Chris Murphy: Syrian Refugees Will Follow ISIS If We Don’t Give Them a Paycheck

WALLACE: “All right. There are several points you make there and I want to pick up on them. But before I do, I want to go back to you, Senator Murphy, not to be cold-hearted about it, but one could argue Vietnam was our problem. We broke it, if you will. Is this our problem, the Syrian refugee crisis?”
MURPHY: “So, I don’t think you can say that the Syrian war wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the invasion of Iraq, but we certainly contributed to the ongoing mess in that region and inside Syria because of our occupation, our invasion, which after a set of circumstances, led to the development of ISIS.”
WALLACE: “But this is a civil war against Bashar Assad.”
MURPHY: “Which is made much worse by the presence of ISIS inside Syria. Now, I don’t think the United States bears sole responsibility, but I think our invasion was a contributing factor and thus, I think we have a responsibility, but also, we have a responsibility, because it’s in our national security interests. The fact is, is that when there isn’t help for these refugees from the United States or our partners, they turn to others that are offering help, like ISIS, like al Qaeda, to give them the paycheck, to give them nutritional benefits for their kids. And so, if we are not on the ground helping in some way, shape or form then ultimately, we are just pushing a lot of these individuals into the hands of our enemy.”