Pataki: Obama ‘looked the other way’ on ISIS

Former Gov. George Pataki (R-N.Y.) says President Obama has ignored the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“I’m angry here because this was certainly a shock what happened in Paris but it didn’t surprise me at all,” Pataki said Monday on “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” about the recent terror attacks in Paris.

{mosads}“This president has looked the other way,” he continued. “He refers to people who disagree with his strategy as ‘playing political games.’ That is nonsense.

“I strongly believe – and it’s not because of a political game – that we cannot allow terrorists to train, recruit, organize and plan more Paris-like attacks,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate added. “We have got to attack them there.”

Pataki also said he now opposes Obama’s plan for resettling Syrian refugees after the coordinated attack in Paris which killed about 130 people.

“There’s zero ability to vet those refugees [and] we know some of them are terrorists,” Pataki said.

“We take 10,000 refugees into this country, if one in 1,000 is a terrorist, that means 10 of them are coming here to engage in terrorist activity and kill Americans,” he continued.

“What are we going to do? Call up the Syrian government and say, ‘hey, by the way, is this guy a terrorist?'” Pataki asked. “We have got to stop taking refugees until there is in fact a vetting process that lets us know that they’re coming here not to harm us.”

Last week’s violence has put plans to let in Syrian refugees under new scrutiny.

Critics say that extremists like ISIS could use the situation to infiltrate the U.S. and commit violence.

Obama sharply criticized those claims during a testy press conference Monday at the G-20 Summit in Ankara, Turkey.

“Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values,” he said of Syrian refugees.

“We have to remember that many of these refugees are victims of terror,” Obama added. “That’s why they’re fleeing.”

Reports emerged Sunday that one of the attackers in Paris entered Europe through Greece by using a Syrian passport.

At least 14 Republican governors say their states won’t accept Syrian refugees, citing security risks.