US politicians misguided on anti-terror policies

By Mitchell Blatt
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, November 19, 2015
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Your business [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]



It was inevitable that some people would resort to extreme responses to the Paris attacks. The sheer scale and cold-blooded evil of it all rightly makes a big impact on people; unfortunately, that can mean overreaction.

As predictable as it may be, still it is necessary to push back against mindless policy proposals influenced by bias or emotion. After all, if we really want to diminish the threat of terrorism, effective, long-term policies are the only answer.

Many of these misguided proposals have to do with refugees and fighting ISIS. One of the attackers reportedly entered Europe by falsely claiming refugee status. It's a real problem. Moreover, after seeing so many innocent people gunned down as they were enjoying life, ordinary people can be forgiven for being more passionate than normal.

Ridiculing Donald Trump or Marine Le Pen voters who express their views on immigration at this time -- without acknowledging the tragedy involved -- only pushes them closer to Trump or Le Pen.

However, the politicians themselves who seek to profit from this tragedy by playing to voter anger, should not be spared. They are the bigger problem.

Donald Trump was a terrible choice for America before the shocking events, and he's an even worse choice, now. After all, the massacre makes it clear that politics is not a game. It has real, possibly life-or-death, consequences, so someone like Trump cannot be put in charge of government.

Trump lied by claiming that President Obama planned on bringing 250,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S. Fellow Republican frontrunner Ben Carson did, too, warning about 200,000 refugees coming over. Obama had said the U.S. would take 10,000.

Governors of at least half a dozen states have tried to ban refugees from their territory. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (and low-ranking presidential candidate) sent a letter to the White House asking how many refugees would be coming to Louisiana. The answer: 14.

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