Paris Attacks

[SillyAmerican]

The civilized world cannot let these murders go unanswered. It's already pretty clear that the strands of connections for these terrorists run through France, Belgium, Greece, and Syria.

I've heard a number of people state this weekend that Assad is key to addressing the ISIS problem. Should the U.S. back off from having a position of wanting to oust Assad, in order to allow Syrian forces into the battle against ISIS?

Also, don't these attacks bolster the argument of those who say that taking in Syrian refugees in the numbers being spoken of by the President represents a serious threat to American security?

[SillyAmerican]

Also, don't these attacks bolster the argument of those who say that taking in Syrian refugees in the numbers being spoken of by the President represents a serious threat to American security?

The three identified suspects are:
Bilal Hafdi, a Belgian-born individual who previously fought in Syria with ISIL.
Ahmed Almuhamed, a 25-year-old who entered France posing as a Syrian refugee.
Omar Ismaël Mostefai, a 29-year-old from the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes
Ibrahim and Salah Abdeslam, three Belgian-born French brothers
Samy Amimour: Born in Paris in 1987, Samy was already known to authorities because of a previous terrorism case
We must stop those dirty Belgian immigrants 👅

Sure, we don't have to worry much about Belgian immigrants here in the U.S., but given the porous nature of our southern border, there may in fact be legitimate concerns about terrorists entering in that way. However, the real issue is that if we plan on welcoming 10,000 Syrian refugees to our shores, how many of them will share the views of another "refugee", Ahmed Almuhamed? He and others like him represent the threat I'm most concerned about, and it only takes a handful of them.

[SillyAmerican]

Also, don't these attacks bolster the argument of those who say that taking in Syrian refugees in the numbers being spoken of by the President represents a serious threat to American security?

The three identified suspects are:
Bilal Hafdi, a Belgian-born individual who previously fought in Syria with ISIL.
Ahmed Almuhamed, a 25-year-old who entered France posing as a Syrian refugee.
Omar Ismaël Mostefai, a 29-year-old from the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes
Ibrahim and Salah Abdeslam, three Belgian-born French brothers
Samy Amimour: Born in Paris in 1987, Samy was already known to authorities because of a previous terrorism case
We must stop those dirty Belgian immigrants 👅

Sure, we don't have to worry much about Belgian immigrants here in the U.S., but given the porous nature of our southern border, there may in fact be legitimate concerns about terrorists entering in that way. However, the real issue is that if we plan on welcoming 10,000 Syrian refugees to our shores, how many of them will share the views of another "refugee", Ahmed Almuhamed? He and others like him represent the threat I'm most concerned about, and it only takes a handful of them.

They are feeling for their lives? Why would they support the folks that want to kill them?  Its like saying no we can't take in any Jews during the Holocaust, which we unfortunately didn't do enough of, because they might be Nazis.

No, the question is can we perform effective screening to actually distinguish those fleeing for their lives from those who wish to do us harm? Had some Jews been willing to strap on suicide vests to kill a bunch of innocent people, the situation and question would have been exactly the same. Again, the central issue is being able to distinguish a refugee from a murderer; saying that people don't need to worry about such things is just a recipe for disaster.

[SillyAmerican]

No, the question is can we perform effective screening to actually distinguish those fleeing for their lives from those who wish to do us harm? Had some Jews been willing to strap on suicide vests to kill a bunch of innocent people, the situation and question would have been exactly the same. Again, the central issue is being able to distinguish a refugee from a murderer; saying that people don't need to worry about such things is just a recipe for disaster.

You do know that the current review process for refugees takes between 12-14 months and involves like 5 different background checks (Homeland Security, FBI, etc.). Its arguably the most thorough review processes for refugees in the world. It's not like folks are going to show up tomorrow and get processed by Thanksgiving.  

You do know that FBI director James Comey has said that the federal government does not have the ability to conduct thorough background checks on all of the 10,000 Syrian refugees that the Obama administration says will be allowed to come to the U.S.

“We can only query against that which we have collected. And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them.”

You do know that Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul has warned that the U.S. does not have the systems in place through Homeland Security or the FBI to properly vet refugees coming from the terrorism hotspots of Syria and Iraq.

“The President wants to surge thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States, in spite of consistent intelligence community and federal law enforcement warnings that we do not have the intelligence needed to vet individuals from the conflict zone. We also know that ISIS wants to use refugee routes as cover to sneak operatives into the West. I implore the President to consult with Congress before taking any drastic action and to level with the American people about the very real security challenges we face. It is heart-wrenching to watch innocent Syrians fleeing the violence in their country, and we can do more to help. But the best way to solve this crisis is at the source. The President needs to develop a real strategy for victory to defeat ISIS and remove Assad from power, which is the root cause of the problem. This is the culmination of a failed foreign policy to deal with the threats and now we have a humanitarian crisis on our hands."

What I am simply suggesting is that we proceed with caution, especially given the little we know about what transpired leading up to the attacks in Paris. Oh, and my concern seems to be shared by some in the country, as 15 states have already said they will NOT be accepting Syrian refugees, and I believe that number will only grow.

[SillyAmerican]

Luckily what the states think doesn't matter as federal law/Supreme Court precedent state that the President has full authority over refugee policy.

True enough. Still, it will be very interesting if a majority of states go on record as being against this policy, and the president (acting more like a king every day) decides to simply thumb his nose at the American people and go about doing what he feels is best.

[SillyAmerican]

I don't know if I agree with Obama's decision but that's a nature of leadership. That's why we live in a representative democracy, not a direct democracy.

Yes, but I would hope that in a representative democracy such as ours, the president would not feel justified in operating in a vacuum.

For the record, as of this date, 23 state governors have stated that they either do not want or will actively work to try to prohibit Syrian refugees from settling in their state:

Alabama	Illinois	Massachusetts	Oklahoma
Arizona	Indiana	Mississippi	South Carolina
Arkansas	Iowa	Nebraska	Tennessee
Florida	Kansas	New Hampshire	Texas
Georgia	Louisiana	North Carolina	Wisconsin
Idaho	Maine	Ohio

_{Source: USA Today}