As the GOP candidate field blusters and fulminates over allowing war torn Syrian refugees into this country, several points need to be borne in mind as also elucidated by CT Governor Dannell Malloy on Chris Hayes "All In' last night:
1- The vetting process to screen entrants is the most rigorous in the world, taking up to 18-24 months to complete and is performed by the National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI Terrorist Screening Center. . As an example, Malloy cited the stats of 23,000 Syrian refugees who had originally applied some four years ago, 7,000 were subsequently accepted and 2,300 have only now been settled in states across the nation, including FLA, GA, AL
2- Three fourths of the refugees are women and children. Barely 2 percent of those finally allowed entrance are young males.
3. Many of the refugees had actually assisted the U.S. in gathering intelligence (humint) and now would be slaughtered by ISIS if left behind.
4. It is nuts and absurd to fret about the odd chance of some radical getting through the exhaustive screening process and getting a Kalashnikov when at the same time the GOP and NRA is adamantly opposed to universal background checks.
In respect to (4) as Gov. Malloy pointed out last night:
"From 2004 through 2014 according to the GAO report, we sold 2,042 guns to people who are on the terrorism watch list. Why? Because the NRA has refused to allow people who are on the watch list as ineligible to buy guns in the United States. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
Indeed, and as Malloy added,
"in the next year 30,000 Americans are going to die from gun violence and those same governors that came out today to say they wouldn't take refugees are the same governors who oppose common sense gun control laws in America. Why don't we have universal background checks?"
Good question! And yet the same Repuke guvs are going to cry and whine about a possible Syrian baby being strapped with an explosive device - while letting 30,000 ordinary Americans get slaughtered from the lack of adequate gun regulation, because they don't want to upset the NRA.
In fact, those 2,000 -odd Syrian refugees have been living in this country for the past year or so even as more than 200 people - innocents - have been slaughtered in mass murder gun incidents because the GOP wants to protect its cash flows, contributions from the NRA.
If you're going to preach about "being safe, not sorry" you at least need to make sure you're being consistent and that includes gun regulation. Incredibly the GOOP brigade won't even allow the sale of smart guns (which can only fire if the proper owner is ID'd) because their NRA overlords don't want them around.
All this is background to why the sane citizen ought to turn a deaf ear to all the screeching and howling erupting from the GOP presidential candidate field - and also the 30-odd Repuke gubernators who now have also said they won't accept these refugees.
Fortunately, not all states are so blinkered and devoid of humanity. As reported in yesterday's Denver Post (p. 9A, 'Colorado Will Accept Refugees') Colorado will not join the states whose governors are asking to block the White House from sending in Syrian refugees. (DO any of these halfwits even know how many hundreds may already be residing in their states?)
Of course, it's all huff and puff because the White House has no intention of blocking refugee processing - given the length of time it takes - and how our nation takes fewer than any other country in the world. (The GOP idiots, like Ted Cruz, are also off in saying no Muslim nations take them in. Well, Lebanon has nearly 1.2 million among its 4 million population, and Turkey has almost 2 million. But what would you expect from an ignorant demagogue like Canuck Ted?)
As Gov. John Hickenlooper put it, quoted in the piece:
"Our first priority remains the safety of our residents. We will work with the federal government and Homeland Security to ensure the national verification process for refugees is as stringent as possible. We can protect our security and provide a place where the world's most vulnerable can rebuild their lives."
Meanwhile, the Denver Post editorial in the same edition, decried the reaction of the Republican fear mongers - all out to get the panties of their base wet out of trepidation that "Obummer" will let "bad guys" in when they are much more likely to get shot by an American who bought an AR-15 via a straw purchase or at a gun show. Thanks to their precious NRA militating again sane gun regulations.
The Post editorial ('A Panic Attack on Syrian Refugees') observed:
"The idea that this nation of more than 300 million people can't find a home for 10,000 refugees that the Obama administration has pledged to accept - and do a thorough job of screening them - is difficult to accept. How about starting with families with children?"
The Post went on to commend Gov. Hickenlooper for his acceptance while also pointing out:
"The U.S. refugee process is nothing like the seemingly helter skelter dash for the borders that the world has witnessed in Europe in recent months."
The Post also tweaked the noses of the Reich wing critics by noting that several of the terrorists in Paris were French nationals, not outsiders at all. Also, the mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was a Belgian national and evidently - according to news this a.m. - was captured in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis last night in a gun battle lasting 90 minutes.
As the Post's editorial accurately noted:
"Life will never be risk free and terrorism is a possibility so long as radical Islam remains a potent force."
This is also why the new bill Paul Ryan and Co. are proposing, which would mandate any screening done "certify the refugee is not a security threat" is total bollocks. It is as daft in its own way as a gun dealer certifying under some (existing) state law that the purchaser of a mint AK-47 would never use it in a mass murder. You simply cannot legislate risks to zero and the GOP's clowns know that -showing it's a basic political play - which, of course, they deny.
I'd just add that the loss of future lives in these United States is much more likely to come from unregulated guns in the hands of the wrong people, as opposed to Syrian refugee babies strapped with IEDs as the GOOPrs fear.
Never mind, Ryan and his howling monkey chorus of stooges will likely try to shut down the government if they can't get their way.
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