Reasoned assumption

In John Brummett’s recent Sunday column, he slams Arkansas for going on record as being against admitting any Syrian refugees to the state. He then allows that if only one of the proposed 10,000 gets through what he fantasizes will be a ponderous and painstaking vetting, that one can cause a lot of harm and heartache. He concludes that does not mean we were wrong to help the other 9,999.

I believe his logic does not jibe with recent polls regarding attitudes of professed Muslims around the world. In a Pew Research poll in June of 2014, Muslims were asked if suicide bombing against civilian targets can be justified to defend Islam from its enemies. Possible answers were: Often, Sometimes, Rarely and Don’t Know. The results show a high of Often/Sometimes percentage of 64 percent in Gaza to a low of 3 percent in Pakistan. Syria was not in the survey.

I believe any reasonable assumptions of propensity to attempt an act of this nature have to be many times greater than one in ten thousand (.0001).

Mr. Brummett is a wordsmith who I believe creates wrong impressions with journalistic prowess. Example: It seems he often sticks a thumb tack into Hillary Clinton to show how objective he is, just before he drives a railroad spike into her opponents. DAVID MICHAEL PHILLIPS SR.

North Little Rock