All refugees are not our enemies
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What do we know for sure about the estimated 800,000 refugees, mainly from Syria, who have traveled to western Europe?
They hate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has killed 250,000 of their friends and relatives. And, they hate ISIS, which is like Assad on steroids. We also know the situation is chaotic.
To protect ourselves, what should the West do? It is an almost overwhelming number of people to handle, even if there were no worries about terrorism. Thousands are already in western Europe or en route. Who is in the best position to separate out the people who want to kill us from the people who just want to escape from being killed? I suggest it’s the refugees themselves.
If there are 1,000 trained terrorists in that avalanche of people, then there are 799,000 pairs of eyes and ears all around them to notice their attitudes, actions, extra resources, friendships and other differences. We should have billboards, tear-off posters, flyers, notices in mosques and aid stations, etc., so that those 799,000 refugees who hate Assad and ISIS know what to do with any information that could help.
In the meantime, we should continue to show our best side and handle the crisis as the humanitarian emergency that it is. The 799,000 are already motivated to fight Assad and ISIS and help us. The more frustration for the refugees, the more of those eyes and ears will close.
Acting like all the refugees are the enemy is the dumbest response.
Gerard H. Weiss
Washington