But He's a Terrific Dancer. . .

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The U.S. has removed formerly “Evil” North Korea from its terrorism blacklist this past weekend after it “relented on nuclear inspection demands" (North Korea Removed From "Axis of Evil".) “Bush approved the action on Friday and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice followed suit Saturday.”

Isn’t this backwards? Shouldn’t Secretary of State Rice propose, with President Bush then approving? Or is this another Palin-McCain moment? Rice can not follow suit; she must implement a national policy.

The article continues, “The terrorism designation - now shared only by Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan - carries severe penalties.” This got Ranger thinking, and not one instance of Cuban state-sponsored terrorism came to mind in recent memory.

On Cuban-related terrorism, one might consider early airplane hijackings originating in Havana and terminating in Miami. Of course, this was not considered Terrorism as the Cuban hijackers were freedom fighters, or so we were told.

There are no other recent examples of Cuban terrorism; they have not invaded any countries, killed civilians in bunkers, tortured people on their island or conducted any extraordinary renditions.

Connecting Cuba to terrorism hangs on a thin thread. Cuba is said to offer safe haven to terrorists, as Basque and Columbian rebels have been granted political asylum there. However, are Basque (ETA) guerrillas or insurgents actually “terrorists”? Ditto their Columbian counterparts. Does insurgent = terrorist? How about a guerrilla?

Moreover, if Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism, then so, too, is our little democratic brother Iraq. The Kurdish separatists (PKK) that operate against Turkey using terror tactics are far more blatant than Cuba in any of its actions. Yet neither the Iraqi government its U.S. handlers move to control or eliminate this pocket of terrorism. Let us put Iraq on the list, too, if fairness matters (and FOX tells us it does.)

Even accepting the Cuban-protected actors as terrorists, is it not a U.S. principle to allow political asylum to people that would be executed if they returned to their homeland? Certainly the members of the EU will not allow extradition or repatriation if a person can reasonably expect to be tortured upon return.

Since this is a humanitarian policy, why is the U.S. busting Cuba’s hump? When these people are in Cuba they are not operational and are not a danger to the world.

If one has a large enough memory, the U.S. once sponsored various groups such as Alpha 66 which conducted terror operations in Cuba. Further, Cuba is one of the few nations that can boast of U.S.-sponsored efforts to assassinate their leader. When the U.S. tries to kill your leader, then that seems like terrorism to this Ranger.

Cuba should be removed from the Terror hit list and reintegrated into the world community. Isolating a country serves no useful purpose. Partisan politics is not a substitute for realistic foreign policy.