A write-up on Egyptian Streets suggests Daesh’s aim may be to promote the idea of a “West vs Islam” conflict, thus causing Syrian refugees to side with them after facing persecution at the hands of Europeans. More than 50 percent of Syrian refugees who have been referred to the USA by UNHCR are children – children like 11-year-old Ali, whose small body was mangled in 2012 by the same barrel bomb that killed his younger sister, 14-year-old Khamleen, who was bright, chatty, and obsessed with Korean pop music, and 11-year-old Radwan, who worked 12 hours a day, six days a week at a tailor’s workshop to provide for his widowed mother.
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Europe’s open-borders policy and the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war certainly must be considered factors in the group’s ferocious targeting of Paris on Friday.
A possibly forged passport was found next to the man’s body at the Stade de France sports stadium attack site Friday, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday the attacker’s fingerprints matched those of the migrant who’d reached the Greek island of Leros October 3.
Across Europe, the divide is deepening between those who see the massive migrant flow as a potential security threat that should be shut down, and those who focus on refugees as being the victims of extremism needing protection.
GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson said Syrian refugees should not be brought to the United States because it is too easy for jihadis, intent on “wreaking havoc in this country”, to embed with them.
“The latest statements made by a few European countries regarding the closing the borders to the refugees are really worrisome”, he said. Because there’s no way to background check someone that is coming from Syria… “Are we going to play their game for them?” But counter-terrorism expert Dr. Matthew Levitt said there’s only about two thousand Syrian refugees now in the USA and the vetting process is thorough; it can take anywhre between 12 to 18 months. Other states that seem to have changed their policies and will no longer be allowing refugees to settle within their borders include OH, North Carolina, Alabama, Kansas, Florida, Massachusetts, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Arkansas.
Citing lax controls, Poland’s incoming Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said yesterday on public television that Syrian refugees – rather than “sipping coffee” on Berlin’s iconic Unter den Linden Avenue or in other European cities – could be trained to form an army and returned to “liberate” their homeland, AFP reports.
But we should remind MPs that slamming the door shut doesn’t help. President Barack Obama announced that in fiscal year 2016 (through September 30), the United States would accept at least 10,000 refugees from Syria. Our nations can welcome refugees who are desperately seeking safety and ensure our own security. “We can and must do both”. “We have a process in place, a pretty thorough vetting process”, said Sen.
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An extra 1,500 soldiers were mobilised to reinforce police in Paris on Saturday, while European governments held emergency talks to review their security arrangements.
