Tico - thanks for the article. I appreciate the help.
First, let me start by saying that I do not believe that refugee groups make up a substantial threat to the general population of the United States beyond that which already exists, for no other reason than I believe that if a terrorist wants to come here, there are so many ways that he could come here that there would be no reason to go through the process.
However, that said, the article you cited does very little to quell the fears of anyone that is concerned about them.
The fact that a refugee can not be guaranteed entry to the United States would seem rather unimportant, since the entire west is a target for terrorists. If they wanted to go through the refugee process, they would probably be equally satisfied with going to Germany or France as the United States.k
The article entirely glosses over the vetting process itself. It would seem to me that if a terrorist were to go through the process, it would be quite easy to go through an interview process. In a previous life I spent a lot of time in Syria and Turkey purchasing spices grown in the area. Even during time of peace, I can not conceive of a way to independently verify if a person came from a particular town, went to a particular school, what kind of associations he had with various groups, whether he had spent time in an army, militia, etc. What mosque he might have attended and what was taught in those mosques, who were his associates, etc, which I would expect to be the core of any "vetting"
As I said, I see very little danger in refugees, even those from Syria. But I don't think it is fair to look down on those who legitimately believe that actual vetting can not be conducted in a third world country that has been in revolution for a decade. If you believe that terrorists would want to come through the refugee system, it is not unrealistic to believe that the current vetting system would not stop them.
One large problem with our political (and social) system is that each side tends to dismiss the views of others, rather than understand and refute them.