Analysis: Terrorism's Dubious 'A' List
Council on Foreign Relations
April 27, 2006
Prepared by: Eben Kaplan
At about this time each year, the U.S. State Department issues its Country Reports on Terrorism, which lists groups the United States officially regards as "Foreign Terrorist Organizations," as well as those countries deemed to be "State Sponsors" of terrorism. These lists are closely watched, as a position on (or removal from) them bears substantial political ramifications. A new edition of the report is expected this week, and terrorism experts, foreign governments, and lobbyists who try to influence the list, are awaiting the yearly results.
Criticism of recent editions of the report focused on inaccurate statistics, though a new Worldwide Incidents Tracking System, maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, has addressed that concern.
Past history suggests the terrorist list is viewed as an important policy tool at the State Department. New groups or state sponsors are added as attacks are attributed to them, and, sometimes, groups with a long history on the list can make their way off of it, as cfr.org's Michael Moran explains in this Background Q&A.
For instance, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was dropped from the terrorist list following the 1998 Good Friday Accords (BBC) and a cease-fire of several years. This year, Spain's Basque terrorists, ETA, declared their own cease-fire and might hope to be similarly removed. Spain's government opposes that possibility, however, and experts see it as unlikely before a peace accord is in place.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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