Cuba is hardly a 'state sponsor of terror'

[Catherina]

Cuba is hardly a 'state sponsor of terror'

The US government continues to put Cuba on its international terrorism list because of flawed rationale and historical prejudice

Keith Bolender
Keith Bolender
guardian.co.uk, Friday 31 May 2013 17.30 BST

While an attentive US audience watched President Obama outline his plan to wind down America's long war on terror last week, officials in Havana were shaking their heads in bewilderment and anger over how the issue of terrorism continues to be cynically manipulated against the island nation. What raised their ire was the recent announcement that Cuba would remain on the State Department's controversial list of states that sponsor terrorism.

...

The so-called terrorism against Cuba began shortly after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959. In the early 1960s a covert CIA program known as Operation Mongoose led to the killing of teachers, farmers, government officials and the destruction of agricultural and non-military industrial targets. Other incidents involved attacks on villages, biological terrorism including the introduction of Dengue 2 that resulted in the deaths of more than 100 children in 1981, and a 1997 bombing campaign against tourist facilities in Havana and Varadero that killed Canadian-Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo and injured dozens.

...

While Cuba's status as a state sponsor of terrorism remains unchanged, other countries that might be considered more deserving, such as North Korea and Pakistan, aren't on the list. What makes it all the more galling for the Castro government are the arguments the United States has advanced to justify Cuba's inclusion – the most egregious stemming from the charge Cuba was not sufficiently supportive of the US war on terror or the invasion of Iraq, and was unwilling to help track or seize assets allegedly held by terrorists. A 2004 State Department report asserted that "Cuba continued to actively oppose the US-led coalition prosecuting the global war on terrorism." In reality, the Cuban side has consistently denounced all forms of terrorism, including the recent Boston Marathon bombings that brought quick condolences from the island leadership.

...

There is no legitimate reason to use the arbitrary terrorism list as a political weapon against Cuba. To continue to do so simply exposes the State Department to charges of hypocrisy and manipulation of a serious threat based solely on ideological differences. Most importantly, it gives insult to all those who have been actual victims of terrorism.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/31/cuba-us-terror-sponsors-list

[idwiyo]

1. K&R

[RC]

2. The way things are going, Cuba will become the light of the world in Freedom

We will be far down the list of free countries.

[Socialistlemur]

3. Cuba's government is a dictatorship

Cuba will lead in freedom when the current regime falls, and only if its replaced by a fully democratic government which respects human rights. Something like say Norway. Cuba has a long way to get there.

[RC]

4. And which way are we going?

Cuba's has better human rights than we do at the moment.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Well worth the time reading this ethical article.

What the U.S, has done to terrorize Cubans and to severely cripple their way of life in Cuba seems to have escaped the US public altogether. Clearly our corporate media wouldn't DREAM of sharing any of the facts of this ugly history, and most of it has been conducted convertly, since it's ALL underhanded and despicable, not to mention dirty and deadly.

Great to know people like the author by god know about it, and don't mind sharing that information with the rest of the world bothering to take the time to read.

Great last paragraph.

Thank you.