The discovery of an emergency passport of the type used by refugees fleeing war and ISIS atrocities found with the remains of one of the Parisian terrorists is naturally bringing new attention to the European refugee crisis. The fingerprints of the suicide bomber are said to match that on the passport. Understandably this has caused renewed security concerns that ISIS and other like organizations will be able to plant terrorist operatives among the refugees in order to infiltrate them into Europe and other countries.
However, isn’t it convenient that the suicide bomber decided to carry that passport with him when he ventured forth to kill himself and take as many innocent people as possible? Take into consideration that all terrorists with minimal training are well aware that they should not carry any identifying items or papers on their persons. The reason is simple; they want to avoid identification of their bodies, or at least delay identification as long as possible. In this manner they try to protect the identities of the planners and the knowledge of their method of gaining access to the country.
The nature of terrorist attacks in Paris shows a good deal of planning and coordination. The planners and leaders of the attacks obviously knew what they were doing. Surely those leaders would have normally ensured that any identifying items and papers were left behind. Therefore, the fact that one of the terrorist was carrying a refugee passport on his person means it was meant to be found. The answer to the question as to why ISIS wanted everyone to know that one of the terrorists entered Europe among the legitimate refugees is obvious.
The object of terrorism is to terrify, to sow fear so that innocent civilians don’t feel safe going about their daily business. Terrorist groups like ISIS also seek to make it very expensive for governments to try to protect their citizens and to disrupt, in any way possible, efforts by those governments to deal with the results of their terrorist campaigns. In this case ISIS wanted to disrupt and make as expensive as possible the resettling of refugees from their reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, and they knew that conservatives in the affected countries would help them carry out their plans. So they purposefully planned to include among the terrorists someone who had gained entrance to Europe hiding among the refugees and made sure everyone knew how he entered the European Union.
As expected the far right fell right in line with ISIS’ plan both in Europe and the US. European ultra conservative parties, which already trying to capitalize on anti-immigrant sentiment, are verbally attacking their governments’ plans to take in more refugees.
On the home front, acording USA Today: “The Republican governors — in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin — are concerned that resettlement could open the doors to terrorists.” Of course this is to be expected. They are criticizing President Obama’s plan to resettle up to ten thousand refugees in the US. Conservatives have always valued safety over human rights and dignity and as always they continue to use fear to advance their agendas and to attack their opponents.
Don’t conservatives in both in Europe and here at home realize they are being used by ISIS for their own ends? It’s hard to know which of those on the far right are bright enough to figure that out, but one thing is sure, none of them care. They have been handed ready made issue on a silver platter and they plan to use it to score political points against their opponents. And I’m sure ISIS appreciates their efforts, but don’t you think that the spectacle of the big, bad conservatives being used by a terrorist organization to spread fear is rather ironic?
Now don’t get me wrong, it is obviously essential that all of the refugees are fully vetted before entering the country. However, to simply ignore the plight of people who were driven out of their homes for fear of their lives and are only seeking safety for their families is not who we are suppose to be as Americans. If no one takes them in, do we just allow them to be killed or enslaved in their home countries? To shut down the refugee programs because of our fears would be an act of cowardice. And it is an open secret that the conservatives among us are our biggest cowards.
Cajun 11/26/15
I do not think it necessary to find proof that ISIS agents may be among the refugee hordes. It seems a simple enough leap of logic. I believe that giving these sick human beings credit for intelligence actually hides the real truths of this, and every, attack.
Our responses to Islamofascism, to wage war for more than a decade, to commit the same mistake endlessly with the same futile lack of result is the real issue here.
It is, in my opinion, the foreign policies of the West, the economic necessities of alliances with dictators and despots in order to achieve stable platforms for economic investments, the failure to insist that all the nations in the immediate vicinity of the terrorist invasions solve this problem, one partially of their own making in fact,
We can bomb people for ever, we can continue make endless profit for our MIC, we can continue to use fear and hatred as tools to sway our own citizens to agree to these heinous and useless actions but we cannot end this that way.
Addendum; after more thought.,
As I pondered the issue I began to wonder that , not one, but two such passports have been found after a suicide bomber detonated himself. It must be considered more than odd that such an item would survive such an event I believe.
So, I now concur with your opinion here that these passports are planted in an attempt to turn world opinion against the sheltering of these refugees, creating even more chaos, which is, after all, what they seek.