Eugene Robinson Gets it Wrong on Cuba

Eugene makes the same mistake that much of the loony right does: he seems to think that all terror originates with Islamic radicals when all terrorism is not Islamic in origin. Cuba still harbors terror suspects from ETA, FARC, ELN, and up until 2004 they had harbored members of the IRA who were training FARC in use of explosives.

In his first pop quiz of the decade Eugene gets the answer wrong on his own test. He states that Cuba doesn’t belong on the list of nations where passengers must undergo extra screening to fly to the US. While relations with Cuba are getting better and there are several signs of good intent in the regime lately, it’s still an origination point that we shouldn’t fully trust.

Eugene makes the same mistake that the loonier extremes of right does: he seems to think that all terror originates with Islamic radicals when all terrorism is not Islamic in origin. Cuba still harbors terror suspects from ETA, FARC, ELN, and up until 2004 they had harbored members of the IRA who were training FARC in use of explosives.(here’s a PDF from an ’04 report to Congress that examines both sides of the issues)

Above and beyond that there have been more airline hijackings from Cuba than anywhere else in the world, and some are relatively recent (2007.)

My hope is that Cuba moves swiftly to democracy and relations with all countries, and they have signed 12 international terror agreements. That said they are still a dictatorship and could change in an eyeblink on the whim of single person. So I have zero grief with the extra screening and think it’s a necessary precaution when considering the previous history.

Here’s a recent blog update on Cuba’s status and the stance of the Obama administration. (note: linking to this story does not mean I agree with the views of the blog’s author)

State Department on the designation of Cuba as state sponsor of terrorism.