Editing Adnan Khashoggi (section)

==Links to Operation Gladio==
[[Operation Gladio]] was a clandestine NATO “stay-behind” operation during the Cold War, designed to counter a potential Soviet invasion through secret anti-communist networks across Western Europe. These networks, coordinated by the [[CIA]] and [[NATO]], were implicated in a “strategy of tension,” involving false-flag attacks to discredit leftist movements and maintain political control. While no definitive evidence directly ties Khashoggi to Operation Gladio, his profile as an international arms dealer with CIA connections and operations in Europe raises speculation about his involvement.

Khashoggi’s activities align with the murky world of Gladio’s operations. A 1991 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report controversially listed him among “Colombian narco-terrorists,” alleging he sold arms to the Medellín cartel, though this claim lacks corroboration and may reflect geopolitical smear campaigns. His connections to figures like Monzer Al-Kassar, a Syrian arms dealer linked to organized crime and implicated in Gladio-related investigations, further fuel speculation. Al-Kassar, like Khashoggi, operated out of Marbella, Spain, where both owned lavish residences, and was investigated for ties to terrorist acts, including the Lockerbie bombing and the Achille Lauro hijacking. Swiss prosecutor Laurent Kasper Ansermet’s investigation into Al-Kassar uncovered a network involving Khashoggi, suggesting possible overlap with Gladio’s clandestine financial webs. Additionally, Khashoggi’s role in funding Operation Moses in 1984, airlifting 14,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel, demonstrates his capacity to support covert operations, potentially aligning with CIA and NATO interests in the region.

However, concrete evidence of Khashoggi’s direct participation in Gladio remains elusive. The operation’s secrecy, coupled with the CIA’s denial of involvement and the questionable authenticity of documents like U.S. Army Field Manual 30-31B, complicates attribution. Italian investigations into Gladio, particularly by magistrate Felice Casson, exposed links to right-wing terrorism, but Khashoggi’s name does not appear in primary sources like Italian parliamentary reports. His association with Gladio may be inferred from his broader CIA ties and arms dealing in Europe during the Cold War, but it remains speculative.