The Syrian refugee crisis formed the topic du jour of Sunday night’s edition of CBS’s Madam Secretary. Though they went with Libyan refugees in the episode titled ‘Hijriyyah’, the plot line remains the same.
Interesting to note that at no time did the episode mention the fact that Hillary Clinton, the inspiration for this show, designed our overthrow of Gaddafi. Without which there would likely be no surge of refugees fleeing from Libya. But I’m sure they’ll get to that next week.
The refugees are rescued in the Mediterranean by the Italian Navy. This would normally not stir any action on the part of the U.S. government, except this boat-load of refugees contains a passenger who claims to have recently seen a terrorist that the U.S., led by Madam Secretary, wants very badly. The only catch? In exchange for giving the U.S. the guy they want, the Italians want the Americans to take in all of the 240+ refugees.
This scenario requires Madam Hillary to use all of her diplomatic problem-solving skills, while simultaneously shame-educating all concerned about the awesome refugee-vetting skills of the U.S. government:
Madam Secretary: Nadine, we need to loop in a tight circle on the Hill.
Nadine: Gang of Eight.
Madam Secretary: No one else. And Jay and Blake can help you with that, okay?
Jay: Wait, what do we tell them, that State is secretly doing intake interviews with Libyan refugees in the Mediterranean?
Madam Secretary: In order to keep information out of the hands of terrorists, yes.
Blake: And if the senators raise certain concerns?
Madam Secretary: About finding Jibral Disah?
Nadine: I believe what Blake is referring to is transferring Libyans to a border camp so soon after the attack.
Madam Secretary: Okay, so remind them that the asylum vetting process is so thorough that it takes a minimum of two years. Hell, remind them what the plaque on the Statue of Liberty says. But only if they get shirty with you, okay?
Blake: Yes, ma'am.
Madam Secretary: All right. I want this sewn up by end of day.
This sounds like a really good plan. If, we had the capability of actually doing any of those things. Which we aren’t. One year, two years, or three years, makes no difference. As FBI Director James Comey has publically admitted, the U.S. is incapable of vetting all refugees for terrorist ties.
Even some of the terrorists who are to some degree vetted skate by, as we saw with the female San Bernardino shooter. And, she came from a country that kept far better records and background info than anything war-torn Syria or Libya could muster.