Want to know about a UK covert operation (just declassified)? [SHORT THREAD]
It’s 1966 and Gibraltar is soon to hold a referendum on its sovereignty
UK knows it will win but uses #disinformation to punish Spain for forcing the ref
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It’s 1966 and Gibraltar is soon to hold a referendum on its sovereignty
UK knows it will win but uses #disinformation to punish Spain for forcing the ref
1/5
First,
created a fake group: the Front for the Liberation of the Spanish Maghreb.
It delivered a (fake?) petition to the UN calling out Spanish colonialism in Morocco
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It delivered a (fake?) petition to the UN calling out Spanish colonialism in Morocco
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Next, it created another fake group: the Organisation for the Expulsion of the Spanish Colonialists
Invoking “God’s will”, it warned
: “we Arabs ... will fight with all our strength and with every weapon we can lay our hands on.”
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Invoking “God’s will”, it warned

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Next, it attacked the UN official looking into decolonisation.
Another(!) fake group created by
attacked him as a ‘a friend of the Spanish fascist hyenas’ and rallied “WE MUST RID THE UN OF THIS MERCENARY HIRELING OF FASCIST COLONIALISM!!”
(a month later he was gone)
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Another(!) fake group created by

(a month later he was gone)
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Finally,
sent more black propaganda via its fake Organisation for the Expulsion of the Spanish Colonialists
It warned
: “we will never abandon the struggle until the destruction of the last imperial centre ... and until the last Spanish dog has left”
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It warned

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