Yes, the cycles of warfare and despotism in the Middle East have been a breeding ground for beliefs that motivate people to do horrible deeds. But no one seems to have the knowledge or will to take the steps needed to pacify and establish legitimate governments in the region.

Yes, many of the nation’s Governors have warned, and Federal authorities know, resettling refugees from war-torn regions to the United States is risky. But traditions, laws, and humanitarian instincts, here and elsewhere, mean that restrictive immigration policies are not likely to get very far, no matter how much anxious publics want them.

In any case, such policies would create a false sense of security. For the attacks in Paris, as well as those recently in the United States, were largely the work of home-grown extremists, legal residents, part of the societies in which they lived. However, they used the liberal values these countries embrace – freedom of speech, religion, privacy rights, and the like – to pursue decidedly illiberal ends.

Neither military action abroad nor tougher immigration rules at home will prevent that. If they want to avoid a repeat of what happened in Paris, the United States, France and other countries will once again have to confront the challenge of deciding how much freedom more security is worth.

Sources

Bret Stephens, “The Islamist Tantrum,” The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2015.

Michael Schmidt et. al., “ U. S. Investigators Struggle to Track Homegrown ISIS Suspects,” The New York Times, November 19, 2015.