WarSclerotic

Counter-terror expert warned US Senate: “13% of Syrian refugees support ISIS” Counter-terror expert David Harris warned the US Senate about the dangers associated with Canada accepting so many Syrian refugees and the implications that it has for the United States.

Feb 11, 2016, 4:06PM

Rachel Avraham

Source: Counter-terror expert warned US Senate: “13% of Syrian refugees support ISIS” | JerusalemOnline.com

David Harris, a counter-terror expert who serves as the head of the international intelligence program INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc., recently addressed the US Senate in order to discuss the dangers associated with the fact that the Canadian government has decided to fast-trek the arrival of 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada and its implications for the United States: “Complications led the government to adjust intake goals to 10,000 before the end of 2015 and another 15,000 prior to 1 March, 2016. By last week, about 15,000 had entered Canada. Reports indicate that Canada might raise its target level and take in 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016. Given the threat picture in Syria and the scale of the intake, security considerations require thoughtful attention.”

According to Harris, FBI director James Corney highlighted screening difficulties if America would absorb 10,000 Syrians, warning that information gaps could lead to inadequate screening: “If the extensive US intelligence system would have trouble screening 10,000 Syrians in a year, how likely is it that Canada even with valuable US assistance could adequately screen two and a half times that number in four months?”

Harris emphasized that it is important to remember the risk associated with these refugees: “Apart from accounts of a suspected ISIS aim of penetrating international refugee streams, a Lebanese cabinet minister warned in September 2015 that at least two percent of the 1.1 million Syrians in Lebanon’s refugee camps were connected to ISIS extremism. Canada takes refugees from Lebanon’s UNHRC camps. More generally, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies polls determined that 13% of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey had positive views of ISIS. How many more might favor Al Qaeda, the Al Nusra Front, Hezbollah, Assad’s militias and other non-ISIS threats?”

He noted that it is critical to screen for these things when determining which Syrian refugees will be able to come to countries like Canada and the United States but he questioned how easily one can access the history of each Syrian refugee given that they come from a hostile and chaotic country: “We cannot reliably confer with the authorities of such jurisdictions, assuming that an authority exists about many prospective refugees.”

While Canada believes that the risk can be mitigated by barring single adult males, Harris warned that many people can lie about their age, adding that many children both male and female under the age of 18 are part of ISIS: “And what effect would an adult male embargo have on an adult-at-risk gay man and other males targeted by terrorists? Meanwhile, in favoring women with children and men with families, do we know who is actually married to whom and whose children are accompanying whom? Are some ISIS fighters families involved? Would they in turn sponsor relatives?”

Harris also is greatly concerned that there may be security risks for North America’s existing minority communities if there is a huge influx of Syrian refugees given the fact that in Syria, demonizing Jews is a national policy and threatening the lives of members of the LGBT community has reached a crisis point: “And what of importing the people from a region where anti-black racism is an especially serious matter?”

According to Harris, this situation in Canada can also adversely affect the US as Canadians require no visas to enter into the United States and terrorists have taken advantage of this in the past: “Failed milliunium bomber Ahmed Ressam and Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Mezar’s arrest in his Brooklyn bomb factory remind us of the cross border risks.” Harris noted that the Canadian government has assured that the process will be transparent and this should reassure the Canadian public as well as Canada’s allies but noted there is still a great risk involved in taking in so many Syrians: “There is little doubt that those in Canada tasked with the job of screening refugees are doing the best that they can given the constraints but the constraints are significant and we must be realistic about that fact.”

According to CBS News, Guidy Mamann, a Toronto immigration lawyer, also addressed the US Senate hearing and proclaimed: “There are people in our office waiting for years. Why is somebody being allowed to jump ahead of the line? This is not a rescue mission. This is a resettlement mission. The people we are helping have already 
escaped the conflict zone and have already reached safety in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. We are only relocating them and offering them permanent resettlement. We are making no attempt, whatsoever, to 
rescue people who are actually in Syria and who are in imminent danger. When compared to other large groups of refugees, one could easily argue that this group represents a relatively higher-risk demographic. Syria is widely considered to be a major hotbed of international terror. Large parts of Syria are controlled by ISIS which, sadly, enjoys some considerable local support. Virtually the entire country supports one of the three warring factions. All three groups have been associated with assorted atrocities and violations of human rights.” Given this, he argued that Canada should take more time to screen the Syrian refugees.

This entry was posted on February 11, 2016 at 5:42 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Isis, Islam, Islamic Jihad, Jihad, Middle East War, Obama, Terrorism, USA