good morning, everyone. this past week, we've seenthe best and the worst of humanity. the heinousterrorist attacks in paris and beirut, in iraq andnigeria. they showed us once again the depths of theterrorist's depravity.
and at the same time, we saw the world cometogether in solidarity. parisians opening their doorsto anyone trapped in the street, taxi drivers turningoff their meters to get people home safety, peoplelining up to donate blood. these simple human actsare a powerful reminder that we cannot be broken and in the face of terror, we stand as one.in the wake of these terrible events, i understand the anxiety that many americans feel. ireally do. i don't dismiss the fear of a terrorist bomb going off. there's nothing presidentobama and i take more seriously though, than keeping the american people safe.
in the past few weeks though, we've heard an awful lot of people suggest that the best way tokeep america safe is to prevent any syrian refugee from gaining asylum in the united states.
so let's set the record straight how it works for a refugee to get asylum. refugees face themost rigorous screening of anyone who comes to the united states. first they arefingerprinted, then they undergo a thorough background check, then they are interviewed bythe department of homeland security. and after that, the fbi, the national counterterrorismcenter, the department of defense and the department of state, they all have to sign off onaccess.
and to address the specific terrorism concerns we are talking about now, we've institutedanother layer of checks just for syrian refugees. there is no possibility of being overwhelmedby a flood of refugees landing on our doorstep tomorrow. right now, refugees wait 18 to 24months while the screening process is completed. and unlike in europe, refugees don't set footin the united states until they are thoroughly vetted.
let's also remember who the vast majority of these refugees are: women, children, orphans,survivors of torture, people desperately in need of medical help.
to turn them away and say there is no way you can ever get here would play right into theterrorists' hands. we know what isil – we know what they hope to accomplish. they flat-outtold us.
earlier this year, the top isil leader al-baghdadi revealed the true goal of their attacks. here'swhat he said, he said, “compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zone themselves.muslims in the west will quickly find themselves between one and two choices. either apostatizeor emigrate to the islamic state and thereby escape persecution.” so it's clear. it's clearwhat isil wants. they want to manufacture a clash between civilizations. they wantfrightened people to think in terms of “us versus them.”
they want us to turn our backs on muslims victimized by terrorism. but this gang of thugspeddling a warped ideology, they will never prevail. the world is united in our resolve to endtheir evil. and the only thing isil can do is spread terror in hopes that we will in turn, turn onourselves. we will betray our ideals and take actions, actions motivated by fear that will drivemore recruits into the arms of isil. that's how they win. we win by prioritizing our security aswe've been doing. refusing to compromise our fundamental american values: freedom,openness, tolerance. that's who we are. that's how we win.
may god continue to bless the united states of america and god bless our troops.