| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Death Squadrons: The French School. Directed and Produced by Marie-Monique Robin. In English, French, and Spanish with English subtitles. 2003; color; 60 minutes. Distributed by First Run/Icarus Films.
International influences are fundamental to an understanding of the production of state-sponsored terror because doctrines and techniques travel across boundaries and lead to accumulated knowledge for repression. While it is known that the United States influenced the approach to counterinsurgency employed by the Latin American dictatorships in the 1970s, the role of France has received less attention. The French, for example, had a critical impact in shaping the Argentine version of the national security doctrine and, thus, the counterinsurgency methods applied in the infamous "dirty war."	1
The French experience that was developed during the wars in Indochina and, especially, in Algeria emphasized the role of intelligence in counterrevolutionary warfare. This approach gave the intelligence services a central role in the repressive campaign. Torture was defended as a legitimate military device in the counterinsurgency effort. The main argument given was that military necessity demanded the use of torture in order to extract information from the enemy. Information had to be obtained rapidly in order to prevent further acts of violence. According to this rationale, the rules of war did not apply to a new type of war without clearly defined battle lines or large concentrations of combatants and weaponry. Thus the state could resort to "unconventional methods" to protect its citizens from an elusive and insidious enemy: terrorism/subversion.	. . .

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