When something horrific happens such as the attacks in Paris last week, fear and emotion can sometimes take over people’s rational judgement. It’s easy to jump to conclusions and try to come up with quick solutions to a much more complex problem.
After 9/11, George W. Bush declared a war against terror and exploited people’s fear of terrorism to justify his decision to invade Iraq. The premise was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that these were at risk of falling into the hands of terrorists. However, there were no such weapons and Saddam’s links to Al Qaeda were unproven. Newsweek called the Iraq war Bush’s “biggest blunder.”
After the attacks in Paris, many people - including politicians and entire nations - have turned against accepting more refugees from Syria and Iraq on the basis that it would increase their country’s security risk.
Is this an assumption based on facts or irrational fear?
Let’s not forget that France has only taken in about 4500 Syrian refugees since 2011. Many analysts blame the Paris attacks on intelligence failures, not refugees.
Jean-Pierre Dubois, former President of the Human Rights League in France, told the Toronto Star the attacks in Paris had nothing to do with the wave of immigration. Dubois said the only thing the attack has in common with the refugees is their cause: war in the Middle East.
“The same thing would have happened if we hadn’t welcomed a single refugee,” said Dubois.
Despite the recent events, France’s ambassador to Canada Nicolas Chapuis vowed the attacks would not affect France’s policy towards the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, according to a Canadian Press story published by the Huffington Post.
“Let’s not be mistaken; the people who are seeking refuge are not the barbarians - they are fleeing the barbarians,” said Chapuis. “The refugees are victims of the cruelty of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, who are only asking to live in freedom and peace.”
“Certainly there will be individuals who are going to try to take opportunity to mix with the refugees in order to spread chaos, but let there be no be mistake: This should not stop us from opening our arms and helping those who are seeking our help,” he added. “It is part of our humanity.”
The truth is that the Islamic State has much to gain with this backlash against refugees. In fact, in an interview to CBC radio, Syrian-American political researcher Nader Atassi said the backlash against refugees will only make it easier for the Islamic State to gain supporters.
“I think what ISIS wants to do is provoke a right-wing backlash against refugees and immigrant communities that come from Islamic countries, because that conflict gives credence to their world view that there is a war between the west and Islam,” he said. “This Islamophobic backlash that we see happening is exactly what they [ISIS] want.”
Atassi said members of the Islamic State believe they’ve created a kind of “Islamic utopia.” Since thousands of people are now fleeing that utopia, that’s kind of embarrassing to the Islamic State.
“So they [ISIS] think that by provoking this kind of backlash, maybe it will lead people to sympathize with them more,” he said.
Fortunately, the attacks that rocked Paris last week shouldn’t shake the Canadian government’s goal to take in thousands of refugees from Syria. The new Liberal government announced Nov. 14 it will stand firm on its election pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees.
Refugees are not the problem. They are running away from a much bigger problem that the world needs to resolve.