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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Refugee Expert: ISIS at Root of Crisis

American and European politicians are wasting time trying to keep Syrian refugees out of their countries instead of focusing on the real problem, ISIS, says former Clinton administration official Amed Khan.

Khan, now president of New York-based private investment company Paradigm Global Group, is a seasoned veteran of refugee crises. A former official at the Peace Corps, he was Chief Administrator for the International Rescue Committee relief efforts for Rwandan and Burundi refugees in Tanzania.

"The stories that you get from individuals, they boggle the mind," Khan said. "A woman, whose two adult sons were killed by ISIS, told me yesterday that she was in her kitchen frying something — and she said ISIS, when they get bored, they just start firing."

"She got hit in the hip by a bullet. So, she picked up her granddaughter and said: 'You know, we have been in this for four years. We have lost everything, let's get out of here.'"

About 50 percent of the refugees he's seen have been women and children, Khan said, and most don't want to come to the United States.

They do, however, want the U.S. and its allies to destroy ISIS and "finish the war" that started in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq.

"I don't know how many hundreds of refugees I've talked to and they say: 'Look, you started this war. Go back and finish it. Wipe out ISIS — and I want to go back home.'"

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3 comments:

Claudia Balzac said...

We didn't "start" the wars.

They've been fighting each other for centuries. At a certain point, our leaders picked a side and intervened, for better or worse. But they tried.

They're telling us to go fight their war, for them, so they can go back home when the scary part is over. Sorry, that's not how it works.

You fight your own damn war, unless you've been a staunch, proven longtime ally. Don't expect us to welcome tens of thousands of 18-35 year old men "fleeing" the country, while sending our own young people over there to fight for "your country". If they flee rather than fight, they didn't care that much about it to begin with. And what does that mean for our country? It means that should WE be under attack, you won't even stand to fight alongside us. It means you'll be the first to turn tail and flee, abandoning us to fend for ourselves.

Which is my next point:

What about the defenseless women, children, elderly and disabled you've abandoned to come here seeking "refuge"? Your mothers, wives, daughters and sisters? Didn't they deserve protection? Now that you've fled, who is left behind to take care of them, to feed and support them, in a country that does not value the education of women? How are they to keep a roof over their heads, and the rest of your families, when so many are illiterate? Where a demented religious ideology prohibits them from freely leaving the house, traveling even to the local market to buy food without a male family member to escort them? Where women, little girls and even toddlers are subjected to rape, abuse and murder simply for the "crime" of being within sight of any Islamic pervert who wishes to satisfy his degenerate lust, or to punish them for the "crime" of "walking while female"?

You left the most vulnerable of your brethren to fend for themselves, and that is incompatible with our values. If you'd appealed to us, to take in, protect and shelter your most vulnerable, your women and children, while you able-bodied men bravely fought to defend your homes and homeland, we would have certainly aided and welcomed them as guests and friends. And ensured the safe return of these true refugees, once you'd restored peace, safety and stability to your homeland.


You want freedom? Then do what we did, and have done, to earn and protect our freedom. We stood our ground, and drove the enemy out by whatever means possible, in the Revolutionary War and two World Wars.

Anonymous said...

Obama is the root of the problem with his pretend war against ISIS.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, 2:56.