NEWS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2015 Rivals condemn Trump’s call to register... Continued from Page 1 pushed back against Trump. “If we’re just going to pick out a particular group of people based on their religion, “There should be a lot of systems, beyond databas- based on their race... that’s setting a dangerous prece- es.” As to how he would get Muslims registered, he said dent,” he told reporters in New Hampshire. Carson made it could be done at “different places”, not just mosques. his own controversial comments after the Paris attacks, “It would be just good management,” he said. Trump including Thursday when he equated the threat of was later asked whether there was a difference between extremists slipping into the country as refugees with requiring Muslims to register today and Jews register- the threat of a “rabid dog”. ing with Germany’s Nazis in the 1930s. “You tell me,” Senator Ted Cruz, who has been reticent to directly Trump responded. attack Trump on the campaign trail, is opposed to Clinton slammed Trump’s remarks as “shocking rhet- Syrian Muslim refugees reaching US shores. But Cruz oric”. “It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this said he opposed a Muslim database on the grounds it country,” she wrote on Twitter. Republican candidate would infringe on American religious liberty. “I’m not a Jeb Bush, who has suggested Christian refugees should fan of government registries of American citizens,” he be prioritized over Muslims, laid into Trump, saying said. “What I do think is important is that the federal Americans do not have to abandon their values to fight government be far more vigorous going after radical extremism. “You talk about internment, you talk about Islamic terrorists.” closing mosques, you talk about registering people, and The Republican candidates’ unified criticism of that’s just wrong,” Bush told CNBC Friday. “That’s not Trump was striking. His rivals have vacillated in their strength, that’s weakness.” Ohio Governor John Kasich handling of other inflammatory comments from him, said forcing someone to register with the government wary of alienating his supporters while increasingly because of their religion “strikes against all that we have concerned that he’s maintained his grip on the GOP believed in our nation’s history”. race deep into the fall. Civil liberties experts said a data- By mid-day Friday, Trump appeared to walk back his base for Muslims would be unconstitutional on several remarks, although he stood firm on the need for vigi- counts, while the libertarian Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro lance in tracking extremists. “I didn’t suggest a database said the idea also violates basic privacy and liberty - a reporter did,” Trump tweeted to his five million fol- rights. lowers. “We must defeat Islamic terrorism & have sur- Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on French soldiers patrol the Trocadero place near the Eiffel Tower in Paris yesterday. — AP veillance, including a watch list, to protect America.” religious liberty, said requiring Muslims to register In an interview on Fox News Channel Friday evening, appears to be a clear violation of the Constitution’s Trump tried to clarify his position, saying, “I want a protection of religious freedom. “What the First Obama puts human face on Syria refugee... watch list for the Syrian refugees that Obama’s going to Amendment does and what it should do is drive the let in if we don’t stop him as Republicans”. He said he’d government to use neutral criteria,” Hamilton said. Continued from Page 1 majority and landed in Malaysia, where Obama was attending had trouble hearing the NBC reporter’s questions. But “You can use neutral criteria to identify terrorists. What a regional economic summit. Obama’s administration has he didn’t disavow the idea of a general registry for it can’t do is engage in one-religion bashing. That Obama said the US had shown it can welcome refugees played a central role in Myanmar’s emergence from brutal mil- Muslims living in the country or say decisively he won’t fly in any court.” Meanwhile, the Anti- while ensuring security. “There’s no contradiction,” he said. itary rule, a transformation Obama considers a key foreign wouldn’t support it. “I want to have watch lists. I want to Defamation League in New York called Trump’s pro- Many Americans seem to disagree. Democrats in large policy success. Yet the continued persecution of Rohingya have surveillance. I mean, we’re not a bunch of babies,” posal “deeply troubling and reminiscent of darker days numbers have abandoned their president and his opposition remains a stain on the country’s record, and even opposition to stiffer screening measures; forty-seven of them voted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an Obama ally whose party tri- he said. in American history when others were singled out for against Obama on Thursday. Having secured a veto-proof umphed in recent elections, has been sharply criticized for Ben Carson, a top Republican presidential contender, scapegoating.” — Agencies majority in the House, supporters are now hoping for a repeat looking the other way. in the Senate, while Obama works to shift the conversation to Driving the debate about accepting Syrian refugees in the milder visa waiver changes that wouldn’t affect Syrian US, as in Europe, are concerns that terrorists could exploit the refugees. system to enter the country and carry out more attacks. It’s Brussels on lockdown in fear... In a modest classroom where refugee children were learn- unclear whether that was a factor in the Paris attacks that ing English, Obama zigzagged among art projects, puzzles killed 130, although Obama has insisted that’s not a legitimate Continued from Page 1 week which began with the attacks and saw a violent and a caged class rabbit as he asked children in crisp white security threat. Unlike in Europe, refugees don’t set foot in the shootout on Wednesday between police and jihadists uniforms and neckties about their aspirations for the future. US until they undergo a vetting process that typically takes 18 Soldiers were on guard in parts of Brussels, including holed up in a Paris apartment. Suspected attack ring- Later, as he met with older refugees who will soon relocate to to 24 months. at the institutions of the European Union headquartered leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in the police the US, he said these children “deserve love and protection Since Paris, the refugee issue has reverberated on the 2016 in the city. Brussels is also home to the headquarters of assault along with his cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen and and stability and an education”. “You will see the degree to presidential campaign trail, where fears about Muslims in the NATO. “The result of relatively precise information point- an unidentified suicide bomber. French police yesterday which they represent the opposite of terror, the opposite of US have been voiced with a level of openness not seen since ed to the risk of an attack along the lines of what took released seven people arrested during the raid, but kept the type of despicable violence we saw in Mali and Paris,” the 9/11. Obama has accused Republicans of politically driven take place in Paris,” Michel told a news conference yes- hold of Jawad Bendaoud, who has admitted lending the president said. fear-mongering, but strong support in Congress for tighter terday. “We are talking about the threat that several indi- apartment to two people from Belgium “as a favor”. vetting measures has underscored how pervasive some of viduals with arms and explosives would launch an attack Abaaoud was a notorious Belgian jihadist thought to Victim those concerns have become. “It is wrong to condemn a perhaps in several locations at the same time,” Michel be fighting in Syria and his presence in Europe raised He singled out one refugee from Myanmar - a petite 16- strong screening process using the language of charity and said. He declined to elaborate, but said the government troubling questions about a breakdown in intelligence year-old in a bright yellow dress - and said she had been a vic- morality,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. tim of human trafficking until the UN intervened. Obama said Obama also met in Kuala Lumpur with representatives of would review the situation today afternoon. and border security. The European Union agreed Friday the girl now hopes to advocate for those who have suffered a civil society groups, where he called for tolerance and univer- The crisis centre said weekend games in Belgium’s to rush through reforms to the passport-free Schengen similar plight. The White House declined to name the girl out sal freedoms while avoiding direct criticism of Malaysia’s gov- two professional divisions should now be postponed, zone by the end of the year as France extended a ban of concern for the safety of her parents still in Myanmar. “This ernment. He also attended a summit with Southeast Asian but most outside Brussels appeared set to go ahead. on public gatherings until Nov 30 and the start of a UN is who we want to help,” Obama said. “This is the face of peo- leaders, where he called for reaching an “ambitious and The metro system is to remain closed until then, in line climate summit. ple around the world who still look to the United States as a durable” climate agreement in Paris in the coming weeks and with recommendation of the government’s crisis center. Seven attackers were killed or blew themselves up beacon of hope.” praised efforts to create a “code of conduct” to address mar- Major shopping centers and stores did open yesterday during their assault on Paris.