. Each <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> member was also required to send delegates to semiannual meetings on the subject. *4 </p>

<p>U.S. authority for such moves flowed in a steady stream of presidential directives transmitted through the National
Security Council (<ent type='ORG'>NSC</ent>). In December 1950, the council gave <ent type='ORG'>the armed forces carte blanche</ent> to use appropriate military
force even if the <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> merely gain participation in government by legal means or threaten to achieve control...or
the government ceases to evidence a determination to oppose <ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> internal or external threats. *5 </p>

<p>The <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> helped the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> police set up secret squadrons staffed in many cases with veterans of Mussolini's secret
police. *6 The squadrons were trained for intensive espionage and counter-espionage, against <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> and other
perceived enemies of the status quo. The plan to use exceptional means was patterned after the highly militarized
<ent type='NORP'>French</ent> intelligence service, the Suret Nationale, which was reportedly so tough on <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> that many fled to other
countries. *7 </p>

<p>The newly organized intelligence agency, <ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent>, began operations in September 1949, under the supervision of an
undercover <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>Carmel Offie</ent>, nicknamed godfather by the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s. *8 <ent type='ORG'>Interior</ent> Minister <ent type='PERSON'>Mario Scelba</ent> headed
the operation. At the same time, <ent type='PERSON'>Scelba</ent> was directing a brutal repression, murdering hundreds of workers and peasants
who sought improved conditions after the war. *9 </p>

<p>OPERATION DEMAGNETIZE</p>

<p>With the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> secret service under control, the <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> then expanded it under the name Operation Demagnetize
and tied it to an existing network of cadre in northern <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. In 1951, the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> secret service formally agreed to set up
a clandestine organization within the military to coordinate with the northern cadres. In 1952, <ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent> received secret
orders from <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> to adopt a series of political, paramilitary and psychological operations destined to diminish the
power of the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> Communist Party, its material resources, and its influence on government. This priority objective
must be attained by all means. 10 </p>

<p>Operation Demagnetize marked the institutional hardening of Gladio. A State Department historian characterized it as
the strategy of stabilization, *11 although it could be more accurately described as one of destabilization. From the
start, the offensive was secretly directed and funded by the U.S. government. In 1956, the arrangement was formalized
in a written agreement, using the name Gladio for the first time. According to 1956 documents uncovered in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> in
1990, Gladio was divided into independent cells coordinated from a <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> camp in Sardinia. These special forces included
40 main groups. Ten specialized in sabotage, six each in espionage, propaganda, evasion and escape tactics, and 12 in
guerrilla activities. Another division handled the training of agents and commandos. These special forces had access to
underground arms caches, which included hand guns, grenades, high-tech explosives, daggers, 60-millimeter mortars,
57-millimeter machine guns and precision rifles. *12 </p>

<p>In 1956, Gen. Giovanni De Lorenzo was named to head <ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent> on the recommendation of U.S. Ambassador Claire
Boothe Luce, the avidly anti<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> wife of the publisher of Time magazine. *13 A key player in Gladio was now in
place. In 1962, the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> helped place De Lorenzo at the head of the national police (<ent type='ORG'>carabinieri</ent>), while he retained
effective control of the secret service. </p>

<p>The general brought with him 17 lieutenants to begin purging insufficiently right-wing officers. It was the first step to a
right-wing coup attempt, with U.S. military attach <ent type='PERSON'>Vernon Walters</ent> in the vanguard. In a memo to De Lorenzo the same
year, <ent type='PERSON'>Walters</ent> suggested types of intervention aimed at provoking a national crisis, including blocking a center-left
coalition, creating schisms among the socialists, and funding forces favorable to the status quo.14 </p>

<p>Meanwhile, according to <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> files found in <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> in 1984, <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> station chief <ent type='PERSON'>William Harvey</ent> began to recruit action
teams based on a list of 2000 men capable of throwing bombs, conducting attacks, and accompanying these actions with
indispensable propaganda. 15 These teams had a chance to practice their skills in 1963 as part of an anti-union
offensive. U.S.-trained gladiators dressed as police and civilians attacked construction workers peacefully demonstrating
in <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>, leaving some 200 wounded and a large section of the city in shambles. The link to Gladio was made in later
testimony by a former general in the secret service.16 </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent> Lt. Col. <ent type='PERSON'>Renzo Rocca</ent> was also training a civil militia composed of ex-soldiers, parachutists and members of
<ent type='PERSON'>Junio Valerio Black Prince Borghese</ent>'s paramilitary organization, <ent type='ORG'>Decima</ent> MAS (<ent type='ORG'>Tenth Torpedo Boat Squadron</ent>), for the
pending coup.17 President <ent type='PERSON'>Antonio Segni</ent> reportedly knew of the plan, which was to conclude with the assassination of
Prime Minister <ent type='PERSON'>Aldo Moro</ent>, under fire for not being tough enough with the <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent>.18 </p>

<p>The long-planned takeover, known later as Plan Solo, fizzled in March 1964, when the key <ent type='ORG'>carabinieri</ent> involved
remained in their barracks. As a subsequent inquiry moved to question <ent type='PERSON'>Rocca</ent> about the coup attempt, he apparently
killed himself, possibly to fulfill Gladio's oath of silence. After officials determined that state secrets were involved,
three hamstrung inquiries failed to determine the guilty parties.19 </p>

<p>THE STRATEGY OF TENSION</p>

<p>Despite the failure of Plan Solo, the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> right had largely succeeded in creating the clandestine
structures envisioned in Operation Demagnetize. Now the plotters turned their attention to a renewed offensive against
the left. </p>

<p>To win intellectual support, the secret services set up a conference in <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> at the luxurious <ent type='GPE'>Parco</ent> dei Principi hotel in
May 1965, for a study of revolutionary war. The choice of words was inadvertently revealing, since the conveners and
invited participants were planning a real revolution, not just warning of an imaginary <ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> takeover. The
meeting was essentially a reunion of fascists, right-wing journalists, and military personnel. The strategy of tension
that emerged was designed to disrupt normality with terror attacks in order to create chaos and provoke a frightened
public into accepting still more authoritarian government. *20 </p>

<p>Several graduates of this exercise had long records of anti<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> actions and would later be implicated in some of
Italy's worst massacres. One was journalist and secret agent <ent type='PERSON'>Guido Giannettini</ent>. Four years earlier, he had conducted a
seminar at the U.S. Naval Academy on The Techniques and Prospects of a Coup d'Etat in Europe. Another was notorious
fascist <ent type='PERSON'>Stefano Delle Chiaie</ent>, who had reportedly been recruited as a secret agent in 1960. He had organized his own
armed band known as Avanguardia Nationale (AN), whose members had begun training in terror tactics in preparation
for Plan Solo. *21 </p>

<p>General De Lorenzo, whose <ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent> had now become <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, soon enlisted these and other confidants in a new Gladio
project. They planned to create a secret parallel force alongside sensitive government offices to neutralize subversive
elements not yet purified. Known as the Parallel <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, its tentacles reached into nearly every key institution of the
<ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> state. Gen.<ent type='PERSON'>Vito Miceli</ent>, who later headed <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, said he set up the separate structure at the request of the
<ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> and <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent>. 22 </p>

<p><ent type='GPE'>FRATERNAL</ent> BONDS</p>

<p>Two ancient, mysterious, international fraternities kept the loosely-linked Gladio programs from flying apart. The
<ent type='PERSON'>Knight</ent>s of <ent type='GPE'>Malta</ent> played a formative role after the war (see box), but the order of <ent type='NORP'>Freemasonry</ent> and its most notorious
lodge in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>, known as Propaganda Due (pronounced doo-ay ), or P-2, was far more influential. In the late 1960s, its
Most Venerable Master was <ent type='PERSON'>Licio Gelli</ent>, a <ent type='PERSON'>Knight</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Malta</ent> who fought for <ent type='PERSON'>Franco</ent> with Mussolini's Black Shirts. At the
end of <ent type='EVENT'>World War</ent> II, <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> faced execution by <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> partisans for his <ent type='NORP'>Nazi</ent> collaboration, but escaped by joining the
U.S. <ent type='ORG'>Army Counter Intelligence Corps</ent>. *23 In the 1950s, he was recruited by <ent type='ORG'>SIFAR</ent>. </p>

<p>After some years of self-imposed exile in <ent type='NORP'>Argentine</ent> fascist circles,24 he saw his calling in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> as a <ent type='ORG'>Mason</ent>. Quickly
rising to its top post, he began fraternizing in 1969 with Gen. <ent type='PERSON'>Alexander Haig</ent>, then assistant to <ent type='PERSON'>Henry Kissinger</ent>,
President Nixon's national security chief. <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> became the main intermediary between the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and SID's De Lorenzo,
also a <ent type='ORG'>Mason</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Knight</ent>. Gelli's first order from the White House was reportedly to recruit 400 more top <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> and
<ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> officials.25 </p>

<p>To help ferret out dissidents, <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> and De Lorenzo began compiling personal dossiers on thousands of people, including
legislators and clerics. *26 Within a few years, scandal erupted when an inquiry found 157000 such files in <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, all
available to <ent type='ORG'>the Ministers</ent> of Defense and <ent type='ORG'>Interior</ent>. *27 <ent type='ORG'>Parliament</ent> ordered 34000 files burned, but by then the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> had
obtained duplicates for its archives. *28 </p>

<p>Provocateurs on the Right </p>

<p>In 1968, the <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> started formal commando training for the gladiators at the clandestine Sardinian <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> base.
Within a few years, 4000 graduates had been placed in strategic posts. At least 139 arms caches, including some at
<ent type='ORG'>carabinieri</ent> barracks, were at their disposal. *29 To induce young men to join such a risky venture, the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> paid high
salaries and promised that if they were killed, their children would be educated at U.S. expense. *30 </p>

<p>Tensions began to reach critical mass that same year. While dissidents took to the streets all over the world, in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>,
takeovers of universities and strikes for higher wages and pensions were overshadowed by a series of bloody political
crimes. The number of terrorist acts reached 147 in 1968, rising to 398 the next year, and to an incredible peak of 2498
in 1978 before tapering off, largely because of a new law encouraging informers ( <ent type='ORG'>penitenti</ent> ). *31 Until 1974, the
indiscriminate bombers of the right constituted the main force behind political violence. </p>

<p>The first major explosion occurred in 1969 in Milan's <ent type='GPE'>Piazza Fontana</ent>; it killed 18 people and injured 90. In this and
numerous other massacres, anarchists proved handy scapegoats for fascist provocateurs seeking to blame the left.
Responding to a phone tip after the <ent type='GPE'>Milan</ent> massacre, police arrested 150 alleged anarchists and even put some on trial.
But two years later, new evidence led to the indictment of several <ent type='ORG'>neofascists</ent> and <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent> officers. Three innocent
anarchists were convicted, but later absolved, while those responsible for the attack emerged unpunished by <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>
justice. *32 </p>

<p>Conclusive Gladio links to political violence were found after a plane exploded in flight near <ent type='GPE'>Venice</ent> in November 1973.
<ent type='NORP'>Venetian</ent> judge <ent type='PERSON'>Carlo Mastelloni</ent> determined that the <ent type='ORG'>Argo</ent>-16 aircraft was used to shuttle trainees and munitions
between the U.S. base in Sardinia and Gladio sites in northeast <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>.33 The apogee of right-wing terror came in 1974
with two massacres. One, a bombing at an antifascist rally in <ent type='GPE'>Brescia</ent>, killed eight and injured 102. The other was an
explosion on the <ent type='ORG'>Italicus</ent> train near <ent type='GPE'>Bologna</ent>, killing 12 and wounding 105. At this point, President <ent type='PERSON'>Giovanni Leone</ent>, with
little exaggeration, summed up the situation: With 10000 armed civilians running around, as usual, I'm president of
shit. *34 </p>

<p>At <ent type='GPE'>Brescia</ent>, the initial call to police also blamed anarchists, but the malefactor later turned out to be a secret agent in
the Parallel <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>. *35 A similar connection was also alleged in the <ent type='ORG'>Italicus</ent> case. Two fascists who were eventually
convicted were members of a clandestine police group called the <ent type='ORG'>Black Dragons</ent>, according to the left-wing paper, Lotta
Continua. *36 Their sentences were also overturned. Although in these and other cases, many leftists were arrested
and tried, fascists or <ent type='ORG'>neofascists</ent> were often the culprits, in league with Gladio groups and the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> secret services.
Reflecting the degree to which these forces controlled the government through the Parallel <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, nearly all the rightists
implicated in these atrocities were later freed. </p>

<p>By 1974, right-wing terror began to be answered by the armed left, which favored carefully targeted hit-and-run attacks
over the right's indiscriminate bombings. For the next six years, leftist militants, especially <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent>,
responded with a vengeance, accounting for far more acts of political violence than the right. *37 For several years,
<ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> plunged into a virtual civil war. </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent>TTING COUPS D'ETAT</p>

<p>Meanwhile, groups of right-wingers were busy planning more takeovers of the elected government, with the active
encouragement of U.S. officials. A seminal document was the 1970 132-page order on stability operations in host
countries, published as Supplement B of the U.S. Army's Field Manual 30-31. Taking its cue from earlier <ent type='ORG'>NSC</ent> and <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>
papers, the manual explained that if a country is not sufficiently anti<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent>, serious attention must be given to
possible modifications of the structure. If that country does not react with adequate vigor, the document continues,
groups acting under U.S. Army intelligence control should be used to launch violent or nonviolent actions according to
the nature of the case. *38 </p>

<p>With such incendiary suggestions and thousands of U.S.-trained guerrillas ready, the fascists again attempted to take
over the government by force in 1970. This time, the instigator was the Black Prince <ent type='PERSON'>Borghese</ent>. Fifty men under the
command of <ent type='PERSON'>Stefano Delle Chiaie</ent> seized the <ent type='ORG'>Interior</ent> Ministry in <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> after being let in at night by an aide to political
police head Federico D'Amato. But the operation was aborted when <ent type='PERSON'>Borghese</ent> received a mysterious phone call later
attributed to General <ent type='PERSON'>Vito Miceli</ent>, the military intelligence chief. The plotters were not arrested; instead, they left with
180 stolen machine guns. *39 </p>

<p>News of the attack remained secret until an informer tipped the press three months later. By then, the culprits had
escaped to <ent type='GPE'>Spain</ent>. Although the ringleaders were convicted in 1975, the verdict was overturned on appeal. All but one of
the machine guns were returned earlier. *40 </p>

<p>It was in this atmosphere that the U.S. decided to make another all-out effort to block the <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> from gaining
strength in the 1972 elections. According to the Pike Report, the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> disbursed $10 million to 21 candidates, mostly
<ent type='NORP'>Christian Democrats</ent>. *41 That amount did not include $800000 that Ambassador <ent type='PERSON'>Graham Martin</ent>, going around the
<ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>, obtained through <ent type='PERSON'>Henry Kissinger</ent> at the White House for General <ent type='ORG'>Miceli</ent>. *42 <ent type='ORG'>Miceli</ent> would later face charges for
the <ent type='PERSON'>Borghese</ent> coup attempt but, fitting the pattern, he was cleared. </p>

<p>Police foiled another attempted coup that same year. They found hit lists and other documents exposing some 20
subversive groups forming the Parallel <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent> structure. <ent type='PERSON'>Roberto Cavallaro</ent>, a fascist trade unionist, was implicated, as
were highly placed generals, who said they got approval from <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent> and U.S. officials. In later testimony, <ent type='ORG'>Cavallaro</ent> said
the group was set up to restore order after any trouble arose. When these troubles do not erupt [by themselves], he
said, they are contrived by the far right. Gen. <ent type='ORG'>Miceli</ent> was arrested, but the courts eventually freed him, declaring that
there had been no insurrection. *43 </p>

<p>Still another right-wing attempt to overthrow the government was set for 1974, reportedly with the imprimatur of both
the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent>. Its leader was <ent type='PERSON'>Edgardo Sogno</ent>, one of Italy's most decorated resistance fighters, who had formed a
Gladio-style group after the war. <ent type='GPE'>Sogno</ent>, who had gained many influential <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> friends while working at the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>
embassy in <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> during the 1960s, was later arrested, but he, too, was eventually cleared. *44 </p>

<p>GLADIO UNRAVELS</p>

<p>A triple murder at Peteano near <ent type='GPE'>Venice</ent> in May 1972 turned out to be pivotal in exposing Gladio. The crime occurred
when three <ent type='ORG'>carabinieri</ent>, in response to an anonymous phone call, went to check out a suspicious car. When one of them
opened the hood, all three were blown to bits by a boobytrap bomb. *45 An anonymous call two days later implicated the
<ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent>s, the most active of the left's revolutionary groups. The police immediately rounded up 200 alleged
<ent type='NORP'>communists</ent>, thieves and pimps for questioning, but no charges were brought. Ten years later, a courageous <ent type='NORP'>Venetian</ent>
magistrate, <ent type='PERSON'>Felice Casson</ent>, reopened the long-dormant case only to learn that there had been no police investigation at
the scene. Despite receiving a false analysis from a secret service bomb expert and confronting numerous obstructions
and delays, the judge traced the explosives to a militant outfit called New Order and to one of its active members,
<ent type='PERSON'>Vincenzo Vinciguerra</ent>. He promptly confessed and was sentenced to life, the only right-wing bomber ever locked up. *46</p>

<p><ent type='PERSON'>Vinciguerra</ent> refused to implicate others, but described the coverup: </p>

<p> "The <ent type='ORG'>carabinieri</ent>, the Ministry of <ent type='ORG'>Interior</ent>, the Customs and Excise police, the civilian
and military secret services all knew the truth behind the attack, that I was
responsible and all this within 20 days. So they decided, for totally political reasons,
to cover it up. *47" </p>

<p>As for his motive, the fascist true believer <ent type='PERSON'>Vinciguerra</ent> said his misdeed was an act of revolt against the manipulation of
<ent type='GPE'>neofascism since</ent> 1945 by the whole Gladio-based parallel structure. *48 </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>Casson</ent> eventually found enough incriminating evidence to implicate the highest officials of the land. In what was the
first such request to an <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> president, <ent type='ORG'>Casson</ent> demanded explanations from President <ent type='PERSON'>Francesco Cossiga</ent>. But <ent type='ORG'>Casson</ent>
didn't stop there; he also demanded that other officials come clean. In October 1990, under pressure from <ent type='ORG'>Casson</ent>,
Prime Minister <ent type='PERSON'>Giulio Andreotti</ent> ended 30 years of denials and described Gladio in detail. He added that all prime
ministers had been aware of Gladio, though some later denied it. *49 </p>

<p>Suddenly, <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s saw clues to many mysteries, including the unexplained death of Pope <ent type='PERSON'>John Paul</ent> I in 1978. Author
<ent type='PERSON'>David Yallop</ent> lists <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> as a suspect in that case, saying that he, for all practical purposes, ran <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> at the time. *50 </p>

<p>MEMENTO MORO</p>

<p>Perhaps the most shocking political crime of the 1970s was the kidnapping and murder of Prime Minister <ent type='PERSON'>Aldo Moro</ent>
and five of his aides in 1978. The abduction occurred as <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> was on his way to submit a plan to strengthen <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>
political stability by bringing <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> into the government. </p>

<p>Earlier versions of the plan had sent U.S. officials into a tizzy. Four years before his death, on a visit to the U.S. as
foreign minister, <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> was reportedly read the riot act by Secretary of State <ent type='PERSON'>Henry Kissinger</ent> and later by an unnamed
intelligence official. In testimony during the inquiry into his murder, Moro's widow summed up their ominous words:
You must abandon your policy of bringing all the political forces in your country into direct collaboration...or you will
pay dearly for it. *51 </p>

<p><ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> was so shaken by the threats, according to an aide, that he became ill the next day and cut short his U.S. visit,
saying he was through with politics. *52 But U.S. pressure continued; Senator <ent type='PERSON'>Henry Jackson</ent> (D-Wash.) issued a
similar warning two years later in an interview in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. *53 Shortly before his kidnapping, <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> wrote an article
replying to his U.S. critics, but decided not to publish it. *54 </p>

<p>While being held captive for 55 days, <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> pleaded repeatedly with his fellow <ent type='NORP'>Christian Democrats</ent> to accept a ransom
offer to exchange imprisoned <ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent> members for his freedom. But they refused, to the delight of <ent type='ORG'>Allied</ent> officials
who wanted the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s to play hardball. In a letter found later, <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> predicted: My death will fall like a curse on all
<ent type='NORP'>Christian Democrats</ent>, and it will initiate a disastrous and unstoppable collapse of all the party apparatus. *55 </p>

<p>During Moro's captivity, police unbelievably claimed to have questioned millions of people and searched thousands of
dwellings. But the initial judge investigating the case, Luciano Infelisi, said he had no police at his disposal. I ran the
investigation with a single typist, without even a telephone in the room. He added that he received no useful
information from the secret services during the time. *56 Other investigating magistrates suggested in 1985 that one
reason for the inaction was that all the key officers involved were members of P-2 and were therefore acting at the
behest of <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> and the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>. *57 </p>

<p>Although the government eventually arrested and convicted several <ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent> members, many in the press and
parliament continue to ask whether <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent> arranged the kidnapping after receiving orders from higher up. Suspicions
naturally turned toward the U.S., particularly <ent type='PERSON'>Henry Kissinger</ent>, though he denied any role in the crime. In Gladio and
the <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> had the perfect apparatus for doing such a deed without leaving a trace. </p>

<p>PENETRATING THE RED BRIGADES</p>

<p>That <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> had been thoroughly infiltrated for years by both the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> secret services is no
longer contested. The purpose of the operation was to encourage violence from extremist sectors of the left in order to
discredit the left as a whole. The <ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent>s were a perfect foil. With unflinching radicalism, they considered the
<ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> Communist Party too moderate and Moro's opening too compromising. </p>

<p>The <ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent>s worked closely with <ent type='ORG'>the Hyperion Language School</ent> in <ent type='GPE'>Paris</ent>, with some members not realizing it had
<ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> ties. The school had been founded by three pseudo-revolutionary <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s, one of whom, <ent type='PERSON'>Corrado Simioni</ent>, had
worked for the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> at Radio Free Europe. *58 Another, <ent type='PERSON'>Duccio Berio</ent>, has admitted passing information about <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>
leftist groups to <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>. *59 <ent type='ORG'>Hyperion</ent> opened an office in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> shortly before the kidnapping and closed it a few months
later. An <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> police report said <ent type='ORG'>Hyperion</ent> may be the most important <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> office in Europe. *60 <ent type='PERSON'>Mario Moretti</ent>, one of
those who handled arms deals and the <ent type='GPE'>Paris</ent> connection for <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent>, managed to avoid arrest in the <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> case
for three years even though he personally handled the kidnapping. *61 </p>

<p><ent type='GPE'>Venice</ent> magistrate <ent type='PERSON'>Carlo Mastelloni</ent> concluded in 1984 that <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> had for years received arms from the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent>.
*62 <ent type='PERSON'>Mastelloni</ent> wrote that the de facto secret service level accord between the <ent type='GPE'>USA</ent> and the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent> was considered relevant
to the present investigation into the ... relationship between <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> organization and the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent>. *63 One
Gladio scholar, <ent type='PERSON'>Phillip Willan</ent>, concludes that the arms deal between the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent> and <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> formed part of the
secret accord between the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent> and the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>. *64 His research indicates that the alleged deal between the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and the
<ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent> occurred in 1976, a year after the U.S. promised <ent type='GPE'>Israel</ent> that it would have no political contacts with the <ent type='ORG'>PLO</ent>. </p>

<p>At the time of the <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> kidnapping, several leaders of the <ent type='ORG'>Brigades</ent> were in prison, having been turned in by a double
agent after they kidnapped a judge. According to journalist <ent type='PERSON'>Gianni Cipriani</ent>, one of those arrested was carrying phone
numbers and personal notes leading to a high official of <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, who had boasted openly of having agents inside the Red
<ent type='ORG'>Brigades</ent>. Other intriguing finds included the discovery in the Brigade offices of a printing press which had previously
belonged to <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent> and ballistics tests showing more than half of the 92 bullets at the kidnapping scene were similar to
those in Gladio stocks. *65 </p>

<p>Several people have noted the unlikelihood of <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> pulling off such a smooth, military-style kidnapping in
the center of <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Alberto Franceschini</ent>, a jailed member of the <ent type='ORG'>Brigades</ent>, said, I never thought my comrades outside
had the capacity to carry out a complex military operation. ... We remembered ourselves as an organization formed by
inexperienced young lads. *66 Two days after the crime, one secret service officer told the press that the perpetrators
appeared to have had special commando training. *67 </p>

<p>When letters written by <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> were found later in a <ent type='ORG'>Red Brigade</ent>s site in <ent type='GPE'>Milan</ent>, investigators hoped they would reveal
key evidence. But <ent type='PERSON'>Francesco Biscioni</ent>, who studied Moro's responses to his captors' questions, concluded that important
sections had been excised when they were transcribed. Nonetheless, in one uncensored passage, <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> worried about how
Andreotti's smooth relationships with his colleagues of the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> would affect his fate. *68 </p>

<p>The two people with the most knowledge of Moro's letters were murdered. <ent type='ORG'>The Carabiniere</ent> general in charge of
anti-terrorism, <ent type='PERSON'>Carlo Alberto Della Chiesa</ent>, was transferred to <ent type='GPE'>Sicily</ent> and killed <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent>-style in 1982, a few months after
raising questions about the missing letters. *69 Maverick journalist <ent type='PERSON'>Mino Pecorelli</ent> was assassinated on a <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> street
in 1979 just a month after reporting that he had obtained a list of 56 fascists betrayed to the police by <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent>. *70 Thomas
Buscetta, a <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> informer under witness protection in the U.S., accused <ent type='PERSON'>Andreotti</ent> of ordering both killings for fear of
being exposed. *71 But an inquiry by his political peers last year found no reason to prosecute the prime minister. </p>

<p><ent type='PERSON'>Della Chiesa</ent> and <ent type='PERSON'>Pecorelli</ent> were only two of numerous witnesses and potential witnesses murdered before they could be
questioned by judges untainted by links to Gladio. *72 President <ent type='PERSON'>Cossiga</ent>, the interior minister when <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> died, told
<ent type='ORG'>BBC</ent>: <ent type='PERSON'>Aldo Moro</ent>'s death still weighs heavily on the <ent type='NORP'>Christian Democrats</ent> as does the decision I came to, which turned
my hair white, to practically sacrifice <ent type='PERSON'>Moro</ent> to save the Republic. *73 </p>

<p>THE BOLOGNA TRAIN STATION BOMBING</p>

<p>A huge explosion at the <ent type='GPE'>Bologna</ent> train station two years after Moro's death may have whitened the hair of many <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s
not just for the grisly toll of 85 killed and more than 200 injured but for the official inaction that followed. Although the
investigating magistrates suspected <ent type='ORG'>neofascists</ent>, they were unable to issue credible arrest warrants for more than two
years because of false data from the secret services. By that time, all but one of the five chief suspects, two of whom
had ties to <ent type='ORG'>SID</ent>, had skipped the country. *74 The T4 explosive found at the scene matched the Gladio material used in
<ent type='GPE'>Brescia</ent>, Peteano and other bombings, according to expert testimony before Judge <ent type='PERSON'>Mastelloni</ent>. *75 </p>

<p>In the trial, the judges cited the strategy of tension and its ties to foreign powers. They also found the secret military
and civilian structure tied into neofascist groups, P-2, and the secret services. *76 In short, they found the <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> and
Gladio. </p>

<p>But their efforts to exact justice for the <ent type='GPE'>Bologna</ent> bombing came to nothing when, in 1990, the court of appeals acquitted
all the alleged brains. P-2 head <ent type='PERSON'>Gelli</ent> went free, as did two secret service chiefs whose perjury convictions were
overturned. Four gladiators convicted of participating in an armed group also won appeals. That left Peteano as the only
major bombing case with a conviction of the actual bomber, thanks to Vinciguerra's confession. </p>

<p>The sorry judicial record in these monstrous crimes showed how completely the Gladio network enveloped the army,
police, secret services and the top courts. Thanks to P-2, with its 963 well-placed brothers, *77 the collusion also
extended into the top levels of media and business. </p>

<p>FRUITS OF GLADIO </p>

<p>By the early 1980s, however, court data revealed enough <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> fingerprints to provoke strong anti-U.S. sentiment. In
1981, the offices of three U.S. firms in <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent> were bombed. In 1982, <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> kidnapped <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> L. <ent type='PERSON'>Dozier</ent>, a
U.S. general attached to <ent type='ORG'>NATO</ent>, calling him a Yankee hangman. *78 He was freed after five weeks by police
commandos, reportedly with the help of the CIA's <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> connections. *79 But damage to the U.S. image has been
remarkably constrained considering what the U.S. did to <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> society and government for 50 years in the name of
anticommunism. </p>

<p>Moro's final prediction came true. Instead of bolstering the center parties, Gladio, helped by the corruption scandals,
destroyed them. Instead of destroying the leftists, Gladio revelations helped them win control of major cities while
retaining one-third of parliament. By the early 1980s, <ent type='ORG'>the Red Brigades</ent> were wiped out, but the major sources of
right-wing terrorism the <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> and the <ent type='ORG'>neofascists</ent> remained active.80 </p>

<p>The end results lead some to question the whole rationale of U.S. involvement in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>, particularly in regard to the
<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> menace. According to <ent type='PERSON'>Phillip Willan</ent>, who wrote the definitive book on <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> terrorism: </p>

<p> "The U.S. has consistently refused to recognize the <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> Communist Party's
increasingly wholehearted commitment to the principles of <ent type='NORP'>Western</ent> democracy and
its validity as an alternative to the generally corrupt and incompetent political
parties that have governed <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> since the war. Had it done so, much of the
bloodshed resulting from the strategy of tension might have been avoided. *81" </p>

<p><ent type='PERSON'>Willan</ent> goes on to ask whether U.S. and <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> intelligence officials may have deliberately over-emphasized the
<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> threat in order to give themselves greater power and greater leeway for their own maneuvers. *82 </p>

<p>THE LESSONS OF GLADIO</p>

<p>As long as the U.S. public remains ignorant of this dark chapter in U.S. foreign relations, the agencies responsible for it
will face little pressure to correct their ways. The end of <ent type='EVENT'>the Cold War</ent> brought wholesale changes in other nations, but
it changed little in <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent>. In an ironic twist, confessed <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> mole <ent type='PERSON'>Aldrich Ames</ent> has raised the basic question of
whether the U.S. needs tens of thousands of agents working around the world primarily in and against friendly
countries. The U.S., he adds, still awaits a real national debate on the means and ends and costs of our national security
policies. *83 </p>

<p>The new government in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> touts itself as a revolution of the disenfranchised, a clean break from the past. But the
fascists are back and gaining ground. The anti-<ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> party has been rejected, and the big cartels have tightened their
grip on the economy. With P-2 brother <ent type='PERSON'>Berlusconi</ent> continuing to trade on <ent type='EVENT'>the Cold War</ent> fear of <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent>, the Gladio
perpetrators still unpunished, and experts in <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent> raising fears of more terrorism, *84 it looks like business as
usual in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. </p>

<div>************************* </div>

<p>Gladio's Roots </p>

<p>The policies that would evolve into Gladio began nduring <ent type='EVENT'>World War</ent> II, when U.S. anti<ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> nphobias combined
with geopolitical fears of a victorious <ent type='GPE'>USSR</ent> to create a holy war against the left. An ends justify the means atmosphere
within the U.S. government and particularly within <ent type='ORG'>the Office</ent> of Strategic Services (<ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent>), fostered the creation of Stay
Behind programs throughout <ent type='NORP'>Western</ent> Europe, ostensibly as the first line of defense in case the <ent type='NORP'>Soviets</ent> invaded. </p>

<p>But the main worry was internal. The <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent>' great fear for <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> was that <ent type='NORP'>communist</ent> partisans fighting in the
north would join with organized labor to bring the left to power. The <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> and its successors were apparently prepared to
use any measures to forestall that event, including political assassination, terrorism, and alliances with organized
crime. According to one <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> memo to <ent type='GPE'>Washington</ent>, the U.S. seemed to support a monarchist plan to use fascist killers
to commit acts of terror and blame the left. *1 U.S. involvement in <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> politics began in 1942, when the <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent>
successfully pressured the Justice Department to release imprisoned mobster <ent type='PERSON'>Charles Lucky</ent> Luciano. In return for
early freedom, Luciano agreed to make contacts with <ent type='ORG'>Mafia</ent> pals to ease the way for the U.S. invasion of <ent type='GPE'>Sicily</ent> in 1943.2 </p>

<p>The Luciano deal forged a long-standing alliance between the U.S. and the international <ent type='ORG'>Cosa Nostra</ent>. It also set a
pattern of cooperation between U.S. intelligence agencies and international criminal organizations involved in drugs and
arms traffic. The deal's godfather was <ent type='PERSON'>Earl Brennan</ent>, <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> chief for <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. Before the war, he had served in the U.S.
Embassy, using his diplomatic cover to establish contacts with Mussolini's secret police and leading fascists. *3 </p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>The Catholic Church</ent> also cooperated. U.S. ties to the <ent type='ORG'>Vatican</ent> were already substantial; one of the strongest links was a
secret fraternity, the <ent type='GPE'>Rome</ent>-based Sovereign Military Order of <ent type='GPE'>Malta</ent>, which dates back to the First Crusade. <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> head
<ent type='PERSON'>William Wild</ent> <ent type='PERSON'>Bill Donovan</ent> was a member. So were other top U.S. officials, including <ent type='PERSON'>Myron Taylor</ent>, U.S. envoy to the
<ent type='ORG'>Vatican</ent> from 1939 to 1950, and William Casey, an <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> operative who rose to <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> chief under Reagan. <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> chief
<ent type='PERSON'>Brennan</ent> had contacts as early as 1942 with <ent type='ORG'>Vatican</ent> Under-Secretary of State <ent type='PERSON'>Gian Battista Montini</ent>, who became Pope
Paul VI in 1963.4 </p>

<p>Among the notable <ent type='ORG'>OSS</ent> operatives was <ent type='PERSON'>James</ent> Jesus <ent type='PERSON'>Angleton</ent>, the legendary, paranoid, future <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent>
counter-intelligence chief. <ent type='PERSON'>Angleton</ent> built on family and business connections in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent> to lay the basis of Gladio by
forming and financing a clandestine network of right-wing <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent>s who shared his fierce gung-ho style. *5 The
paramilitary groups were filled with devout anti<ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> ready to wage war on the left. He also helped notorious
<ent type='NORP'>Nazi</ent>/fascist mass-murderers such as <ent type='PERSON'>Junio Valerio Black Prince Borghese</ent> elude justice at war's end. *6 </p>

<p>U.S. officials were worried that the <ent type='NORP'>communists</ent> and socialists would join forces after the fighting. The <ent type='NORP'>communist</ent>
takeover in <ent type='GPE'>Czechoslovakia</ent> in 1948 added to their fears. As a result, the U.S. cooked up a variety of plans to
manipulate <ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> politics. <ent type='PERSON'>Angleton</ent>, who by late 1948 had been promoted to special assistant to <ent type='ORG'>CIA</ent> director Admiral
<ent type='PERSON'>Roscoe Hillenkoetter</ent>, used the Vatican's 20000 <ent type='ORG'>Civic Committees</ent> to conduct psychological warfare against <ent type='NORP'>communist</ent>
influences, particularly in the unions. *7 </p>

<p>The newly formed <ent type='ORG'>National Security Council</ent> (<ent type='ORG'>NSC</ent>) also joined the fray: If <ent type='ORG'>the Communist Party</ent> wins the [1948]
election, the <ent type='ORG'>NSC</ent> advised, such aggression should immediately be countered by steps to extend the strategic disposition
of U.S. armed forces in <ent type='GPE'>Italy</ent>. *8 The <ent type='NORP'>Communists</ent> did not win that pivotal election (nor any subsequent ones). But that
didn't stop the U.S. from trying to destroy the left. The total cost to <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> taxpayers for such activities and various
aid programs was $4 billion from the end of the war to 1953. *9 And that was just the beginning of the U.S. assault on
<ent type='NORP'>Italian</ent> sovereignty.

</p></xml>