Jeb Bush: US Efforts on Syrian Refugees Should Focus on Christians

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday the US should focus its assistance in Syria on Christians. (Donald Trump, still leading in the polls, called the refugees a “Trojan horse” for terrorism.) On Capitol Hill, Republican Senator Charles Grassley wants to prevent the Obama administration from spending any money to admit Syrian refugees, echoing the many fights over the limits of presidential power that have pitted the White House against the Republican Congress on health care, the environment and, perhaps most contentiously, immigration.

A defensive President Obama pushed back against attacks of his Syria policy during a testy news conference in Turkey Monday that was dominated by the Paris attacks and where he once again ruled out introducing a large USA ground force to crush ISIS.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper wondered how the United States could know which ones were Christians, Bush said it was no big deal. “Because they pretend as if there is no religious aspect to this”. “We should focus our efforts as it relates to the refugees for the Christians that are being slaughtered”. And he also said he supports governors who are closing their borders to the refugees.

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf reminds us that after September 11, President George W. Bush asked Americans not to blame all Muslims for the attack and denounced anti-Muslim rhetoric, and polling data suggests that he helped to stave off any backlash. Experts say it’s questionable whether states can stop Syrian refugees from being resettled by federal authorities.

The issue of Syrian refugees has loomed large during the Republican primary, with concern about the refugees growing among conservatives in recent months.

There’s a solid case to be made against Obama’s handling of the Islamic State that doesn’t require Republicans to go nativist.

“Some of them seem to think that if I were just more bellicose in expressing what we’re doing, that would make a difference, because that seems to be the only thing that they’re doing, is talking as if they’re tough”, Obama said. A cascade of states, so far all with Republican governors (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Misssissippi, Ohio, and Texas) have announced that they will refuse to accept refugees from war-ravaged Syria, at least until the Department of Homeland Security toughens screening measures. This un-American rejection of refugees, who will face significant security checks prior to entry, sends entirely the wrong message.

Cruz said Sunday that the landscape has changed since early 2014.

As more than half of the nation’s governors rallied in opposition to his plan to allow thousands of Syrian refugees into the country in light of the recent terror attacks in Paris, Obama slammed the suggestion that only Christian Syrians should be welcomed. This is something that’s been emphasized by Muslim leaders – whether it’s President Erdogan or the President of Indonesia or the President of Malaysia – countries that are majority Muslim, but have shown themselves to be tolerant and to work to be inclusive in their political process. Cruz said the administration “does not have the information” to determine who among refugees might be a terrorist.

While there is no question that ISIS has been persecuting Christians, the vast majority of the terror group’s victims in Iraq and Syria have actually been other Muslims who do not adhere to the strict version of Sunni Islam. “We don’t have religious tests for our compassion”, he inveighed.

“But we can’t act as though we’re shutting the doors to people in need without undermining who we are as Americans and the values we have stood for”, Clinton said.