Does Pence make sense? Does he honor Hoosiers or again make us look like bigots? Let’s consult the facts, not our fears. Since 9/ll only some 37 Americans have been killed by Islamists– fewer than by other terrorists–while 90 thousand Americans have been murdered, many with firearms. Who’s more dangerous? Were Islamists looking to infiltrate our borders, there are many quicker and easier ways, so Syrian refugees, many of them Christian or minorities, are hardly a significant source of danger. Alas, there are enough extremists already living here. America benefited from Jewish refugees in Hitler’s time, and can again benefit from new talents and viewpoints.

Some candidates want to exclude Muslims only. This is un-American. Such anti-Muslim discrimination, Islamophobia, gives credence to the ISIL propaganda according to which we Westerners are opposing Islam. Whatever our beliefs, we need the cooperation of all groups to alert the police about dangerous radicals, Islamists among them. The great majority of Muslims oppose Islamist distortions of their religion, as their leaders have repeatedly told us. We need to stand with them.

Mr. Obama decided not to provide more arms to the moderate Syrian rebels precisely because he was rightly concerned that these weapons might well fall into the hands of ISIS.

The current chaos in Iraq, Syria, and beyond is a consequence of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which Hillary Clinton supported and Barack Obama opposed.

In its first decree, the American occupation ordered that all public sector employees affiliated with the Ba’ath Party were to be removed from their positions and to be banned from any future employment in the public sector. This effectively disenfranchised huge numbers of Iraq’s Sunnis, who were the core of the old regime. The new government was Shiite and sectarian. Until these deeper political issues are addressed, ISIS will find support even among those who deplore its brutality.

It is not President Obama, but the Neoconservatives who planned the invasion of Iraq before the September 11th attacks, whom Hillary Clinton should be blaming. She might add a word of remorse for her own role.

Sources:

The Atlantic

The Guardian

Mondoweiss

On De-Ba’athification

Slate

The Nation