“Immoral and stupid”: National security experts shred Trump’s Muslim ban
National security and counterterrorism revealed in interviews with Mother Jones today the potentially disastrous ways that Trump’s Muslim Immigration Ban could thwart our operations in Muslim countries.
Patrick Skinner, former CIA counterterrorism case officer who currently works for a security consulting firm:
“Not only is it immoral and stupid, it’s also counterproductive.
We’ve got military, intelligence, and diplomatic personnel on the ground right now in Syria, Libya, and Iraq who are working side by side with the people, embedded in combat, and training and advising.
At no time in the US’s history have we depended more on local—and I mean local—partnerships for counterterrorism.
We need people in Al Bab, Syria; we depend on people in a certain part of eastern Mosul, Iraq; in Cert, Libya.
At the exact moment we need them most, we’re telling these people, ‘Get screwed.’
Kirk W. Johnson, who spent a year on the reconstruction in Fallujah in Iraq with the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
“This will have immediate national security implications, in that we are not going to be able to recruit people to help us right now, and people are not going to step forward to help us in any future wars if this is our stance.
“The US is officially banning people in these countries at the same time we’re trying to build up local support to fight ISIS. It takes a long time to build trust with these people. This is like the Abu Ghraib thing. You have to start over, say, ‘Okay, starting now, trust me.’ How many times can you get away with that?
“…It reads as though 9/11 happened yesterday, and that 9/11 was carried out by refugees, which it wasn’t, and it creates a series of policy prescriptions to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, as if the stringent measures that have been put in place over the past 15 years to screen refugees don’t exist…
“These people who are directly and immediately impacted by this have done more to help our country than just about every breathing American has—especially the president. Shame is not a strong enough word for today. This is a disgraceful moment.”
Elizabeth Goitein, who codirects the Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program, said “The message this projects is that America sees Muslims as a threat—not specific actors who are intent on committing terrorist acts.
The message that America really is at war with Islam will be ISIS’s best friend.”
Indeed, in an interview with Buzzfeed, an ISIS militant has said “Trump will shorten the time it takes for us to achieve our goals.”
http://usuncut.com/news/immoral-stup...ps-muslim-ban/