State Of Fear Summary

State of Fear, The Truth about Terrorism It took a while to process this movie and understand the complex relationships between counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, civilians, and terrorists groups. State of Fear connects topics we’ve discussed, since the beginning of the semester, to explain the challenges in defining terrorism and removing terrorism within a society. Learning the history and story of Guzman was fascinating and disturbing because of his effectiveness in manipulating people to join his cause. This ties into our class discussions on defining terrorism, as his followers saw this “calling” as the way to cleanse society of its evil. Guzman’s focus on intimidation and murder, in a country that had forgotten its rural population, was the ultimate tool for spreading his message. As a leader, he found a ways to pull more moderates into this army through force or ideology. This movie helped me understand the challenge governments’ face when fighting terrorism and insurgency- choosing between removing the leader and dismantling the leader’s support base. It seems though, that the Government
It seems that the government played into Guzman’s trap. As the commentator notes, Guzman knew the government would use the military. Civilians and insurgents all received the same treatment from the military, which exacerbated the human rights violations. The cost –benefit structure for the terrorist organizations is different from the government, so the government’s strategy of instilling fear in civilians made conditions worse for those living in rural areas. Shining path used prisons, a method of the military to discourage terrorism, as a recruitment tool and an avenue to mobilize. I found it interesting that the government was jailing people to establish its dominance and power, but this strategy was more beneficial to Guzman’s