Thread: Senator calls for pause in accepting Syrian refugees after Istanbul attack

June 29, 2016, 02:11 pm
Senator calls for pause in accepting Syrian refugees after Istanbul attack



Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is calling on President Obama to pause the acceptance of Syrian refugees into the United States after a terrorist bombing at the largest airport in Turkey.

"At a time when the terrorist threat to American families and our allies is growing, the Administration should pause Syrian refugee flows into the United States until it can prevent any and all terrorist infiltration, and stop releasing hardened terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay," Kirk said in a statement Wednesday.

No organization has taken credit for the bombings — which killed at least 40 and wounded hundreds more — but President Obama indicated the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was responsible.

Kirk added that Tuesday's attack "reminds us that terrorists remain committed to attacking innocent civilians all over the world. "

Democrats blocked a House-passed bill to pause the acceptance of Syrian and Iraqi refugees earlier this year. Though every GOP senator supports moving forward with the legislation, the issue has largely stalled in Congress.

Republicans point to a string of recent attacks — including in Brussels and San Bernardino, Calif. — as evidence that Obama's strategy to counter the terrorist group is failing. Senators are expected to get a closed-door briefing on ISIS later Wednesday.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who, like Kirk, is up for reelection, added, "It's long past time for the administration to take the fight fully to ISIS."

The New Hampshire Republican said Obama should work with Turkey to tighten the Turkish-Syrian border "in order to reduce the flow of ISIS foreign fighters from Syria that threatens not only Europe but potentially the United States."

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...-turkey-attack

CIA director: Istanbul-style attack possible in US



06/29/16 12:43 PM EDT

CIA Director John Brennan is warning that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) wants to carry out attacks in the U.S. similar to the deadly one Tuesday at Turkey's largest airport.

“I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh ... and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," Brennan told Yahoo News, using an alternative name for the group.

"It’s not that difficult to actually construct and fabricate a suicide vest ... so if you have a determined enemy and individuals who are not concerned about escape, that they are going into it with a sense that they are going to die, that really does complicate your strategy in terms of preventing attacks," he continued.

“I’d be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States," Brennan added.

Brennan's comments came hours after a trio of suicide bombers killed 41 people and injured more than 200 more at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport, the third-busiest airport in Europe.

Brennan said the style of the attack pointed to ISIS rather than Kurdish nationalists in Turkey, though he did not confirm the attack was from ISIS. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

Brennan said later Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations that the attack in Turkey "bears the hallmarks of ISIL's depravity," using another ISIS acronym.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Wednesday morning that ISIS is "most likely" responsible.

Officials have said attacks in the U.S. over the past year — such as the deadly shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. — were carried out by radicals inspired by ISIS but not directed by the terrorist group.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...e-attack-in-us

CBS News: Istanbul Suicide Bombers May Have Been Chechen Jihadists From Russia

@ 28 dead, 60 injured in terror attack