OPINION:
The adage “the best defense is a good offense” is an old one and usually an accurate one. It’s frequently invoked by sportswriters on the football beat, but it can apply to warfare, too. President Obama, a keen sports fan, nevertheless failed to understand this and now America’s enemies are coming. Whether they can be stopped before they inflict further serious damage is a question we’ll all see answered.
With the arrest of an ISIS sympathizer earlier this month in Ohio, indications are that terrorist sleeper cells may be poised on the Mexican border. The terror suspect, Erick Jamal Hendricks of Charlotte, N.C., has been charged with giving material support to ISIS. Mr. Hendricks, 35, tried to “recruit people to train together and conduct terrorist attacks in the United States,” according to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department. He was a skilled recruiter if, as he claims, a group of 10 terrorists of his choosing is stationed just south of the Mexican border.
Authorities beat this particular evildoer to the punch, but there are others. Judicial Watch, a government watchdog organization, says “Islamic terrorists are training in southern border towns near American cities and have joined forces with Mexican drug cartels to infiltrate the United States.” Mr. Obama is still not persuaded.
The president no doubt thinks he has no choice but to ignore the risk and refuse to acknowledge the vulnerability posed by his determination to grant temporary amnesty for Syrian refugees, largely unvetted, eager to come to the United States. To do otherwise would be an admission of how wrong he is. He wants to bring in 10,000 Syrians this year, enabling them to escape civil war, and increase that number to 100,000 next year. Compassion is an admirable Christian virtue, but so is protecting home and hearth first.
Without a foolproof method of screening out terrorist infiltrators, terror cells need not bother to sneak into the United States. They can mingle among refugees and disembark at the airport, per presidential invitation. From there, they’ll be shuttled to American communities where they can settle in to await the call to jihad. “Despite a clear nexus between immigration and terrorism, and warnings from top officials in his own administration about their inability to properly vet refugees,” says Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, “President Obama remains in denial about the dangers that his policies pose to the United States.”
Mr. Sessions, a Republican and a former U.S. attorney, presented details of 20 persons who were “fully” vetted but nevertheless came to the United States to participate in terrorism-related crimes. Among them was one Iraqi Bilal Abood, a U.S. military translator who was admitted in 2009 with a special visa and became an American citizen. He left the United States through Mexico and traveled by other countries to reach Syria, where he joined ISIS. He was sentenced to four years in prison for lying to the FBI.
President George W. Bush was accused of overreacting to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but his offensive nevertheless kept jihadists preoccupied far from the American homeland. Mr. Obama has instead tried to “lead from behind,” and the United States is now faced with the consequences of what happens when the leader retreats to the rear to take a powder.
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