Republicans trotting out fear and blame
Paul Krugman hit the nail on the head today regarding the Republican reaction to the attacks in Paris. When a political party has no new ideas and offers the same, tired solutions to every problem (more wars, more guns, more tax cuts for the rich) then it must rely on fear and panic to excite the voters. To paraphrase a line from the movie “The American President,” the Republican Party is interested in two things: telling people what to be afraid of and who is to blame for it. By reading the op-ed writers the AJC uses from the right, it is clear who they blame for everything, President Obama.
MIKE HAREMSKI, TUCKER
Greater force needed to fight ISIS
Brussels is virtually closed down, on highest alert – no underground trains or schools. Other European cities are trembling. How can we allow a handful of terrorists to do this to us? With the current defensive mindset of our leaders we could never have defeated Germany and Japan. We need to start a full-out offensive and sadly no amount of air strikes alone is going to do the job.
J.R. IBBOTSON, PEACHTREE CITY
SYRIAN REFUGEES NOT FACE OF TERROR
The magnitude of what the Syrian people face is overwhelming. I live in Clarkston, a refugee resettlement community that has been called the most diverse square mile on earth. The 2013 U.S. Census estimates that over half the residents of Clarkston’s 30021 zip code are foreign born, including almost 600 Arabs. One of those is my friend and neighbor. She came to the U.S. as a refugee years ago. Our children attend the same school, and she wants the same things as any other American parent. But she also deals with concerns I cannot imagine. She is from Syria, where the war has cut the phones and internet access to her home. She hasn’t spoken to her mother in eight months, and she has no news of how her family is doing. I am not a foreign-policy expert, and I do not pretend to know the solution to ISIS or the conflict in Syria. What I do know is that wholesale rejection of all Syrian refugees is not the answer. The Paris shooters represent Syria the way Timothy McVeigh and Adam Lanza represent America. They are Muslim in the way that Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army are Christian. We need our elected leaders to offer wisdom and thoughtful, informed solutions — not to appeal to our basest fears.
SALLY HONEYCUTT, CLARKSTON
