Rights Groups Fault NATO General for Hyping ISIS in Refugees

Gen. Breedlove Refuses to Defend Assertion of 'Spreading' ISIS

Adding to a flurry of claims of ISIS infiltration by way of the influx of refugees into Europe, and as usual providing no evidence to back it up, NATO Genn. Philip Breedlove claimed the refugees are “masking the movement” of ISIS and allowing the group to “spread like a cancer” across Europe.

Breedlove’s comments are in keeping with those of a number of NATO member nations looking for an excuse to stop the flow of refugees, or at least confine them to Turkey, but human rights groups were quick to fault him for making it sound like the refugees were a large security problem, when almost no militants have been confirmed to have infiltrated with them.

Indeed, it was only yesterday that the Netherlands confirmed that out of the 60,000 refugees they accepted, 30 “suspects” were found, and as yet none have conclusively been linked to ISIS. In the meantime, the Netherlands has faced violent anti-refugee protests led by far-right political figures.

When pressed to defend his own assertions, Gen. Breedlove simply insisted he’s “not going to talk to you about intelligence,” even though he couched his previous claims as intelligence, as opposed to just random xenophobic rhetoric.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com.