Terrorism, Refugees, and Fear

With the recent attacks on Paris as well as all over the world, people are very scared which is exactly what terrorists want. That is, terrorists want to frighten people as a means of controlling them. They want people to fear all Muslims and think that they are all terrorists when the reality is that they are not all terrorists. Many politicians have spoken out against accepting Syrian refugees because terrorists want to control the politicians and American people through fear as well as the Syrians. The last thing that they want is to see Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people of other religions come together in unity to stand against them. That is exactly what we need.

• Only 2% of the Syrian refugees are single, combat aged males.
• The United States has asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to prioritize refugees who are vulnerable. The definition of "vulnerable" in this situation means women, children, elderly, and people who have been tortured or who might need modern medical treatment that they cannot receive in other places.
• Around 50% of the refugees have been children.
• Around twenty-five percent are adults over 60.
• The United States has one of the strictest systems for background checks for refugees in the world while vetting Syrians all the more carefully.
• Francois Hollande, the President of France, has increased the number of refugees that France will take in to 30,000. This was done right after they were attacked by terrorists.

What I fear for the Syrian people is what happened in Iraq to the Yazidi minority. They are a minority that believe in a combination of different religions. The terrorist organization that calls itself ISIS thinks of them as devil worshipers and claims that they are justified in taking non-Muslim women and girls captive and raping them. The United Nations which accused the terrorists of genocide has claimed that 5,000 Yazidi men were executed and 7,000 Yazidi women and girls were made into sex slaves. Fifteen months prior to the attacks on Paris, the same terrorist group drove 200,000 Yazidis from their homes and 50,000 fled for their lives to the Sinjar mountains. The problem went ignored by much of the rest of the world until the same terrorist organization attacked Paris, France. Now, that the same group is going after Syrians, are we going to continue to ignore them?

• Jordan has taken in 629,266 Syrian refugees.
• Turkey has taken in 1,938,999 Syrian refugees.
• Lebanon has taken in 1,113,941 Syrian refugees.
• United Arab Emirates has taken in 250,000 refugees.
• Australia has taken in 12,000 Syrian refugees.
• Germany may take up to 800,000 migrants. Within the last month there were 100,000 refugees recorded in Germany.
• Greece has taken in 88,000 Syrian refugees.
• Sweden houses 40,000 Mideast refugees.
• Algeria houses 25,000 refugees.
• Austria has 18,000 Mideast refugees.
• Armenia has 16,000 Mideast refugees.
• England already has 5,000 refugees. The Prime Minister, David Cameron said the country will take on at least 10,000 more refugees.
• Italy has at least 4,600 refugees.

Currently, the United States has 1,500 Syrian refugees.

The reason that rejecting Syrian refugees actually helps the terrorists is because the terrorist argument that the West does not want to assist Muslims or Syrians will prove to be true and the Syrian people will find that their survival depends on joining the terrorist group that calls itself ISIS. This terrorist group rapes women and girls and trains children to be suicide bombers. Over the past 35 years, non-refugees have carried out all terrorist attacks on the United States. While Christian and Kurdish refugees see ISIS as their main enemy, the majority of Syrian refugees see Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as their main enemy. Evidence in academic literature has said that keeping refugees penned-up in camps right next door to conflict zones increases terrorism. The same tactic that was used in the Cold War of using refugee resettlement to obtain foreign policy assets, spies, allies, and spokesman to dispute the opponent's propaganda should be utilized and advanced.

Considering the opposing forces do not want Americans taking in Syrian refugees what they definitely do not want is Muslims like Lassana Bathily. He was a twenty-four-year-old Muslim who was originally from Mali, Africa, and was working as a shop assistant at the Paris Kosher market when Amedy Caoulibay threatened to kill the people in the store on November 13, 2015. When the terrorist came into the store Bathily led the Jewish shoppers to the basement where he turned off the refrigerator, led them in there to hide them, and then told them to stay quiet after turning off the lights. He escaped through a goods lift and was tackled by French police who originally thought he was a terrorist. After having him in hand cuffs for an hour and a half they figured out he was not. Once he was free he was able to relay the layout of the store and where the people were hiding. Upon their release, many of the people shook his hand and thanked him. This is exactly what the opposing forces do not want. That is, they do not want people, regardless of their religion, who are able to think critically, remain calm, and execute good judgement.

One of the things that the terrorists fear most is educated women. Giving women in the Middle East a good education would really undermine their attempts at trying to control, tyrannize, and commit acts of terror. Educated women are better able to make decisions related to health for themselves and their children, have increased political participation, are more likely to to take part in civic participation including attending political meetings, and even secure benefits for themselves through political movements. Terrorists do not want independent thinkers like Lassana Bathily. They want to make people upset, scared, and not able to make good decisions. Educated women are also less likely to experience domestic violence and are also more involved in the decision-making process of their family including economic decisions. In a family where the mother is educated, the children are more likely to stay in school, especially girls. What is extremely important in social development is that evidence points to an increased likelihood of democratic governance in countries where women are educated. With better education comes better nutrition, more gender equality, diversity, and people with better reasoning and thinking capabilities. This is why educating women scares terrorists.

In conclusion, as we go into the year of 2016 and will see another presidential election, we must think critically, analytically, stay calm, and execute good judgement as a people. I encourage the women in this country to exercise the 19th amendment. A book that is historical fantasy called, Spellbound that is sold on Amazon deals with war, history, lessons of social and moral obligation while also being entertaining to read. It gets the reader to think and deals with problem solving which is what we as a people need to do. Another book, God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise is a book of poetry dealing with present day social issues, war, and also gets the reader to think about our present day times. Let us try and strive for world peace and make good decisions about our future as well as that of the rest of the world. We may have different ethnic backgrounds, languages, cultures, religions, etc. However, we all share the same world.