Attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] at six venues in Paris Nov. 13 killing 130, injuring hundreds more raised grave concerns about President Barack Obama’s plan to admit some 10,000 Syrians into the U.S. Newly minted House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wasted no time sponsoring and passing a bill Nov. 19 to limit the number of Syrians accepted for U.S. U.S. immigration agencies insist the Syrians seeking asylum have been carefully screened over at least two years, answering the objections raised by 189-137 House members, with 47 Democrats backing the legislation, expressing concerns about U.S. national security. Front-runner GOP presidential candidate billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump called the White House plan a “Trojan Horse,” potentially threatening U.S. national security, endangering the homeland at a time of increased national risk.
Mocking the risk to U.S. national security, Barack ripped House members for their xenophobic reaction to the Paris attacks. “Apparently, they’re scared of orphans and widows coming into the United States of America,” Obama told the press visiting Manila, Philippines. Overreacting to House efforts to add more vetting to the asylum process for Syrian refugees, Obama couldn’t button his lip. “I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL [ISIS] than some of the rhetoric that’s coming out here in the course of this debate,” said Barack, raising red flags. No president is in a position to talk about what helps or hinders terrorist groups, certainly not a terrorist group Obama let run wild since ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011. Talking about the Statue of Liberty or the U.S. tradition of welcoming refugees is one thing. Opining about terrorist recruitment is beyond Obama’s pay grade.
Forcefully rebuking the House, Obama doesn’t get why the country is worried about ISIS terrorism washing onto American soil. CIA Director John Brennan raised the possibility of Islamic terrorism on American streets. “I would anticipate that this is not the only operation that ISIL has in the pipeline,” Brennan said Nov. 16. What makes the country nervous is the Obama administration’s feckless approach toward terrorism. When 39-year-old Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan struck a Fort Hood, Texas deployment center Nov. 5, 2009, it took the White House weeks to admit it was Islamic terrorism. “We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic,” Barack said about the House bill. No one in the House has panicked, only responded to published threats by ISIS promising to attack the U.S. and other European targets.
Speaking to NBC News last night in Newton, Iowa, Trump expressed openness to implementing a system for tracking Muslims in the U.S. Saying he “would certainly implement” a lawful surveillance program. “I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,” said Trump, prompting his GOP and Democratic critics to pile on. Sinking GOP candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush pounced on the chance to score points. “You talk about internment, you talk about closing mosques, you talk about registering people. That’s just plain wrong. “I don’t care about campaigns,” said Bush, trying to paint Trump as a right wing extremist. Trump’s concerns about Syrian refugees stem from Obama’s feckless approach to counter-terrorism, harking back to the ‘90s when former President Bill Clinton didn’t do enough to stop Osama bin Laden from destroying the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001.
Running for office in 2008, Obama had plenty of criticism for former President George W. Bush. Bush made many mistakes, including the Iraq War, but he tried to establish a pre-emptive counter-terrorism policy where the U.S. wouldn’t sit on its hands while terrorists plotted the next attack. Letting ISIS run wild for years led to the Paris attacks or the increased threat level on the U.S. and other European countries. Ripping Trump for seeking to monitor Muslims, Ibrahim Cooper, national spokesman for the Council on Islamic Relations, compared Trump’s plan to pre-war Nazi Germany. Surely Cooper knows that the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, and at other times over a 20-plus-year history. When Bush signed the Patriot Act into law Oct. 26, 2001, the nation had to accept egregious intelligence and law enforcement failures on Sept. 11, leaving the homeland vulnerable to terrorism.
GOP and Democratic candidates ripping Trump’s suggestions for doing more to protect the homeland should think twice. “This is shocking rhetoric,” Democratic front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Tweeted. “It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country,” said Hillary, in response to Trump’s suggestion of more Muslim monitoring. Most counter-terrorism experts agree that the pre-Sept. 11 approach to counter-terrorism left the nation vulnerable to Sept. 11. Hillary knows better than most her husband’s, former President Bill Clinton, problems in stopping Bin Laden’s 20-year rampage culminating in Sept. 11. Letting ISIS run wild in Iraq and Syria blew up on Russia and France. Russian President Vladimr Putin got the message after admitting ISIS blew up Russian Metrojet Oct. 31: Destroy ISIS for face more terrorist attacks.
