Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Italian
government officials agree that a stay-behind network called Operation
Gladio had been formed against the contingency of a Warsaw Pact invasion
of Italy, but not terminated until 1990. It is disputed, however, if
this network was involved in a series of "false flag" fascist terrorist
actions in Italy that were blamed on the "Red Brigades" and other
Left-wing political groups in an attempt to politically discredit the
Italian Left wing. When Venetian magistrate Felice Casson, while
investigating a 1970s car bombing in Peteano, uncovers references to
Gladio while searching through files at SISMI, the Italian intelligence
service. Time magazine quotes Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti admits
Gladio existed due to the climate of the times and chided the opposition
for "insinuating suspicions."