Such intensive work required not only a slave labor force but a strong-arm government that could benefit from the production of narcotics. Before the outbreak of the Vietnam War, Turkey was an important source of opium in Europe and the United States. But in 1967 the Turkish government announced its plans to abolish opium production. Within a matter of months, the number of Turkish provinces producing poppies declined from twenty-one to four. The total ban was imposed in 1972.40 The elite CIA and US State Department officials in charge of Operation Gladio were at their wits’ end. The threat of
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