Operation Gladio: The RingMasters BBC Timewatch(1992)

Operation Gladio is a NATO-backed paramilitary network established after WW2, reportedly inspired by fear of the USSR. It was also called the "Stay behind network", since if the Red Army invaded Europe, its members would "stay behind" enemy lines to disrupt Soviet control. This was the "official" justification for the network but it's reasoning is so laughable no right minded person would believe that. The Soviet Union had suffered 27 million dead in World War 2 and was no position to "occupy europe". The more generally accepted reasoning for Operation Gladio was to keep Europe right-wing and dominated for the profit of US markets and military positioning.

Gladio was responsible for bombings, kidnappings and assassinations to such an extent that the network was publicly exposed in Italy in the 1980s and was the subject of a BBC documentary by Alan Francovich some years later.

The project was adapted in the mid 1990s as "Gladio B", using "Moslem terrorists" as a substitute enemy image for communists.