It’s been almost a year and a half since the dangerous
international terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL), declared
a global caliphate. Even before that proclamation, ISIL had
already committed countless atrocities in multiple nations on several
continents. Mass murders, myriad rapes, beheadings and religious persecutions
have now become routine in areas that recently were holding elections and were
on-track in establishing democratic governance.
Caliphate is a form of Islamic government. It is led
by a Caliph whose followers consider him to be the rightful leader of all
Muslims due to his direct linage to the Prophet Mohammad. The declaration of
caliphate by ISIL includes an historic area encompassing the entire eastern
shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
That area includes the present day state of Israel. Therefore,
political recognition of the caliphate, by any person or entity, serves to
acknowledge that Israel no longer has a right to exist.
Since the declaration of caliphate, the escalation of
terrorist atrocities has been even more widespread and devastating. Tens of
thousands of Christians and Muslims alike are fleeing to anywhere that is not
the caliphate.
ISIL
operatives have stated that those refugees have been
infiltrated with more than 4,000 caliphate fighters. They further brag that the
preponderance of those ISIL fighters are now armed with Christian passports.
One of their first North American attacks occurred in October
2014. A member of the Canadian Forces was
shot and killed and three others were wounded at that
country’s National War Memorial in Ottawa in a terror-related attack.
An August 2015 attack on a French train in Belgium was
apparently designed to murder hundreds. It was aborted
by the actions of two Americans on military leave and a civilian.
One of them, Alek Skarlatos, is
an Oregonian from Roseburg.
In fact, Skarlatos was enrolled as a
student at Umpqua Community College and said he was scheduled
to be in the same building where a shooting
took place earlier this year. He was out of town that day taping an appearance
on a reality television show.
The simultaneous,
orchestrated attacks in Paris
last month took ISIL terrorism to an entire new
level. The mass murder of 129 non-combatants makes clear that war has been
declared on civilians in western nations and that no target is off limits.
Four days later, a similar effort was apparently made outside
a German stadium. The German Prime Minister and other top
national officials were scheduled to attend that sports event. They planned to
attend to show solidarity against ISIL terrorism.
Obama has since announced his agreement to start
accepting up to 10,000 refugees from this war-torn region. His unilateral
decision appears to ignore the admission of multiple
federal officials stating they can’t positively screen the
refugees for security risks before admitting them into this country.
Both Obama and Oregon Governor Kate Brown have demonstrated
the audacity to explain that these refugees are "widows
and orphans." Those statements belie the advice of persons
within his intelligence agencies stating that they don’t
know who many of these people are and that they have no way of finding out who
they are.
Obama’s proclivity for underestimating ISIL is not
confidence building. This is the same president who declared ISIS the "JV
Squad" and who said ISIL was "contained"
mere hours before the horrific attacks in Paris.
Over
half of the nation's governors have gone on record
stating these refugees are not welcome in their states. They are not taking
this action out of a lack of compassion. They are acting out of legitimate
concerns for the safety of the people they represent.
Their statements are also, in effect, a vote of “no
confidence” in the ability of the federal government to control our borders and
to perform its critical duties of preserving public safety under current
circumstances. The skepticism of those governors is not unwarranted.
News reports state that terrorists
have already used the refugee program to settle in the United
States. Others state that we may
have allowed "dozens" of them into the country
under that guise. Since the attack in
Paris, refugees
have been detained in Honduras for traveling with false
Greek passports. Others have
been arrested in Turkey and even along
our southern border.
Even Pope
Francis has warned that ISIS could use the refugee crisis to
infiltrate Europe. Our neighbors to the north, Canada, are
refusing refugees who are single men.
My office has received many phone calls and e-mails
from constituents who are concerned about the potential security risk posed by
this policy. We have yet to hear from a single person in my Senate district who
thinks bringing Syrian refugees to Oregon at this time is a good idea.
The primary obligation of any government is to protect
and preserve public safety. Nevertheless, Governor Brown has declared that Oregon
will take in these refugees, regardless of the potential danger
that it may entail. I believe the adoption of any policy that serves to deliberately
ignore significant risk to the public’s safety is deserving of a high level of
scrutiny.
In my opinion, the safety of our people is worth the
extra amount of time and effort to ensure that we know who is entering our
country before tragedy strikes. The policies currently being pursued by our
President and our Governor are undoubtedly increasing our vulnerability to the
kind of horrific attack that struck Paris and killed scores of innocent
civilians.
Please remember--if we do not stand up for rural Oregon, no one will.
Best Regards, Doug
Senate District 28
Email: Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us I Phone: 503-986-1728 Address: 900 Court St NE, S-311, Salem, OR 97301 Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/whitsett
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