Thomas McDermott: Writer misrepresented Obama’s words; he was right

Re “Kerry’s confused about terrorists” (Page 13A, Nov. 21): I would like to point out a failure in logic this author (Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post) has made. Namely, the misunderstanding over the quote by the President, “I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL (Islamic State) than some of the rhetoric that’s coming out of here during the course of this debate.”

President Obama is clearly referring to the growing debate on both sides of the aisle regarding the admission of Syrian refugees based on factors like religion. If we refuse these scared and tortured people refuge, we will create a new generation of young men and women who hate America and her ideals. The same thing happened in Afghanistan after the U.S. removed a communist government for a democratic one, which quickly fell apart. Afghanis were taught to hate the U.S. due to our actions there. Do we really need another generation of terrorists, this time from Syria? No we don’t.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Thomas McDermott: Writer misrepresented Obama’s words; he was right."