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This is what the State Department’s Web site says about what is commonly called the “terrorist list”:

“Countries determined by the Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism are designated pursuant to three laws: section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act. Taken together, the four main categories of sanctions resulting from designation under these authorities include restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.”

Incredibly, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are the four countries on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s list.

Israel is not on the list, despite its constant repression of the Palestinian people — it killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza just a year ago — and its long history of attacks on neighboring countries, like Lebanon. Adding it to the list would require ending Washington’s huge subsidies and arms shipments that have turned Israel into a spearhead against Arab liberation in the heart of the Middle East.

The U.S. never called apartheid South Africa terrorist, even though it employed every kind of terror to totally disenfranchise and enslave the African majority. Perhaps this is not considered “international terrorism”? But apartheid South Africa was known to also have secretly tested a nuclear weapon in the South Atlantic and frequently carried out terror attacks on neighboring countries like Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Gambia.

If any country is to be designated an international terrorist, shouldn’t it be one that has brought death and destruction to dozens of others around the world? Shouldn’t it be one that has sent hundreds of thousands of killers armed and trained to use the most destructive modern offensive weapons against people thousands of miles away, armed with only the simplest weapons for self-defense?

Isn’t it international terrorism to destroy another country’s cities, water supply, museums, schools, hospitals, bridges and communications, to kill hundreds of thousands of its people and create millions of refugees, while lying to the whole world about the reason for the attack?

It is a monumental mockery of the truth that the very country that has done all these things is the same one that thinks it can absolve itself by creating a “terrorism list.” On that list is Syria, which happens to have taken in many of the Iraqi refugees who were forced to leave their broken country after the devastating U.S. “shock and awe” bombing and subsequent military occupation.

Also on the State Department’s list is Iran, which has no nuclear weapons but is the target of a huge propaganda blitz about whether it will ever have any in the future. Meanwhile, Israel openly threatens Iran with nuclear bombs that it won’t admit having, but everyone knows are there. The Arms Control Association says Israel has up to 200 nuclear warheads. Other sources, including U.S. intelligence estimates, give even higher numbers.

Sudan, another country on the list, was the target of U.S. cruise missiles in 1998 when Bill Clinton was president. The Pentagon said it destroyed a plant making chemical weapons and linked to Osama bin Laden, but this U.S. terror attack really destroyed the country’s main pharmaceutical plant, which made medicines for the whole region. U.S. officials later admitted they probably made a “mistake,” but have never apologized or compensated Sudan for the damage. Germany’s ambassador to Sudan estimated that tens of thousands of Sudanese probably died for lack of medicine because of the plant’s destruction.

Most shocking is the Obama-Clinton administration’s inclusion of Cuba on this list. (See our article in this issue of Workers World.) Not only are there absolutely no grounds for this, but for years after its revolution, Cuba was victimized by U.S. terrorist operations. Theaters and hotels were bombed, scores of attempts were made on the lives of Cuban leaders, and a mercenary army actually invaded the country — all paid for and organized by the CIA. Five Cuban men languish in U.S. prisons today because they penetrated exile groups in Miami that had a criminal history of carrying out attacks on their country. The U.S. jailed these anti-terrorists but let go free those in the employ of the CIA who bombed Cuban cities and even a civilian airliner.

Looking for terrorists? Get a mirror, Secretary of State Clinton.