Richard Clarke Says Cuba Not a State Sponsor of Terror

From The Havana Note: Richard Clarke: Cuba Not a State Sponsor of Terror

As Congress comes to grips with the magnitude and political implications of the devastation across Cuba from Hurricanes Fay, Gustav and Ike--it is vitally important to make sure that Washington understands something Cuba is not.

Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism and hasn't been at least since the Clinton Administration conducted a formal review of the list in the late 1990s.

Unfortunately--according to Richard Clarke, who was the U.S. Government's coordinator for counterterrorism in both the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations--domestic politics intervened and kept Cuba on the list.

Last month, I conducted a fascinating interview with Richard Clarke at his office in Virginia. Clarke will be remembered as the man who repeatedly warned President Bush and his boss, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, that al-Qaeda was about to strike. His most recent book, Your Government Failed You, talks about how our national security community is broken and what can be done to fix it.

Read the full post here.

Patrick Doherty
Director, U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative
Blogging at: The Havana Note
Deputy Director, American Strategy Program
New America Foundation

For more details on the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative, please contact Patrick Doherty at doherty@newamerica.net, 202-986-2700.

Learn More About: Patrick C. Doherty
Related Programs: Regional Policy, U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative
Topics: Cuba, Foreign Policy