TerrorismValue of list of state sponsors of terrorism questioned
The U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, created in 1979, originally included Libya, Iraq, South Yemen, and Syria. Cuba was added in 1982, Iran in 1984, North Korea in 1988, and Sudan in 1993. The list currently contains four countries — Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Experts question the value of the list, since the four countries listed are not the only countries that currently support, engage in, or ignore acts of terrorism, according to news reports from the State Department, and the inclusion of Cuba has more to do with U.S. domestic politics than Cuba’s current policies, as the State Department’s 2012 Country Report on Terrorismconcluded that “There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups.”
The U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, created in 1979, originally included Libya, Iraq, South Yemen, and Syria. Cuba was added in 1982, Iran in 1984, North Korea in 1988, and Sudan in 1993.
The list currently contains four countries — Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.
The designation of a country as a state-sponsor of terrorism designation comes with sanctions, including a ban on arms-related exports and sales, limitations on economic assistance, and travel restrictions on the leaders of the state.
Al Jazeera notes that the State Department issues the reports on the charges that lead to the designation, and the Department of Commerce manages the sanctions, while the Department of Treasury imposes the penalties to American citizens and firms who violate the sanctions.
“Many of these countries have been on the list since the ’90s or earlier,” said David Gewirtz, executive director of the US Strategic Perspective Initiative and a cyber-warfare adviser for the International Association of Counterterrorism & Security Professionals. “Geopolitics changes on a weekly, if not daily, basis — not on a multi-decade basis.”
The four countries listed are not the only countries that currently support, engage in, or ignore acts of terrorism, according to news reports from the State Department, but experts agree that the four countries listed are ones from which the United States can most easily disengage without repercussions. “Countries that wind up on that list are countries we don’t like,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. “Other countries and outside powers support terrorism, and objectively speaking are terrorists, and the ones we don’t like are on the list, and the ones we’re allied with are not on the list. It’s all about double standards.”
A spokesperson at the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism notes that a country may be removed from the list when there has been either a fundamental shift in the leadership and policies of the government concerned, with the new leaders having no history or intention of committing terrorist acts, or the existing government has not provided support for terrorism in the previous six-month period and has provided assurances it will not do so in the future.
“Putting a country on the list is like flicking a switch that determines U.S. behavior towards a nation. It’s coded into the DNA of how we do our commerce in regards to these countries,” said Gewirtz. “It’s like anything else in government: Once you do it, it’s difficult to undo.”
Experts question whether the list is still useful since many sponsors of terrorism are not nation states but private groups and individuals. The Specially Designated Nationals list issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control may be more effective since it imposes sanctions directly on individuals or groups.
The State Sponsors of Terrorism list does play a role in negotiations, though. In the case of Iran, “evidentially, their listing will be a bargaining chip, where we take them off as part of process of alleviating sanctions against Iran in exchange for what we’re asking for in the nuclear agenda,” Oppenheimer said.
