As I usually do, I read with great interest the liberal slant of Samuel Hoff’s recent editorial. [“U.S. has an obligation to assist Syrian refugees,” Nov. 20] I expected the ultra-left leanings, and he didn’t disappoint me.
I especially liked the old percentage game. If, in fact, only 2 percent of the refugees are single men, then, perhaps he should apprise the media that they need to take a different camera angle when they post their pictures.
I don’t know about Mr. Hoff’s eyesight, but in looking at several photos, I have yet to find “widows and orphans” that Mr. Obama keeps touting. In fact, I have yet to see any old men in the photos, and unless there’s a coliseum filled with these people, the Common Core math is going to have a tough problem explaining how so many young men make up only 2 percent.
I will agree that the remark of only accepting Christians was dumb, but like most conservatives, I see dumb where dumb is instead of assuming all Republicans (as Mr. Hoff slyly tried to interject) are dumb. Having said that, however, I’d expect — no, demand — that each person publicly reject the radicalism their region gave birth to. Mr. Hoff assures us that there are “peaceful persons practicing the Muslim faith.” If that’s truly the case, where are their demonstrations of moral outrage?
They seem to have enough to demonstrate for Sharia law, for Halal foods, and demanding we accept IDs of women in burkhas. Certainly, Christians weren’t silent when people like Jim Jones and David Koresh hid behind their religion.
The silliest analogy, however, came from the inclusion of the Vietnamese refugees. I understand Mr. Hoff’s only knowledge of Vietnam came from books about it, but these were people who’d actively worked for the American government, and when the Democratic Congress abandoned them in their homeland, as they’d agreed, the U.S. took in thousands who faced death and torture for assisting us. Hundreds of thousands perished trying to flee the country by boat, and millions were “re-indoctrinated” after we abandoned them. Even mentioning Vietnamese people in this context is asinine.
All I know is that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (the Boston Marathon bombers), Mohammad Abdulazeez (the Chattanooga shooter of military recruiters), and Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood shooter) were practitioners of the Muslim faith. I know that Hasan had been “vetted,” and I assume the others had some governmental evaluation before being turned loose on the American society.
Using that new math, let’s just say that possibly “2 percent” of these refugees could have hidden aliases that no amount of vetting is going to reveal. If I were to plant one arsenic tablet into a day’s production of aspirin, would you still want to buy a bottle? I’d demand that every aspirin out there be recalled and looked at individually before I tried one.
I assure you, as a 30-year military man with absolutely no criminal record, I go through more scrutiny to buy a handgun than any of these refugees coming into this country. Now, tell me again why Obama plans on vetoing legislation that would require more scrutiny?
George Roof
Magnolia