The official list of "state sponsors of terrorism:"
- Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are the countries considered state sponsors of terrorism
- President George W. Bush ordered North Korea removed from the list on June 27, 2008 (read the story) and again on October 11, 2008 (read that story).
The official word on those countries that are "state sponsors of terrorism: "Designation (as a state sponsor of terrorism)... also implicates other sanctions (and) laws that penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with state sponsors."
Countries which have been removed from the official list of "state sponsors of terrorism:" Iraq, Libya, North Korea and South Yemen.
Before You Travel to a Country Considered a State Sponsor of Terrorism
Read, read, and read some more (carefully, and from lots of sources, including but not only the US government) before you make a decision to travel to countries on any of these lists, whether of travel alerts, travel warnings, or "state sponsors of terrorism." Whether they're truly unsafe or not, you may be in for a major hassle, one way or the other -- which isn't to say the travel may not be worth it.
About Cuba Travel
Cuba, unfortunately, is another story -- the Bush administration virtually forbade you to go under most circumstances and *would* make your life miserable if you went anyway. That silly state of affairs may improve under the Obama administration (read more about legislation aimed at lifting the Cuba travel ban), but you cannot travel legally to Cuba yet except under certain conditions.Actually, in theory, a US citizen can travel to Cuba but, because a trade embargo exists between Cuba and the US, you can't technically spend a single cent that will "benefit" Cuba, like paying for the cab from the Cuban airport or even paying normal taxes/fees on a flight, since the money will be used by the airline as part of operating costs, one of which would be paying fees to the Cuban aiport in order to land and so forth; the embargo is why Cuban cigars are illegal in the US, as another for-instance.
And if you do "benefit" Cuba by traveling to Cuba without permission from the US government and you get caught by the US government, you're very likely to be fined. Witness a typical government overreaction to student travel to Cuba (in this case, happened before a further tightening of Cuba student travel restrictions in 2004 by the Bush administration):
Students are in one of the very few groups which have traditionally been allowed to travel to Cuba during the 40+ years of the Cuba trade embargo, but the Bush administration very nearly managed to completely shut even student travel to Cuba down completely. Fortunately, voices of reason are now being heard, and the ludicrous existing restrictions on Cuba student travel will hopefully ease. In the meantime, learn more about student travel to Cuba in recent years:
- Flordia Bill Cuts Cuba Travel for Students
- Florida Sued Over Cuba Student Travel Bill
- Florida Judge: Ban on Cuba Student Travel Stands
- Manhattan Students Take Spring Break Trip to Cuba
Tony Wheeler / Lonely Planet on the Axis of Evil
At last year's WYSTC in Australia, a highlight for me was Tony Wheeler's presentation: the Lonely Planet founder, who was getting ready to publish "Bad Lands - A Tourist on the Axis of Evil," remarked that on hearing about President Bush's Axis of Evil choices for nations most deserving the badness designation, his thought was, "I've got to go there." And thus the book.Whether or not you've the cojones to go where your government says you mustn't, you'll enjoy the read (one of our picks for Best Backpacker Books 2007).
