The State Department's Terrorism List: Setting the Record Straight

(Photo form Shadow Spear)

From Counter Terrorism Blog:

The Los Angles Times opinion web side today carried a response I wrote to an op-ed last week that badly distorted the purpose of the State Department’s list of countries that support international terrorism.

That op-ed piece by a New York writer, Lionel Beeher, claimed that the formal designation list exists “solely to punish our enemies.” This is an absurd statement and reflects ignorance and distortion of what has often been a useful counterterrorism tool.

Having been involved in the creation of the list as a Congressional staff member and then in its implementation while serving in the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, I felt the op-ed required an effort to set the record straight. The following description and history of the list might be useful to others.

The LA Times apparently has a policy of not carrying in the print edition op-eds that respond to previously printed op-eds, but they agreed to carry a response in their online “Blowback” column they established for such responses. The text follows.

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