There is something otherworldly about the President of the United States placing the desires of the dispossessed people of Syria ahead of the safety and security of the people of the United States.
As usual, President Obama makes it an “either, or” question. Either you let in thousands of people, more than 70 percent of whom are men without women and children, from the heart of the Jihadist Middle East under the usual vetting or be a coldhearted bigot. It’s a false choice that betrays a narrow-minded dedication to an ideology that has not served him, the U.S. or the free world well for the past seven years.
Western Civilization is in a lot of trouble these days and Obama bears much responsibility for it, including the disaster that has been the U.S. policy on Syria, which, in turn, is largely responsible for the creation of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Germany, which first placed a welcome mat out for the refugees, has now tightened its border security as projections show a million people might arrive there within a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, Hungary, the Netherlands and Denmark are trying to keep the migrating population away. Hungarians put up a temporary fence of razor wire and said its army would respond if necessary. Danes are publishing advertisements in Middle Eastern newspapers asserting that potential refugees weren’t welcome in Denmark.
There is a lot of absurdity going on now. We don’t think we can or should register adherents to Islam, similar to the first steps Hitler took against his Jewish population, as Donald Trump suggested might be considered. But we do need a pause in accepting Middle Eastern immigrants from an area under the influence of people that even the Obama administration now admits we are prosecuting a war against. Granted it is a poorly orchestrated war but the acknowledgement of it is actually a step forward with this administration.
We need to take things slowly and work out how to make sure we are not taking in people who want to harm this country. If we can’t be reasonably sure, we should not take them in. It is no more complicated than that.
Meanwhile, as much angst is being voiced about Muslims fleeing Syria, the American government seems downright oblivious to the fate of Christians living on territory controlled by the Islamic State. Some of the oldest Christian communities in the world have been erased and people slaughtered. There is another effort to eliminate people because of who they are and what they believe. Again they are Jews as well as Christians. When the Nazis did this, it was called the Holocaust. After we found concentration camps, we swore we’d never again let such things happen again. Yet it’s happening.
Pretend it’s 1942 and you know what is going on in Germany. Whatever you would have demanded be done by your country then, you are morally obliged to demand now.