Allowing Syrian refugees into US 'reckless, dangerous'?
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul calls the migrant crisis in Europe 'tragic' but can't support Obama's desire to allow 10,000 into US. Col. Oliver North goes' On the Record' to sound off.
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," September 14, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: The White House gearing up to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees, but that decision leaving security officials on edge. Those refugees are fleeing ISIS' violent civil wars. But House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul and director of National Intelligence James Clapper say ISIS terrorist could be hiding among those innocent refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY: We are a compassionate nation. We have to deal with this crisis. But, you know, this could be a very reckless and dangerous policy.
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I don't obviously put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees. So that is a huge concern of ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN SUSTEREN: Lt. Colonel Oliver North goes ON THE RECORD. Nice to see you, sir.
LT. COLONEL OLIVER NORTH (RET.), U.S. MARINE CORPS: Thank you.
VAN SUSTEREN: And I share everyone's concerns not wanting terrorists here, but we have a porous border. People overstayed their VISA. We have 19 come in for 9/11. So it's like a little hard for me to --
NORTH: And we are a compassionate nation. But the most important role of the government of the United States is to protect the American people and the homeland. And if you cannot vet 10,000 people coming here, and they won't be able to vet them because they have no mechanism by which they can do it, then the likelihood is very strong. ISIS has actually, of course, offered to send terrorist, infiltrated among the refugees.
VAN SUSTEREN: But they can come in over the border. They don't have to come in with the refugees. There are lots of ways to get in here.
NORTH: Well, a much easier way. Somebody else is actually going to pay for them to come over here if they came as refugees. Take 10,000 Syrian refugees. I mean, assuage the conscience of the Obama administration has precipitated this kind. They have created this by virtue of what they have been since the withdrawal from Iraq and all of what they have been doing in the rest of that part of the world.
This is the direct consequence of a failure of American leadership and bringing them here to this country without vetting them is a very dangerous thing. Chairman McCaul is dead right about it.
VAN SUSTEREN: OK, 10,000 will do nothing to helping this problem.
NORTH: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, this is just -- this is a total political PR move. It does nothing to help these people. I have seen these refugee camps.
NORTH: You have been there. I have been there.
VAN SUSTEREN: You have been there.
I have been there. Actually, the good idea, I read on a Facebook post, actually Reverend Franklin Graham (INAUDIBLE). He said others are creating a safe zone in Iraq so these people would go home.
NORTH: Which is what they want.
VAN SUSTEREN: They want to go home. They don't want to come here. Nobody gets that, you know.
NORTH: More than a quarter of a million people perished as a consequence of the genocide that's being perpetrated thanks to the Obama administration. And it's not just Syria and Iraq. You have refugees now from Afghanistan, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya --
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: Nigeria.
NORTH: Nigeria, Mali. 14 million human beings have been displaced or killed and they are out of their home and they have no place to go. And there's 10,000 who is a drop in the bucket.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, I mean, I just think the whole 10,000 is just a PR move and I don't like the idea. Does it make sense to try to create a safe zone?
NORTH: Certainly.
VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, could we do that with other countries?
NORTH: Yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: With other countries so they could go home.
NORTH: Egypt and Jordan have offered to pacify the Anbar Province. All they asked for was American, a nod of the head from the United States, Obama. And the logistic support, it would help them do that. The Kurds have offered and, as you know, Kurdistan, has been overrun with refugees. The hook now has more refugees than they do native Kurds.
What's happening over there, I've been over there, you've been over there Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse. I've seen the folks from Light of the Lord global missions and you can see there that the refugees they are trying to treat over there, trying to build a clinic. The Kurds are trying to make this happen because they have no means of dealing with this. We spent $4 billion to the United Nations and nobody can even account for a penny of it.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I mean, look at these pictures, look at these people, and there is a solution and it's not that hard. 10,000 people, 10,000 is nothing.
NORTH: So here is the solution. Here is the solution. Every single candidate needs to be asked for the federal office. And I'm not just talking about presidency. I'm talking about for House and Senate races. Third of the senate, all 435 members of the House, what would you do about it, Mr. Congressman, Mr. Senator, or Mr. President-to-be? Second, the United States needs to immediately start arming and helping the Kurds defend themselves and pushing that safe haven back.
There are now Kurdish Christian battalions within the Peshmerga. They need weapons. They need the ability to protect themselves. And it's not coming from this administration.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know what the problem is, those of us who have been over there and see it, I just wish that -- I mean, it seems like -- I mean, there is no perfect solution. But it's a lot better than what is being proposed. I will tell you, the odds are a lot better of success.
NORTH: The threat of what we are going to face for a long time to come will be amplified if this administration continues its current policy. How do you spell genocide? O-B-A-M-A.
VAN SUSTEREN: Don't even get me started on President Bashir of Sudan. Nobody of any country. He is killing people.
NORTH: That's right.
VAN SUSTEREN: And nobody cares about that. He is under indictment and no one does anything. Anyway, don't get me started on that.
Colonel North, nice to see you, sir.
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