Widows and Orphans

Yesterday the President mocked Republicans that declared their intentions to block or limit Syrian refugees due to security concerns following the terrorist attacks in Paris. While our President is often dismissive of Republicans in general, he showed real disdain in this instance, choosing to mock them as a bunch of cowering wimps. Now they were fearful of a bunch of "widows and orphans."


Here is a list of the known groups currently fighting in Syria:




ISIS
The Al-Nusara Front (Al Qaeda)
The Khorosan Group (Al Qaeda)
The Islamic Front
The Free Syrian Army
The Syrian Armed Forces (Assad)
Hezbollah
Peshmerga (Kurds)
YPG (Kurds)




Of the above groups,  only the Peshmerga could be considered anything like an ally. Of the Syrian groups, only the Free Syrian Army is considered to be "somewhat" secular. Meanwhile, the Americans, Russians, British, French and Arab allied planes have been killing tens of thousands of fighters from mostly these other groups, for over a year now. So my question is, what has become of the widows and orphans of these Islamic radicals? Where have they sought refuge? I'm guessing they might like to leave the area too. After all if their father/husband is dead, why would they stay? Widows and orphans from every single one of these groups likely want to leave Syria. That does not make them our friend




And here are a couple of observations about refugees, widows and orphans. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, came to this country as a 10 year old refugee. I know the President was overseas when he made these comments, so he probably didn't see the Frontline special on PBS showing the Islamic State training children, some as young as four, to be fighters and suicide bombers. But maybe he saw their previous video where they had a boy, who appeared to be no more than nine years old, execute two bound men by shooting them in the head. I wonder if he was an orphan then, or now. Similar videos of child training have been proudly produced by Al Qaeda and the Taliban. And it appears that the female suicide bomber in France yesterday, was a cousin of the mastermind, so perhaps not a widow, but I bet she could have passed for one. Apparently she tried to lure the French police in by crying for help out of the window. But the police were expecting suicide bombers and didn't fall for it. She blew herself up anyway.




In his comments, the President sounded much like a school yard bully taunting some kid and calling him chicken, because he's not willing to come take his beating. It was juvenile, and beneath the dignity of his office. All thinking Americans have reason to be concerned. There is far more reason to question the sanity of those who are not, than to question the courage of those who are.