I tend to think we have a good vetting system but it will never be good enough. It will never be 100%. They'll get in as terrorists or someone will enter as a refugeeand become a terrorist at some point. An individual can have a few bad days and fall in with the wrong crowd and become radicalized. There are people born and raised here who have been radicalized. It's basically joining a cult. Anyone can get sucked in if they're in the wrong frame of mind. The problem is in the numbers. We're not talking a hundred people turning to David Koresh and moving into a self-contained compound armed with guns and explosives; we're talking hundreds of thousands--maybe a million plus-- of people spread out worldwide and a significant portion actually willing to blow themselves up. It generally doesn't make sense to American or European culture. We generally take our causes to the Supreme Court or at least gather to protest in front of public buildings or wherever. Or go to war where you may die in battle but you do all you can to stay alive. Blowing yourself up? Why the heck would you do that?

Also depends on identity. Good luck vetting for someone's true identity and with that, beliefs. I come from a family of devout Catholics. Though they proclaim to be proud Americans, if push came to shove, they are probably Catholics first. Would they die for Catholicism? (Should make for a good discussion at Thanksgiving.) It's probably the same with most other people who are very devoted to their religions. Are you French first or Muslim first? Are you Australian or Jewish? Are you an American Southerner or born-again Baptist?

I think it starts going south when the UN refers them to our agencies. Sorry - I have zero faith that the UN looks out for the US

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that if President Obama is so confident in the ability to screen and vet the refugees, he needs to convince the American people.

He needs to address the American people in a serious manner, explain the vetting process in detail, and explain the criteria for the refugees that the US will accept.
He has not done this. Having his spokespeople go out to the media and say that we have “robust screening procedures” is not enough.

In other words, he needs to lead.
Instead, he chooses to criticize and demonize (in a sarcastic manner) those who disagree with him. This is not appropriate and certainly not helpful. And, it makes the American people doubt his words. They just don’t believe him, especially when he talks in this manner.
People get angry, scared, and panic with a lack of information. His administration has not handled this crisis well.

This is a reasonable approach. The administration is meeting with Congressional leadership today, I believe. Maybe Obama will follow-up with an address or press conference to assure the American people.

Think back to the ebola scar. Lots of people -- including many DCUM posters -- were convinced that we had to close the borders immediately or we would all die from ebola. Administration officials testified that there would not be a major outbreak in the US. Critics jumped all over them. Anything Obama said was ridiculed. In the end, Obama proved to have been correct, though is critics will never give him credit for it. I have a lot of doubts that this time would be different.

One of the issues I have is that we have heard the FBI director say that we don’t have the ability to vet all these refugees. And, other administration officials have expressed concern about the vetting process. So, for the American people, it comes down to - who do we believe?

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Paris attack was hatched almost entirely with people living in Belgium and France. They found ONE passport from a refugee. We need to put things in perspective. We don't want boatloads of ISIS, but our principal threat is people who already live here.

If there is one evil mastermind, uniquely dangerous to America, he will come in via a regular plane flight with a passport from the UK or Germany or some other country we trust. Not via ISIS posing as Syrian refugees.

Just to emphasize, they found a passport, they haven't found a refugee. The passport is fake. The person who had the passport may be a refugee or may be European hiding his identity. At this point, we don't know.

There is a man arrested in Serbia with the same passport details and a different photo. The dead man in Paris with that passport had fingerprints matching those done in Greece. The real person is dead and they both assumed his identity. A real refugee in the spirit of the law is ruled out for both. The individuals may have European citizenship but have tapped into migrant routes for what purpose?

Two posible reasons:

1) because their real identities were on watch lists;
2) they wanted to incriminate refugees who ISIS hates and cause animosity for the refugees in the West.

Based on DCUM posts they were certainly successful in attaining this objective.