In his latest salvo on Syrian refugees, President Obama declared they pose no more threat to the United States than tourists. While at the APEC Conference in Manila, Obama stated, “The idea that somehow they pose a more significant threat than all the tourists who pour into the United States every single day just doesn’t jive with reality.”
Turkish authorities evidently disagree with Obama’s assessment. Yesterday, they arrested eight people affiliated with ISIS posing as Syrian refugees who had just flown into Istanbul from Casablanca. I wonder if any of them said, “We’ll always have Paris.” These aren’t exactly your average tourists.
Then again some tourists can be dangerous. After all, 14 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were in this country on tourist visas.
The bottom line is that President Obama is doing a lot of talking about Syrian refugees. But nothing he says is inspiring confidence or reassurance in an anxious nation.