ABC News N.H. Democratic Debate: on Homeland Security
Hillary Clinton:
Keep Syrian refugees; we're a nation of resolve, not of fear
Q: You have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But you supporter, Gov. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process." Is she wrong?
CLINTON: Well, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting.
Q: But a halt?
CLINTON: I don't think a halt is necessary. Now, [screening and vetting] takes 18 to 24 months. So everything that can be done should be done.
But the process should move forward while we are also taking on ISIS. I do believe that we have a history and a tradition, that is part of our values system and we don't want to sacrifice our values. We don't want to make it seem as though we are
turning into a nation of fear instead of a nation of resolve. I would prioritize widows, and orphans, and the elderly, people who may have relatives, families, or have nowhere else to go. I would prioritize them.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Dem. debate in N.H. on Syrian Refugee crisis
Dec 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton:
Reach out to Muslims, like George W. Bush did
Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to complex questions. I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent hours trying to figure out how to protect the city.
One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton:
Libyans refused much of what US offered as help
The president decided we would protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. What Libya did by having a free election was an indication of their desire to get on the right path. The whole region has been rendered unstable, in
part because of the Arab Spring, in part because of the propagandizing that ISIS and other terrorist groups do. This is not easy work. We did as much as we could because the Libyans had strong feelings about what they wished to accept.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton:
FactCheck: No, ISIL doesn't cite Trump in recruitment videos
Hillary Clinton said, "We need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump
insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists." Is that true?We checked, and it is not. ABC News reports that neither the White House nor National Security Council would back up Clinton's assertion.
According to Business Insider, "The Clinton campaign has since˙backpedaled slightly on its candidate's˙comments.˙A campaign˙spokesman˙pointed˙to a comment from˙an expert on ISIS propaganda that ISIS˙follows 'everything Donald Trump says' and˙points to
Trump's˙proposed Muslim ban as proof that America hates Muslims. Clinton 'didn't have a particular video in mind' when she made the comment, said another campaign spokesman; Trump is being used by ISIS in social-media propaganda.
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on 2015 ABC/WMUR Dem. debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Martin O`Malley:
We need to collect and share more intelligence
We have a lack of investment over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in Syria and Iraq, but here in the homeland. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the
right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Martin O`Malley:
Stop creating safe havens where ISIS can flourish
We have not made the investments we need to make to have relationships with future leaders. Now what we have is a whole stretch of the coast of Libya, 100 miles, 150 miles, that has now become potentially the next safe haven for ISIL.
They go back and forth between Syria and this region. We have to stop contributing to the creation of vacuums that allow safe havens to develop.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Martin O`Malley:
Do not turn to unscrupulous leaders in times of fear
What our nation needs right now is to realize that, while we face a terrible danger, we also face a different sort of political danger. And that is the danger that democracies find themselves susceptible
to when unscrupulous leaders try to turn us upon each other. What our country needs right now is new leadership that will bring us together around the values that unite us and the freedoms that we share as Americans.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015
Page last updated: Dec 07, 2018